Tube Lab #13 How to Identify Mullard & Philips Tubes

How to Identify Philips tubes using the factory etched codes!
Philips subsidiaries included: Mullard, Amperex, Valvo and Radiotechnique
Link to Quality Vintage Tubes: valvesnmore.com
Some online resources to help you read Mullard & Philips Codes:
A big Thank You to Steve from Mullard Majic
mullard.org/blogs/news/mullar...
Another big Thank You to Frank of Frank's Electron Tube Data Sheets
frank.pocnet.net/other/Philip...
!Caution!
Note: E80CC heater current 6v / 600mA, 12v / 300mA
12AU7 heater current 6v / 300mA, 12v / 150mA

[@bertpeijmen6960]

Maybe a bit late but I found this info on Philips Heerlen on Wikipedia: ¨Heerlen: Started in 1951. Nowadays LED screens, used to install electron tubes, 1450 employees in 1975. Later tubes were manufactured for Philips Medical Systems. In 2009, 100 people still worked there. It was eventually transferred to Argus Healthcare, part of Medical Systems, on April 1, 2009; produced image intensifiers. Closed in 2019.¨ From where I live Heerlen is next town.

[@leancove9662]

Hi Jim, I noticed that except for the Russian 5692 all the other tubes you went through, has a blacked out cap.What is that? I believe that my GZ34 (Ultron) had it and over a period of time it dissapeared.Thanks for the discount code.

[@tubelab194]

Do you mean the top gettering is very dark as opposed to nice flashy silver? If so one of our viewers solved this for us. Apparently on more modern vacuum equipment if you apply a very high vacuum the gettering goes very dark. He claimed this indicates a higher quality tube as a result.

[@leancove9662]

By the way I now have Mullard EL84s and ECC83s on my Leak, I wish to ROLL them when I change them just for the fun of it, what brand do you sujest?

[@tubelab194]

If your Mullards are tested and matched, you already have some the best tubes made - take care of them and if you like them find spares! If you want to try some different EL84's we have a good select in the store, the Sylvania's are highly regarded and we have NOS (new old stock) and good used available, and also the Reflector mil spec version as well, which are rock solid and a bargain at current pricing.

[@michaeldoorfix]

I have 2x phillips 6CA7 from an old ultrasound machine

[@payso1382]

Hey Jim! What's a good tube for RnB vocals that I can purchase from your shop???

[@tubelab194]

Drop into the store, use the contact form and let me know the tube type and the amp these tubes are going in and I'll make a recommendation.

[@thomkopal1740]

Genuine Mullard tubes would use the term "Great Britain" or "Gt. Britain" instead of "England." Genuine Brimar tubes would say "England" but you shouldn't trust Mullard tubes that say "England." Yes, that 5692 is a "fake" - but, by whom, and with what intent? The implication is that some nefarious recent seller is trying to pull a fast one on uninformed buyers. But in reality, those tubes were often labeled that way back when they were produced so they could circumvent Western Bloc trade restrictions. If you could fill a tube order with less expensive tubes from a nation under an embargo, you could generally get them for low cost. So who mislabeled them? Probably companies in the purchasing countries, back in the day.

[@muddyriverdogz]

I have one labeled that way from a 1966 hammond. Its a 6267. I don't know how a fake on e made it into an organ that old.