Preamp Deal of the Century

Hi Slowhand. Yes... I have used it and would say it is a decent tube, but to be candid here.... certainly nothing to write home about. The best GTB tube I have used in the syrah is the GE 6sn7gtb sidegetter. They are very plentiful,inexpensive[relatively speaking here] and come in both brown base and blackbase versions. They really are a honey of a tube in the Syrah, very well balanced tonally with a very solid bass punch. Perhaps a little on the sweeter side of neutral.... however, bang for the buck... ya can't beat em! They can be sourced just about anywhere for not much more than the price of a new pair of sovtek or the Chinese equivalents.

Ecclectique,

How does the GE 6sn7GTA compare to the GTB in sound? I have a guy that is putting together a pair of each for me. Would the GTA's be worth getting, or should I just stick with the GTB's?

Hi Slowhand. To the best of my knowledge, they are exactly the same tube. Every one of my examples[more than 50] seem to be identical in every way.... from the plates,to the micas and the side getters. I honestly believe they are all the same tubes regardless of whether they were labelled gta's or gtb's. General Electric made tons off these tubes over the years and many were relabelled for other companies such as Emerson, Philco,Raytheon, Westinghouse, Silverton etc. The 6sn7 octal was probably the largest single production tube ever made.

Hi Gang.I am curious. Has anyone here ordered the cortese with the 6j5 tube option? The 6j5 triode tube is basically 1/2 of a 6sn7 dual triode. The current market value of the 6j5 family and equivalent substitutions are very attractive when compared to the better nos 6sn7's. I think Mick used a pair for each channel for full gain in the line stage. What I find attractive with this toplogy is: it allows one the option of using just a single 6j5/channel for those with highly efficient speakers,or amplifiers with high sensitivity, or using two of these for higher gain without the switch in the circuit. Supratek preamps that employ the 6sn7 dual triode like my syrah, also utilize a gain switch for each channel to allow for this.I also noticed that the new Supratek Grange preamp also employs the single triode 6j5 as well as the currently produced clone of the rare Western Electric 101D balloon type directly heated triode in the line stage. There are probably more 6sn7's available to us for voicing the syrah or cortese, however.... the 6sn7 preferences in my syrah.....the tungsol round,kenrad blackglass, and the sylvania wgt metal are all obsenely expensive to acquire today and seem to be getting more so all the time. It seems that Mick has accumulated a supply of the nos 1947 vintage 6j5g and he is supplying that tube with the Grange. Any thoughts here?

Ecclectique - The 6J5 may cost less and may even sound better than the 6SN7. But it is not as plentiful. When I ordered my Cabernet I asked Mick to wire it for the 6SN7 instead of the 6J5 because I already had a large number of 6SN7.