by erichayes » Thu Jun 01, 2006 1:37 pm
Hi All,
As one who uses both power pentodes and beam power tubes in my designs, I'd like to think that I'm fairly unbiased on the subject. At one point, I was a huge proponent of the EL34, and still think it's a pretty good tube. But when I took the same amplifier and loaded it with (specifically, JJ) KT88s . . . well, I now have 12 NIB JJ EL34s that will probably find a home in a Marshall somewhere, sometime.
On the other hand, I've never heard a bad word spoken over 6BQ5s in a generic sense--some brands are better thon others for specific purposes, but none has ever driven me from a room (except pre-broken-in JJs. They are Godawful). In the early days of the 1773's design, I experimented with 6973s, which are beam power tubes with roughly the same specs as the 6BQ5. The results weren't even close. The 6BQ5s had an ethereal quality that made the speakers seem to disappear; the 6973s made it very clear that there were speakers in the room.
Diff'rent strokes . . .
Eric in the Jefferson State