Question on Chinese Tubes Shuguang KT-88-T (Nature series)


I bought an amp with the Shuguang KT88-T  tubes. One month after I bought it, a tube failed. So now I have 3 very good tubes which I cannot find anywhere but China. Just perusing through posts about this tube I have discovered that these tubes have had reliability issues. In my case, it took out a channel in my amp which had to be sent back to the builder to be repaired. I don’t want anymore of that. Considering the past problems of poor reliability & my own situation which was expensive, I wonder if its wise to even buy one more of these Shuguangs and take the chance on tearing up my amp with it again. BTW the amp had built in protection but it didn’t work. Don said he had put in more safety measures when it was repaired. . But I’m concerned. . What’s your thoughts. Abandon the Shuguang? Try another one?
artemus_5

Showing 3 responses by artemus_5

@russ69 Indeed, they are good. I've run their  KT66 also with great results  As good as they are, the Shuguangs are a better tube. I ran those for a month prior with very nice results and they weren't even broke in yet
(EDIT) 
Guys, I know there are other good tubes out there. But Thats not the question. I have 3 tubes which sound very good and I need one more. Do I abandon the 3 I have or take a chance on these questionable Shuguang tubes?

@facten 

Thanks . This is the kind of reports I have seen spread across the internet BB's. Great tubes with little reliability. In my case it was an expensive catastrophic tube failure from the Shuguang. I'm told that the Psvane T2 is a great tube. But your experience shows the same problem with it as the Shuguangs. It appears that in most cases, they fail at about the same time they are just getting broken in. This was my case. Though the amp was used, I could tell the amp had not really been broke in before I got it. (The owner said it had low hours on it). Tough the Gold Lion's sound good, I would still love to hear a set of tubes that was not as rolled off in the high end, like the 2 previously mentioned. But I am not yet comfortable with trying either of those yet, thus my question here.