Bought these tubes to throw into my Ming Da and bump up the wattge from 22wpc to 25wpc ;)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3704779977&category=43375&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1

aww man, those are just cheap chinese tubes relabled. they are worth roughly 27 cents each.


:D just kidding!, actually i have no idea about buying tubes yet especially off a place like ebay.

Most of the tube buying I have done off ebay has actually been quite good, especially so of small preamp tubes. I once bought 6 misc. 12AX7s for something around $5 and there were 3 RCAs and 2 Sylvanias all of which tested like new. The RCAs reside in my Electrohome VA-100Mk2 preamp and the Sylvanias I paired with one from my own stash ended up in my Audio Experience preamp. Overall I can't recall getting many duds. I recently won an auction for 4 12AT7s, 4 12AU7s, and 2 12AX7s that had two dud 12AT7s but the seller is sending replacements (even though I only needed one of them for my Peavey Classic 120). The 12AU7s were all Sylvanias and tested good as new, three of them ended up in my Kailin EL84 amp (say goodbye to those crummy chinese 12AU7s!). The 12AX7s went into my stash one of them was an RCA too! (Those are some good sounding 12AX7s, especially in the Electrohome). I bought 7C7s and 7N7s to retube that Masco I rebuilt, that went without a hitch. I bought several different 5Y3s to try in the Audio Experience (the latest of which is a later vintage Mazda 5Y3GB which looks like some sort of power amp tube instead of a rectifier, its kinda cool). All the buying experiences have been quite good. I know some are up for relabling but its mainly on bigger expensive power amp tubes ore the rare 12AX7s like Mullards (I have two that test as new pulled out of a portable reel to reel deck I bought that appeared as though it was never used, and I only paid $2.98 for the deck!)and Telefunkens, and generally a watchful eye can spot the chinese knockoffs. The possibility of an Ei being relabled as a Telefunken in this small preamp tubes would be risky, especially since Ei bought the Telefunken works for the 12AX7 and the tube is quite similar cosmetically. There are Ei EL84s branded as Mazda which for some reason have silver plates (which Mazda did in a few of their tubes), but these can be spotted with a close eye. The Russian ones are sometimes a tad more crafty, they go so far as to try and duplicate some of the internal characteristics at times (who has time to do this stuff?!), but are usually given away by overly clear writing or something along those lines. If you are going to buy off ebay learn what the more expensive tubes that fit your equipment look like and then you can avoid getting shafted. Try to look for sellers that have tested the tubes with something, though its not always possible, I sold a couple of those 1U6 and other odd size pentagrid converter tubes that work in Zenith transoceanic radios but my tube tester does not have provisions for such so I had to sell them as is. Careful shopping can lead to happy experiences even buying tubes from ebay.

Originally posted by THOR
Bought these tubes to throw into my Ming Da and bump up the wattge from 22wpc to 25wpc ;)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3704779977&category=43375&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWN%3AIT&rd=1
Think you'll notice that massive leap in power?:rolleyes:
At least they should be more reliable-should sound better too.
enjoy,
Jack

The factory spec sheet on the amp Thor bought is overly optimistic in the published power output spec. I have tested this amp and put my own real power rating of 18-20 watts/ch on it. Very respectable for the output tubes supplied since they also sound fabulous! Doing some experimentation on the bench I tried a number of 6L6 variants and noted that the power supply was capable of delivering an honest 25 watts RMS/ch, continuous sinewave, both channels driven when the new Sovtek 6L6WXT tubes were used. Since such a swap only makes a really fine amplifier better I recommended that specific tube for Thor to consider as an upgrade. PartsExpress sells them for about $15.00 each, a fair price. Thor found a good deal on ebay. Fortunately this is a current production offering so availability is good. It is considerably more heavy duty than the garden variety 6L6's and 5881's.

I am presently using the Sovtek 6L6WXT in my pair of daily runner modified Eico HF-20's. They seem to be reliable, quiet and have great tone.

I did think that the comparison to RCA Black Plates was strange but they look great. If you do notice a difference Thor it won't be because of a possible 3 watt raise in output power. It will be because they are made with better materials.
Did you know that the robots that make the Sovteks have zircon encrusted tweezers for fingers?

Ack! A Frank Zappa reference! Don't jinx me! :eek:

Why? Are you going to Montana soon?

Floss anyone?:D

Are you going to get them soon?
You going to be a 6L6 tycoon?

Just you and the pygmy pony!!:D

I just got them yesterday and put them in, they are bigger than the other tubes and have a cool "bluish purple" glow along with the yellow. No extended listening yet I just put them in and made sure they worked ;)