bubbastain
Well-known member
So a little over two years ago someone posted a link on some Russian "NOS 6L6GC Equivalent" tubes from a Ebay seller for super cheap. I ended up buying a quad of them to put in my VTM60. Well AFTER purchasing them I did some research and found out they are not quite a 6L6GC, but consensus was that they would work. So I put them in and everything was good. No red plating and they sounded great. I don't remember exactly what they measured on my bias probe at the time but I decided to check them just now after playing them for two years. One measured 23ma and the other 24ma. BTW, my VTM60 shows a plate voltage of 505 and there is no bias adjustment.
Remember, I bought a quad. So I popped the other two in another VTM60 I had and one of them started to red plate after a minute or so. I wasn't too mad about it. I could have got a replacement since they were under warranty but they were dirt cheap and I was too lazy to go through the process.
So I'm thinking of putting a new pair of power tubes in the VTM60 but these are so nice. Do any of you have any experience with them? Is there anything that's similar that is an actual 6L6GC ? Or should I fork out another $14 for a pair of these? Seems like an easy answer right? I just want to have a new matched pair of power tubes for the amp.
Also, I decided to finally look and see what preamp tubes are in the amp. It had the original 6L6GC power tubes and it turns out it also had all Peavey Super 7's. I tried a little tube rolling in V1 and while others like Tung Sol, Tung Sol Gold pin, TAD 7025, Ruby 12AX7 AC5 HG and a JJ all sounded really good, I put the Super 7 back in because it sounded just a little more to my liking. A little more crunchy than the Tung Sol while still sounding rich. So I looked at it closely with my reading glasses on the saw it had the square getter. I had a random tube in my small assortment of preamp tubes that just said "Hot Rods" that I had never tried before. Looked closely at it and it looked exactly the same. Put it in V1 and it sounded the same. So I'm guessing these are 8th Generation Chinese?
Anyways, I was just sharing some recent discoveries.
Remember, I bought a quad. So I popped the other two in another VTM60 I had and one of them started to red plate after a minute or so. I wasn't too mad about it. I could have got a replacement since they were under warranty but they were dirt cheap and I was too lazy to go through the process.
So I'm thinking of putting a new pair of power tubes in the VTM60 but these are so nice. Do any of you have any experience with them? Is there anything that's similar that is an actual 6L6GC ? Or should I fork out another $14 for a pair of these? Seems like an easy answer right?
I just want to have a new matched pair of power tubes for the amp.Also, I decided to finally look and see what preamp tubes are in the amp. It had the original 6L6GC power tubes and it turns out it also had all Peavey Super 7's. I tried a little tube rolling in V1 and while others like Tung Sol, Tung Sol Gold pin, TAD 7025, Ruby 12AX7 AC5 HG and a JJ all sounded really good, I put the Super 7 back in because it sounded just a little more to my liking. A little more crunchy than the Tung Sol while still sounding rich. So I looked at it closely with my reading glasses on the saw it had the square getter. I had a random tube in my small assortment of preamp tubes that just said "Hot Rods" that I had never tried before. Looked closely at it and it looked exactly the same. Put it in V1 and it sounded the same. So I'm guessing these are 8th Generation Chinese?
Anyways, I was just sharing some recent discoveries.
