Really...My favorite power tube is reissue that's not widely popular


If you run 6l6/EL34 variants, I HIGHLY recommend trying this tube out.  The Tung Sol 7581A reissue.  I've had these for a good bit of time and compared them against KT150s, EL34s (several brands), KT88s, and maybe another that I'm forgetting.  They are a mere $30 a pop and they are the best tube I have heard. I know that's a brave bold statement to make as there is so much competition out there and the tube is very much under the radar from what I can tell.  

After having these around for a long time (and in and out of the amp), I had them in and was nearly spellbound one night by how great they sounded upon reentry into my amp.  I did a search and could only find one review, which I agree wholeheartedly with.  You can find it here: https://wallofsound.ca/audioreviews/amplification/6l6-vacuum-tube-review-tubes-courtesy-of-www-thetu...

I am nearly incredulous there isn't hype out there about this tube.  Simply my favorite tube.  I thought I'd pass this along as it may be much cheaper to give them a whirl then fuss with a much more expensive power cord, cable, or other tweak.  
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Showing 5 responses by metman

Just just ordered a quad of these today from Viva $92.00 with shipping   Hoping to hear those intrinsic organic overtones and supple extended high frequencies associated with these tubes. All kidding around aside the  VIva website lists these as KT 66  Variants. Looking forward to hearing them as I haven’t listened to my tube amps for almost two years
Just got my quad of these today and listened to them for about two hours.  very impressed thus far.   Is there any break in time associated with these and any audible difference over time.  Associated gear is are Modified Eico HF20 JWN amps
@salectric 
I bought these second hand And actually traded an .EL34 based  amp purchased through Jim  (which was also stellar) and some cash for these which was modified with Jim’s circuit.  I forgot how good these sound particularly with these tubes as they’ve been on the shelf for a couple of years. Jim did comment to me that these were one of his best amps. It’s a shame he’s no longer in the business
In addition to the overall tone and detail I’m very impressed with the bass definition as well. Tempted to order another quad - just because 
I think the output xformer was replaced with a Chicago brand of I’m not mistaken and seems quite robust.  I also used some winged Sed el34 with my last speakers and they did sound quite nice. It’s hard to do a comparison as I just got some new speakers and was a little concerned they wouldn’t be a good match but they sound fabulous