Preamp Deal of the Century

Tubegroover, I am excited about your discovery of the 6F6g and much of your experience with tube rolling seems to mirror mine with the exception of the Ken Rads. But I think your comment about taste and synergy is often grossly overlooked. I personally believe this whole journey is about taste and synergy, otherwise we would all be listening to the same thing. I applaud your comments.

Regarding the 6F6g, help me overcome my jitters about this tube. I would love to find another regulator as good as the WE 350B, especially at 1/10 the price!

However, when I looked up the 6F6g online I couldn't find anywhere that it is a drop-in replacement for the regulator tubes. I didn't take the time to research the operating specs, but I didn't see it mentioned anywhere as a replacement for any of the usual Supratek regulators. I have great respect for your help and experience here and I am foaming at the mouth to try the 6F6g. I just need a little reassurance that the tube will perform within acceptable operating points for the Supratek!

I apologize if this has been addressed in an earlier post as I have not read all of the posts lately.... realizing this thread continues to be the "Mother of All Audiogon Threads".

In fact, we should all agree to a virtual toast to Slowhand for making us aware of the Supratek to begin with and also for establishing an Audiogon record that will probably never be broken!

Here's to you and yours
And to mine and ours.
And if mine and ours
Ever come across you and yours,
I hope you and yours will do
As much for mine and ours
As mine and ours have done
For you and yours!

Fiddler has a point. Did some research on 6F6G and also found nothing saying that these could replace the 5881/KT-66/(...). Also the supratek "manual" does not mention the 6F6G as a possible substitute for the stock tubes (while other types are referred). As Fiddfler "I am foaming at the mouth to try the 6F6g. I just need a little reassurance that the tube will perform within acceptable operating points for the Supratek!" In the meantime, anyone asked Mich about this?

Fiddler,

Thanks for the toast! I am wondering why the views of this thread is stuck at 48. I know we were over 10,000 views. We must have broke something at Audiogon, or they got tired of keeping track. Be careful guys, when we hit 1,000 posts smoke may start pouring out of our computers.

Hat's off to you Slowhand. If it weren't for this thread I would't own this pre most likely. It has been a very pleasurable ride all the way.

Lisbon, I have an e-mail off to Mick to get the low down on this tube. I'll keep all posted.

Hello Gang. RE: The use of 6F6g as regulators. Fiddler and Lisbon,I can certainly understand your apprehension and anxiety here.Consulting tube substitution guides and doing net searches will give you imformation that is simply not applicable here regarding our application in the supratek. Firstly...The 5881, and the 6L6 tubes employed in the supratek are are actually output tubes[beam tetrodes]. They were never really designed for use as a regulator tube.These tubes were originally designed for amplification duty only, re: output stages for amplifiers,radios and TV's. Just like many other common output tube types such as the KT-66,el-34,kt-88,6550,kt-90 etc to name a few . When one referrs to any tube subsitution guide or manual,the manual will give you direct substitions for that one particular tube type that would have similiar voltage curves[among other parameters] for the tube being substitued."IE" for voltage,amperage,bias and output power[wattage]etc. These paramaters are really not applicable here as they are not employed as an output stage tube in the supratek.The duty of these tubes in the supratek were specifically designed and employed as regulator tubes, whereby their application in the supratek are specifically used to smooth the ripple of the rectifier, "not" as an output tube per say. A tube substitution guide will tell you absolutely nothing when referred to in this context. Consulting any tube substitution manual will only tell you what tube can be substituted as an output tube . Example: A typical substition for a 6L6 found in any given manual, would be a 5881,7581,5932,Kt-66,6L6G,6L6ga,6L6gb,6L6gc etc.In actual fact, there are many relatively common power tubes[power tetrodes,power pentodes,beam power tubes] that can be substituted for the 5881/6L6 in the supratek. The 6F6 is a small power pentode and is perfectly safe and suitable for use as regulation duty in the supratek. I personally use the western electric 350b in my supratek only because I've had a pair in my stash for many years.I have also tried nos 5881's, all of the 6L6 itterations, as well as 7581's,5932's,kt-66's,6v6g's and of the 6f6g's. The legendary WE 350b beamer is the "King of the Castle" for regulation duty in my rig and in my humble opinion, the 6F6g [round plate] is the next best thing to it.If I didn't have a pair of 350b's, than the 6f6g would be "THE" tube of choice. I ran a pair of these in my syrah for more than a month. Try em, they are terrific.