20 Best Tubes For Amps (2022 Updated)

I was comparing 12AX7 tubes for my V1 and mistakenly put in this Tung Sol 12AT7W. I knew something was up by the significant drop in volume but stuck with the comparison. I felt that for the first time in comparing tubes I was hearing my guitar instead of electronics.

There was more definition than other tubes. There is less drive than the TAD 5751 and more clarity. It’s similar to the TAD 12AT7 but a little brighter. I think anyone trying a 5751 might find this tube to be worth considering.

I work on a lot of vintage Gibson, and National amps. The 6EU7 was a hi fi tube well on par with a real 7025 low noise high performance 12AX7A, only with a different pin out, and the lack of a 12 volt heater option.

The heater and pin out in the older 6EU7s made them easier to match sections, and the gain was almost always higher than a 12AX7 too. If you look in the manuals, the 12AX7, and the 6EU7 share the same exact transfer curve plots, but the 6EU7 was usually a better tube as far as American brands went.

The 6EU7 also has lower internal capacitances too. This looks like a rebranded Sovtek, and they test about as well too. Mediocre at best! One section is usually way above the other with a plate current mismatch of up to 50%.

The transconductance is also usually badly mismatched too. Since no one else makes a 6EU7, Mike Mathews has taken the typical New Sensor unique product stance. “It is terrible, but who else you gonna buy one from, so we don’t care how bad they are”.

If you have an amp that uses 6EU7s rewire the sockets for 12AX7s, or Soviet military 6N2P. Maybe someday I will actually get a good batch of these, but the only reason I am not giving them one star, is no one else makes one, and they have improved, but not very much.

The Sovtek 6Eu7s were absolutely horrific. No one would even attempt to match sections for a phase inverted, they were that bad, and they have the gall to charge over $20 for these.

I love the distorted tones I get from these, and I put them in all my amps. They do seem a little more prone to damage than JJs however. If you have a tube amp and it doesnt seem as great as it once did, take the plunge and replace the tubes before you get rid of it.

Amps that I thought were beyond hope transformed into radiant, luminary fountains of tone after installing and biasing new tubes.

Given the scarcity of tubes on the market, I was very excited to get my hands on these JJ 12AX7 preamp tubes. I installed them in my Fender Blues Junior, conducted a burn, then hooked up my Telecaster to give it a go.

A marked difference in sound quality, very rich tones and allowed my Eventide H9 to sound better than ever. There are better, premium tubes out there, if you can find them, but these performed beyond my expectations.

Additionally, delivery and customer service was top-notch. I cannot comment on durability yet, since I have only had these for a short time, but I suspect I will not be displeased. Highly recommend.

I’ve had only limited experience with tubes. I bought these to replace tubes in a used stereo amplifier, attracted by their “low gain” description. The amp immediately sounded better than it did with the old tubes.

I played them for short intervals initially, and then longer. Overall the sound was nicely balanced, with laid-back treble tones (yay) and nice mid tones. I found myself digging into my collection for more recordings to play, both CDs and LPs, which is a mark of success.

After about 40 to 50 hours, I was surprised to start hearing more detail than I remember in some recordings. I’m giving the tube amp a rest during a current heat wave, and have ordered a pair of NOS tubes made by an old US manufacturer to broaden my experience.

I’m not sure how much difference “low gain” makes. I’ve given four stars because I still have training wheels on and am developing sensibilities around tube sound. I am happy with them and consider them a good value.

The photo shows 6v6GTCZ from JJ. The packaging I received said 6v6GTCZ. This is what I wanted and why I ordered these. However, the tubes INSIDE the box said 6v6EH. So I got the Russian tubes and it appears that the supplier is putting Russian tubes in JJ boxes.

This is pretty lame. But since I did not want to bother with the hassle of returning I stuck them in and they run just fine. I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Just irritated since the amp manufacturer recommended the 6v6GTCZ and I got a mislabeled tube.

But the title of the product only says “6v6” so I guess that’s on me.

Even though I received Ruby 6V6 tubes, they are not the tubes that are pictured. The tubes pictured are like the ones I was replacing with the black outer cover. The Ruby 6V6 tubes I received are the clear glass version.

If you are not going to ship what is pictured, then let the customer know they are going to receive a different product.

Sound improved in my Fender DRRI, but in all fairness, the Groove Tubes that came in it were worn out. I recommend changing the phase inverter tube at the same time.

Put this in V1 of my Marshall Origin 50H. Used it to clean up some of the wooly saturation. Marshall is plugged into a 5153 EVH 412. The 12AY7 and JJ 6CA7’s really cleared up some of the “hair” I was hearing.

I get nice fat, clearer saturation, articulate sounds out of the Marshall. Perfect for a vintage sounding rock machine. Buxom Boost tickling the front end is icing on the cake.

I decided to try these after hearing them in a Fender Princeton reverb reissue. After installing them in my amp, the tubes provided better lows, clarity and were warmer. I will definitely use them again.

Also great service from Chicago Music Exchange. The order shipped quickly and arrived earlier than I expected.

Follow-up from my last review. I just rolled the KT77s into my amp again and they are absolutely stellar. The soundstage is enormous and the 3D is totally awesome. They sound very powerful with a nice thump in the bass, crisp but smooth treble and solid midrange.

I can’t believe I let them sit on the shelf for months. I should have just left them in and not rolled any other tubes, Of all the EL34 type tubes I’ve had over the years, I really think the JJ KT77s are the best of the lot.

I love these tubes! Soundstage is huge! 3D and air beyond compare! Running them in a Jolida 3502S with JJ E83CC and JJ ECC81 in the preamp and driver stages, the JJ KT77 sounds spectacular. I may never roll tubes again, they’re just to amazing.

I am using my JJ KT77S in a SEP stereo amp. So far I love them. Best in clarity, transparency, natural/neutral, warm but not syrupy, treble & air compared to everything else Ive tried; JJ EL34 was too dark/bassy , EH EL34, Mesa EL34/STR-420 was gorgeous on the top end but lacking everywhere else.

Particularly amazing with male vocals.

I would buy this again and again because I might have to since they are being used in a Blues Jr. Not modded. If you know the Jrs they are notorious for running power tubes hot. So I hope there is a way to get tubes soon cause Im gonna need em.

and they work great in my Blues Jr. No more noise coming from the amp. I have to get the amp modded, then Ill see if i can add to this review. For now they work and they work well!!.

I prefer a smooth warm tone from my amp, these sound much better than the original Ruby tubes that were in the amp when I bought it. The clean tones and drive channel are very usable now. I can actually play a gig without effects pedals in a pinch.

I like Svetlana Winged C tubes the best but none were in stock so I tried these. Not disappointed but I do miss the musical feedback I got from the Svetlana’s.

I am anxious to purchase their 12ax7 as my preamp tube. If it’s as good as their EL84, I may retube my Mesa Boogie DC3 with all EXH. That beast uses a total of 11 tubes. Purchased for my older Bad Cat Mini Cat.

The Mini Cat is a single ended 5w amp with a 10″ WGS speaker (Upgrade) that uses (1) 12ax7 preamp tube and (1) EL84 power tube. I have tried other major brands but the Electro-Harmonix is by far my favorite! Great low volume bass response.

Real clarity in the mids and highs: You can hear yourself picking and strumming. The Bad Cat has a whole lotta guts for a 5 watter: The EHX holds tough when the Mini Cat is cranked and brings out the best of that amp’s pushed bluesy kickin’ sound.

The EHX feels a little thicker than the Sovtek EL84 and JJEL84: In fact it weighs 20g vs. the Sovtek (18g) and the JJ (14g) according to my digital scale. Don’t know if that really matters. It’s just an observation.

I tried a GT silver series a while back and it started smoking after an hour. It got so hot the label burned off it. Don’t know how much that one weighed, but I never tried another GT after that negative experience.

The Electro-Harmonix is competetive priced to other brands. Maybe a couple of bucks more. Chump change in the general scheme of things.

Replaced the stock Chinese EL84’s in my VOX AC10C1 (along with the 12AX7’s and a Jensen C10Q 16-ohm speaker) and the amp has come alive! Frequency response is much wider; the VOX chime is there and tube microphonics are all gone as well.

Excellent pre-amp and power tubes from EH; very happy with the results.

This Rassian made 5751 tube has a very beautiful appearance andgrey plate is longer than that of a traditional 5751 tube. It does a very good job to replace my 12AX7 tube in the center of the five small tube system for my EL34 push-pull machine.

The gain of 5751 is smaller than 12AX7/ECC83, but you don’t lose the sound quality using this tube as a signal tube. I can feel the music becoming warmer and thus it is very pleasant to use this tube to listen my favorite classical music.

You do feel the reduction of the noise level using this 5751 tube in combination with other long-plate tubes like E80CC. The C/P value of this tube is very good so it is highly recommended for people who don’t want to spend too much money on vintage tubes.

I’ve heard all kinds of things about Sovtek preamps being OK to poor, but this one definitely works for my Peavey Triple XXX 112. I put this in the V1 position and it’s perfect, at least IMHO! Now here’s the funny part: I didn’t order this tube, I ordered the Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH and was sent this one instead.

At first I was a little annoyed, but then ended up not needing either tube, so I just figured I’d keep it and try it later. I originally changed the old tubes out to JJ AT7/ECC81s in the V1 & V4 positions and JJ AX7/ECC83s in the V2 & V3 positions after exploring the internet for the best options for this amp.

The tone was very fizzy/fuzzy without enough bass response. The tone was so bad I was ready to sell the amp. As a last resort I decided to try this tube in the V1 position and it was perfect. The fizziness/fuzziness was tamed and my bass returned.

Needless to say, this may not be the perfect tube for your amp, but if you have a Peavey Triple XXX I would recommend you try this tube and forget the JJs, which reminded me of Chinese tubes. I can’t really speak for this tubes reliability, though, as I haven’t had it long enough, but I have had other Sovteks and they seem as reliable as any other preamp tube.

Overall: I have a Carvin x100b tube half stack. I replaced the tubes with these and also 4 same brand EL34. All I can say is wow. My amp is so clear and loud. I mean in the house I can only go up to 2 and it is loud.

Treble end is crystal clear and the bass end is nice and crisp and well pronounced. Mid range is strong and clear as a bell. I will buy them again when I need tubes again.

these tubes sound great. there is a wonderful clarity and it really gives my amp that vox chime. It is easy to say my amp sounds better than when I first got it, since the stock tubes are okay at best.

you don’t hear the difference till you replace them. even with these, which aren’t expensive. they sound great. I also put in some groove tubes, the el84 for my power amp tubes, and the switch is great.

was losing volume big time, now my amp sounds like it is trying to burst out again, lol. I use the vox with a peavey yvpyr 100 watt for stereo and have gotten very use to the huge ambient sound I love.

for the price it is a must if you are still using your stock vox ac15 tubes, those are pretty blah. you think your guitar sounds good, but it will sound much better with any upgrade. the clean is great and it has a nice break up, with my overdrive and distortion pedals it sounds awesome.

This is a really nice 12AX7! I usually put Tung-Sols in V1 but now I will also include the Svetlana in the V1 rotation, which is the ultimate pre-amp tube compliment. The Tung-Sol is still more articulate and 3D but the Svetlana is smoother.

For you Marshall fans, next time you are”tube rolling”, for your 12AX7’s try a Svetlana in V1, JJ-MG in V2, and Sovtek-LPS in V3-PI positions. Smooths out the highs, enhances the midranges and bass will be tight, (mileage may vary depending on your amp).

I dont know how much others have hulled out their socket pins to make these. 40 diameter pins to accommodate the size difference. But myself using the method discussed on the forums. Lube the pins with Deoxit D500 and with very slight pressure while rotating in about a half inch around, they will slide in without breakage.

Didnt work for me. Two quads and a replacement pair. Only two have retained their vacuum. Done with this. Going to re-tension my sockets and keep buying US until I get a full match quad.

I was running a pair of vintage RCAs in my Fender Custom Deluxe and wasn’t happy with the tone. These matched Tung-Sols gave me seriously good tone. That said, what one person likes isn’t necessarily what another likes.

I play hollow body jazz guitars with humbuckers and strung with heavy flat-wounds. I roll off almost nothing on the instrument’s tone pots, with 90% of volume. The signal makes a detour through a Neunaber Immerse pedal’s plate reverb algorithm then goes to the #2 input of the Custom channel with volume and tone pots at 4.

A heavy magnet Celestion Type V does the talking (at least until the Alnico Weber gets here. ) So. the jazz tone is great. It improved greatly when I put these Tung-Sols to work, biased close to 20ma or a bit under.

The sustain is terrific, the replication of acoustic nuance is inspiring. Natural compression makes me want to play more. And I swear, they don’t feed back as easily. I haven’t played a Les Paul, Strat or Tele through them yet, but using both humbuckers and roll off the bass produces some great clean tone with depth.

Nice pair of valves – if ya know what I mean.

These are surprisingly good tubes. I was concerned about purchasing tubes considering the shortage that occurred recently combined with the quality of tubes during this period being possibly suspect.

But these are excellent. They cleared up some noise issues I was having with a Dr. Z and are quite dynamic and significantly fattened up the tone. I ordered a matched pair, tried them out and subsequently ordered a matched quad.

100% pleased.

Unfortunately, I am very disappointed with the quality of Tung Sol tubes. I Purchased a brand new out of the box Fender super reverb reissue. This amp sounded great out of the box. However, I wanted to change the valves to a better tube with more tone.

I Purchased a complete new set of Tung sols. 12ax7s,12at7s,5751,6l6-strs. I also installed a solid state rectifier. I installed the new set when I received the tubes, set a proper bias, let the tubes burn in slightly and rechecked bias.

the first thing i noticed is the 5751 was microphonice right out of the box. I tried it in a different amp since a tube can be microphonic in one amp and not another. Still,microphonic. I ended up throwing away a brand new $25 tube since it was defective.

I reinstalled the factory GT12ax7. Unfortunately now with less than 10 hours of time on this amp I started to hear a rattle while I played, even at lower volumes. So I start to investigate and I found one of the 6L6-STRs had terrible filament rattle.

I pulled the tube and tapped it with my finger and the rattle was very loud. Again, swapped it in a different amp and the rattle is still present. so once again. I will be throwing away a $25 dollar tube that was a matched pair I purchased for $50.

Now I have to buy a new pair of 6L6s and a 12ax7 or 5751. So that’s at least $75 that I already spent. I don’t know if it Tung sols quality or possibly the handling of the tube prior to shipping but this is a costly problem I hope will be fixed by using a different tube.

I never contacted Antique Electronic Supply over this problem since tubes do not come with a warranty. Its unfortunately luck of the draw. They sound great if you get a good tube.

This is a bare bones, extremely simple to use tube amp. It’s not really very loud, But it’s perfect for recording tube tone, especially if you like a classic rock type sound. Like I said, maybe you can practice with a drummer if he doesn’t hit too hard, But it’s not loud enough to gig IMO.

The whole point I got it though was to get a great tube amp sound Without having to turn up so loud, And it does exactly that, and very well. It has a unique overdrive sound, Especially if you use the pill boost, Which I almost always do- It feel a bit like they built a tube screamer style circuit Between the guitar input and the preamp section, But it has its own unique sound, Not like any tube screamer or clone of that I’ve heard.

Running OD or Fuzz pedals into this thing Is great with the pull boost on. Recording using a microphone at the speaker cone gives you A somewhat familiar but at the same time unique Classic rock type sound, I really love this amp.

Five stars easily! Also, guitar Center was very helpful, Encouraging me to crank the volume With the map on top of the register To make sure it sounded good, And it sounded great! Very nice gentlemen at guitar center Williston.

Thanks again, I love my new little tube amp!.

My second review. First one 7 years ago. Home use and gigs. Still love this amp!!! Harmonica mostly but love my guitars through it too. I put a 12AT7 in it to lower the gain slightly for harmonica. Using a new Hohner HB52 mic into it lately.

fantastic rig!!! Get one!!!.

I’m sick of generic sounding solid state amps and so this one caught my eye because it’s hand wired (gonna get into modding at some point). Watt for watt tube amps are way louder to begin with, and this one can be heard for blocks.

It’s small and reasonably light in weight and the stock speaker has great tone. The Chinese tubes were wayyy too harsh so I swapped them out for a Tung-Sol 6V6 and a Mullard 12Ax7A and it sounds like a Fender tweed I kid you not.

The gain position on the volume know is almost too much for practicing at home and I would have no qualms about using it on stage at all. I love this amp!.

I’ve tried more than a dozen power tubes in my Amps &* Sound Mogwai headphone/speaker amplifier. I checked out a variety of KT88, 6L6, 6CA7, 6550, 5881, and similar tubes. The JJ KT88 are excellent tubes.

They have great bass, smooth treble, and very nice full mids. Unlike most KT88 tubes, they have virtually no microphonics at all. The sound, availability, price, ability to get Apex-matched tubes, and robust build quality pushed me to make this my house tube.

Other tubes I put them up against: Mullard KT88 (New and NOS) Svetlana 6550 Winged C (New and NOS) 6P3S (NOS) Svetlana 6550 (New) Preferred Series KT88 (New) JJ 6CA7 (New) Sovtek 5881WGC (New) 5881 Tung-Sol (New) Tung-Sol 6L6GC-STR (New) Electro-Harmonix KT88 (New) Electro-Harmonix EL34 (New) Electro-Harmonix 6550 (New).

I bought a quad of these JJ kt88’s. Along with a pair of Bugle Boy 12at7 and RCA 12ax7 long black plates installed them in a Jolida 502 amp. I was sure surprised by how nice they are over the Gold Lion kt88 quad I had in it.

They are built much better also.

As far as I can tell, these tubes are visually and sonically identical to the OEM branded KT88s that came in my McIntosh MC275mkVI. I tried to replace them with the Russian Gold Lion reissues and much prefer the JJs in this amp.

The Gold Lions were crispier and tighter, but thinner sounding and too aggressive in the high mids and low treble. The JJs are easier on the ears. The bass is especially nice.

I bought a set of four for my Fargen 1968 Lead/Bass plexi clone, and surprisingly, JJ ecc803s is perhaps the best sounding current production preamp tube I have heard. the high and low end response are even with a good bump in the mids, without the thickening of the lower mids.

Brighter than the regular JJ ecc83. The clarity the notes are excellent that I can hear the separation of notes when strumming. This is not a high gain tube like Tungsol or Shuguang, but the JJ ecc803s far excels on the edge of breakup/crunch setting.

Perhaps the gain is equivalent to the current prod Mullard 12ax7 (The Mullard seems to have a neutered top end response compare to JJ ecc803s). Highly recommend to Plexi owners out there.

Overall this seems like a great tube. Not as dark sounding as the JJ ECC83 but still very smooth sounding. Works great in V1 position on my pignose G40V. Only 4 stars because it produces a loud thump when used in V4 on a princeton reverb with the tremolo engaged.

I tried 2 different ECC803’s with the same result and did not have this issue with the standard JJ ECC83 or Sovtek 12ax7WA. Because of this I have to conclude that the noise has to do with the tube design and not the amp.

I was given a brand new hand made Marshall amp so I could install a PPIMV. Now when dimed, there was a LOT of tube hum from the front end. After doing a spectrum analysis, the dimed hum was -16dB ( stupid loud for hum ).

When I replaced stock Marshall V1 and V2 tubes with Low noise 803S JJ’s, the hum dropped to -44dB !! Spectrum Analysis showed that the JJ’s distortion was identical to stock, with more bottom. Happy Customer.

JJ’s ROCK !!.

So I am torn how to write this. I give it 4 stars but honestly I dont feel they are much better than JJ’s in general they just sound different. I have installed Tungstols in several of my amps and they always get replaced with something else.

Even the El34’s got swapped out for some Mullards in one of my amps this week. I dont know if this is how i want to state it but they are sometimes too clean for me. It is always subjective when it comes to tone so everyone needs to experiment because i assure you your guitar, speaker, eq settings, cabinet box, etc.

all matter. In my setups: Mesa Boogie Stilletto Egnater Rebel Tiny Terror Dark Terror I have tried Tungstols in all of them but prefer JJ’s or Mullards. I always keep 3 or 4 around but they are on the shelf none are being used currently.

In this head I only have these Tung-sols and the OEM JJs for comparison. I was never happy with the OEM tubes (valves). They sounded harsh and non-musical to me. I didn’t know if it was the head itself, or the tubes.

I swapped out the original tubes for another set from the same manufacturer, and it still sounded bad. I listened to a lot of comparison audio for all the major brands, the whole gamut from low-end generic tubes to high-end name-brand tubes and everything in between.

I after listening blind I settled on trying out the Tung-sols, and bought a pair, one for the common input and one for the high-gain channel. The Tung-sols sound much better than the original equipment tubes.

Gone is the harshness and non-musicality of the JJs. The Tung-sols overdrive more easily and more smoothly. They compress the sound better, and the sound is much more musical. In the bargain I gained some low-end “oomph” I’d been missing.

They’re a little more expensive than the tubes they replaced, but that tiny difference in price is well worth it. If I hadn’t heard it for myself, I’d hesitate to spend the extra money, wondering if it was really worth it.

It was. They sound much better.

I had heard that the Tung-sol 12AX7 tube would enhance the sound quality of the new ART Tube MP preamp I had recently purchased from Musician’s Friend. The original tube is one that comes with the unit and, although not bad, does not have the kind of warmth I wanted in this unit.

So I purchased the Tung-sol 12AX7, replacing the original tube, and could hear the difference immediately! Opening the unit can be a little difficult because the Philips screws are so tight. Pressing down firmly, while being careful not to strip the screws, works just time.

Use a proper-fitting Philips screwdriver with a robust handle that gets fairly close to the unit. This will provide you with the control you need without stripping the screws. But be careful! I found that just a drop or two of WD-40 on each of the four screws worked wonders eventually getting them loose.

Let the WD-40 sit for awhile before you try to untighten the screws. If they don’t come off right away, hit them with another drop or two, wait for five or ten minutes and then try again. They should gradually come loose as a steady pressure is applied.

Your efforts will be well-rewarded I assure you.

The gain is just ok with these tubes but they lend them self or better suited for amps that have a harsh bite or like a champ/princeton that is just too crunchy, these will definitely take the edge off.

If you are a Jazz guitarist then these are going to give you the softer edge with good definition. I prefer the Matched Gain JJ’s for a better bite and gain, but the best tube IMHO is the Genalex Gold Lion Matched Gain, across the board.

They cost almost twice as much, and they deliver. For Marshall amps and rocking a JCM 800 the Matched Gain JJ’s are the ticket. They deliver in the 800s and give a bit more bite than the Genalex. But Keep in mind that the Preamps are critical for the sound of your guitar or bass.

If you have a crappy pair of Power tubes then you are really wasting your time. Cheers.

I always thought TS 12AX7 was the stuff but up until this lockdown bit took hold, only did I swap tubes out boredom not necessity. Putting JJs, TS, GTs, in V1 of my EVH 5153 Stealth wasn’t the greatest of tones.

Out of the 3 the JJs were more tolerable but not quite what I wanted. So outta that boredom I tried for the Mullard Russian and holy guacamole I love the tone. I went so for in ordering another one for my EVH 5153 50 watt head and secured the same result but the catch is I put a Bugera ECC83B in the V2 of both EVH amps – awesome sauce.

I’m set on keeping that arrangement. The amps sound great in cleans and OD. There’s an actual noticeable difference in that setup of preamp tubes. I may just order more for my Randall Diavlo and other tube amps.

Pro- best in V1 slot. Chime for days. If you have a 4 preamp tube amp put this in V1 ad a GT12ax7 to the V4 and try a JJ5751 in the V3. for a V2 us a GT 12ax7 or 12ay7. Oh yeh toss out the Celestion 70/80 if you have it and put in the Celestion cream 90 it will run an extra $275 on E-bay but you will bring the amp alive.

Now you got a great set up. (I have a Marshall DSL 40C). Buy a GT 12AY7 %70 tube for a reference in V1 for fun and see what you think. Rely on your favorite distortion pedal for the front end drive and let the amp do the rest (Channel 1&2).

You are gonna love this tube. You will love the reverb with this set up as well. Con- just a bit thin on the bottom end but only if you have single coils on your guitar (Strat sw position 1), (turn up the amp bass knob).

Swap between the Mullard 12ax7 and a GT 12ax7 and see which one you prefer in V1/V4. the Grove Tube is a bit tighter on the bottom end but not as much chime as the Mullard so try both in V1 / V4 see witch you prefer.

I still give the edge to the Mullard for chime.

These are great guitar amp power tubes, Sovtek 5881-WXTs are virtually indestructible, and are built to a military spec. I use them in amps in which regular 6L6s can exceed maximum screen dissipation, as the Sovtek 5881-WXT fwill stay well under the limits.

They are basically a Russian military beam power tube that is very similar to the US 6L6GC. They seem to last forever, and they sound good to me whenever I use them, although maybe producing 10% less output, which is not noticeable.

These tubes are the best. I have heard of people claiming that Sovtek tubes are mediocre or even bad. This is malarkey. Most of the best tubes available are Russian made. Many companies buy these same tubes and put their name on them.

These 5881wxt tubes are some of the best tubes you can get. Unlike other tubes these are extremely consistent in their values. You can’t get a better 6l6 anywhere anyhow. End of story.

Works great! In my Red Bear MK60 amp as a direct replacement to the factory tubes. A quick swap and I was good to go. Also, seem a bit quieter that the ones I swapped out. FYI: Have not rebiased the amp.

I was very suprised and impressed by the sound and overall quality of the Russian Mullard EL34. First Off, right out of the box they have the best glass of any New EL34, Hands down IMHO. In fact the physical quality of the tubes seem very high, much much better than the Russian stuff I first saw in mass production for audio back in the early 90’s.

Far and away better than almost any Chinese stuff available now. Sound is powerful, but detailed. Very nice Bass without squishing out at high volume. Really rich harmonic content overdriven. Clear and pronounced High end with great pick attack and detail.

These Mullard burned in nicely and after about 15 hours were well broken in. Ive been using the same pair in a JMP 50 Mk2 for 7 months and no problems. The quality of the Russian Made power output tubes has come a looooong way.

These along with the SED 6CA7, and the other New Sensor types such as The EH fat bottle 6CA7, and the Tung Sol EL34 B, are about the best you can get New, and are pretty close to some of the old American tubes in quality.

I definately recommend this tube or any of the others i mentioned.

Had to change out my 8 year old Svetlana’s in my DSL100 last year and replaced them with Mullard’s Russia made EL34. What a difference! RICH harmonics, glorious feedback; wonderful, powerful bass and overall tone! I cannot think of another valve I would want powering my DSL100 from this point forward.

I do not move my amp around, or transport it, so I cannot comment on durability issues brought up on transporting amps with Mullard valves. I am a Mullard man for life as I cannot imagine a better tube for this amp.

This is as close to perfection, at least for my needs, as I can get. I was and still am astonished every time I crank up my Les Paul and DSL. when those tubes light up, so does my soul.

I replaced my tubes in my Hughes and Kettner DuoTone head with these ( the previous tubes where the Winged C el34’s) I liked the sound. well balanced but these tubes have a rather low output. My amp tech and I talk about them for awhile when I had them installed.

6 months later and one of the tubes went out. I don’t push it really hard, haven’t been traveling very much in the last few months so I don’t see much reason for it to have blown. I am sure it was just a bad tube.

Still costs to have fixed. I am going to put the stock tube brand back in ( Ruby/Shugaung EL34B-str) and be done with it. The only other tube I might experiment with is the GT Dual getter reissues. just a tad pricey for me right now.