REF5SE tubes

Does Brent Jesse even sell any 6H30 tubes? They’re not listed anywhere on his site, even the "complete stock list". I would never have picked him as a source for these tubes. He’s good for a NOS GE 6550 on the power regulator, though.

Viva Tubes still lists up to matched quads of the Sovtek and EH Gold variants in stock. I’ve had good luck with them when sourcing matched KT88 tubes.

I collected some sets of ARC Select and Platinum grade 6H30 from Upscale over the years - though I’ve now moved on from my ARC Reference components. Quite frankly, I found "plain" Platinum grade non-cryo just as good. Also tried those ARC Select in a Rogue Hera II preamp (octet of 6H30), hoping to quiet it down, and it didn’t make a lick of difference - still noisy as hell on 96dB speakers 😅

So I got the Premium tube set from the Tubestore, matched and balance, and right out of the box, they sound great. I got the preamp used, it's a 2011, and the 6550c tube sure appears (?)  it could possibly be the original. There is no markings on the tube. Supposedly the 6H30's were changed. At least now I know i'm starting fresh.

Thanks to all for your input

Cheers

If you haven't, I'd suggest changing the 6550 if it is that old. If / when it goes it can take out other components in the PS. 3000 hours is the recommended time to replace, I believe,