Sovtek 6550 - Can they really be THIS bad???


Hello.

Just picked up a new Jadis today, and I'm none too pleased with the sound. As I have had blissful sonic experiences with two of the models lower on the Totem Pole from this manufacturer, the only thing I can trace it to is the Sovtek 6550. Can they really be THIS bad???

I already switched out the JAN Philips 12AX7 and Golden Dragon 12AU7 for Mullard Blackburn and Ei respectively. The improvement has been subtle, but it still ain't working for me...

I have used ElectroHarmonix 6550 in the past, and while they didn't float my boat, I'm told that EH represents a signficant step up from the regular old Sovteks. JJ E34L and KT88 just have sounded really splendid to me. So, now I'm looking at picking up 8 new output tubes if I don't wish to live with such uninspired sound.
trelja

Showing 1 response by mwilson

EH is made by Sovtek, in case you didn't know. Some EH's are said to be selected as the top-testing tubes from regular Sovtek runs, others seem to be exclusively EH offerings (the gold-pins, and some of their "copy" tubes like the 6CA7.)

That said, I've owned Sovtek KT88s and thought they were pretty bad, but I could be happy with their 6922s (a preamp tube.) For EH, I've owned the EL84 (okay), the EL34 (not very good) and the 6CA7 (fat bottle EL34 - better, but still prefer KT88s) as well as a couple preamp tubes I haven't any memory of. Svetlana (originals) and EI (Yugo) beat Sovtek and EH in all encounters I've had, though I still remain surprised by the Sovtek 6922 - mainly for their bass impact.

That said, these are all opinions, and system matching of course always plays a big part.