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6550 tubes

Hello,Out there.Has anyone found decent 6550 tube,I have tried several,Like Gold Lion KT88,Tung-Sol 6550 EH6550 Russian knock off, all of which failed within one month or DOA out of the box.
Fact is the only 6550 I found that did work for more than a month was Valve Art 6550 but has filament noise issues.
Any info would help.
128x128350b
rodman99999
6,108 posts
 
Second on the Winged 'C' 6550s, from Upscale. It's hard to beat Kevin's testing & matching. I used to buy his NOS Sylvanias, but they've been gone for a few years now.
350b's avatar
350b OP
2 posts
 
Hello,The problem here is not the amp I'm using. I am a certified electronic tech,I just tring to find a decent 6550 that works without any issues. I have tried several that are in production these days but found them to be not so good. I have stock on new old stock 6550. I do agree the SED 6550 are worth while do work well in AR amplifiers. Anyone try any of the new KT120 or KT150?
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,249 posts
 
350b,
When I was primarily using my push pull amplifier (6550/KT88) failing tubes were a problem with various brands. I had the most sucess by far with the SED Winged C 6550. In contrast, my SET amplifier uses the 300b tubes which are 100% reliable(so far after 4 1/2 years) and are true work horses in comparison( and sound much better).
Charles,
Post removed 
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Agree 100% with Jea48, especially re Upscale Audio. I've heard that the Russian factory that made Svetlana Winged "C" tubes burned down, but Audio Research has a supply on hand.

As Jea48 just said, Upscale Audio burns tubes in for 72 hours and does a very good job of matching, which is very important in push/pull type amps.

Don't know the amp you are using but check out Tung Sol KT-120s. ARC dropped in KT-120s as a replacement for 6550 Winged C tubes several years ago. But be careful. Not all amps can handle the extra power draw demanded by the KT-120s.

Regards,

Bruce
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