JJ, Gold Lion, Mullard? Which KT88?

maddnotez

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Found a local guy to swap the resistor in my Rev 2 to take whatever KT88 I want.

Trying to decide which brand to go with. Any recommendations? I would like the amp to sound a Huge and as mean as possible.
 
Love the JJs, but I have Sovteks in my Rev 2 right now. It sounds evil and aggressive as hell, even though those tubes are lower quality.
 
I actually like the current production Sovteks over JJ. Brighter, more top end. NOS... GE KT88s. The SED =C= are still kicking around, and can be found at a decent price as well, good sounding tubes too.
 
I bought a quad of Gold Lion kt77, they do sound really good. But in very little time became unmatched, way unmatched. Like one tube will idle at 25ma, another at 80ma, one at 60ma, etc... Also they rattle, and are becoming microphonic. For the arm and leg I paid for them I would have expected better. I would say Golf Lion is great for hi-fi/audiophiles where you're not moving the tubes around, and you can isolate them from vibrations the speakers make. They don't seem to do well sitting on top of cranked guitar cab. Just my experience.
 
I really like the JJs in my Twin Jet, and Sovteks sound surprisingly good in my Rev 2.
 
My Twin Jet had EH KT88's in it when I got it, but I put in a set of the Preferred series KT88's ( chinese ) and the amp sounds stellar. The EH's could have been toasted though.
 
I bought and installed the preferred series KT88 's from the Tube Store in my 20th Anniversary Shiva.... They are the Ruby KT88V's

Awesome sounding tubes
 
I started a thread a long time ago on KT88s and thought by now I would have some personal experience to add but I don't. But here's some info I gathered about current production/available tubes on KT88s. Hope it helps.

Sovtek KT88 - Russian made, cheap
EH KT88 - same as Sovtek AFAIK
Gold Lion RI - Russian-made but different than Sovtek
JJ KT88 - Czech-made, cheap and failure issues with some but allegedly good tone
JJ Blue Glass KT88 - allegedly same as regular JJ but with blue glass
Mullard KT88 RI - Russian-made, don't know if same as Sovtek/EH
Telefunken KT88 RI - made by JJ, don't know if same as JJ KT88
SED/Winged C KT88 - Russian-made in old Svetlana factory, well liked similar to other SEDs, no longer made and getting $$$

The Shuguangs are where it gets interesting:
Shuguang KT88-98 - three-hole plates, no side getters, allegedly pretty good, lots of rebrands
Penta Labs KT88SC - Chinese-made, solid plates, triple (dual-side) getters, allegedly better than KT88-98, also some rebrands
KT88-Z Black Treasures - Look very similar to KT88-98 but with a coating on the glass (looks smoked), allegedly awesome but ~$110 ea.
TAD KT88-STR - Allegedly China-made, 3-hole plates like KT88-98 but different. Base looks different, looks like there's at least one side getter.

Jolida KT88-98 - Same as Shug KT88-98
Valve Arts KT88 - Same as KT88-98
Ruby KT88STR - Same as KT88-98
Ruby KT88VSTR - Same as Penta Labs SC
Tubestore Preferred Series KT88 - Same as Penta Labs SC
 
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