Tube Lab

We look at Soviet era tubes that are equivalent, close equivalent and related equivalents to Western Tubes.
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[@vextenoch]

I found out that, since EL84's are getting more and more expensive, a wonderfull and cheep substitute is 6P15P. It has the same properties as 6P14P, but only it doesn't have internally connected G3 to cathode. I replace them in all the gear that I can. Also a wonderfull triode is 6S19P. Sounds so so lovely.

[@Lack0]

I have a Russian 6p14p and that's by far my favourite sounding tube in a guitar amp. Second best is the east block / hungarian made Tungsram el84

[@vextenoch]

@@Lack0 try SV83/6P15P if you have the chance. And regarding the "Eastern bloc tubes" Yugoslav EI EL84 are excellent but expensive.

[@audiorick841]

One of my favorite videos from you. Very informative. Thanks Jim!

[@cobar5342]

Really informative video. Thank you

[@midnightraiin4035]

GREAT!!!

[@briandietrich1373]

6BQ7's! Great video.

[@LeonFleisherFan]

Another great video, thanks! Large power tubes for domestic use? What about my favorite of all, the GM70 (the Russian end-all version of the 845, so it's really a transmission tube)? 125W max. dissipation, max. 43W SET (DHT) at 1500V.

[@tubelab194]

Absolutely, in fact I could easily make 6 more episodes talking about Soviet tubes, but the focus was to help get beginners thinking about them and started figuring out what is a good cross over.

[@pirateofthebeans_2393]

Am I going to need this like ever. No but I'll like and save for later

[@goodun2974]

The wafer base Russian 6L6's are a poor choice for any amp that has "bear-trap" tube clamps, especially guitar amps like Fenders that have the tubes upside down; the glass can crack from direct contact with the clamp. Same applies to wafer base 6V6's.

[@user-qt4nc2on7n]

Есть модификация 5881WXT с длинным цоколем.

[@GtrPknMama]

What does the letter difference mean in the Sovtek 6L6 WGC and the Sovtek 6L6 WXT

[@tubelab194]

Other than the common designators eg 6L6GT (glass tube) additional letters are the series variation in manufacturing specification. Eg 6sn7gta is the next generation after GT, B the second and so on. In very general terms the higher the letters the higher the specs. Sometimes you can find the actual data sheet for your spec and one for the one you want to compare it to. But even finding one would be lucky. So what to do? Well if your amp manufacturer specs the power tube as the 6L6GT, then you know every single later variation will work just fine.

[@GtrPknMama]

@@tubelab194 Thank You 😎👍

[@user-qt4nc2on7n]

Sovtek 6L6 WGC короткий цоколь. Sovtek 6L6 WXT длинный цоколь.

[@georgewilson3027]

Is Australia on the list of challenging shipping places?

[@tubelab194]

Yes, Australia is one of my most expensive places to ship to. But on the other hand I have some of my best customers in Australia. If the order is large I can almost always absorb the extra shipping cost, if not just skip the discount and we should be good.

[@hpfctif7tx7t]

I think the gu-50 have a Chinese equivalent the fu-50

[@tubelab194]

Yes a lot of Soviet era tubes have Chinese equivalents, this is because with the start of the Cold War in 1945, the Soviets and Chinese allied for technology that was no longer available from the West. Unfortunately the Chinese copies are nothing like the originals and in most cases should be avoided. The good news is the Soviets produced huge numbers of tubes deemed essential for the military and most of them are of high build quality, sound great and are affordable. We have a large inventory of Ulyanov made GU-50's and they are excellent, long lived tubes.

[@COLLATERAL2024]

St Petersburg was Leningrad not Stalingrad …. Wolgograd was Stalingrad