Tube rolling with Quicksilver Mono 60s -- from KT77 to KT88? KT 120? etc.


Happy Turkey Day!  I have Quicksilver 60 Monos and I'm using Gold Lion KT77s. They sound great. The amp came with JJ KT88s and they were a bit bright/harsh. The GL 77s are better.

For variety's sake, I'm thinking of having another set to just try for variation. The monos can use KT77, KT90, KT88, KT120 or KT150 outputs.

I have heard the Gold Lion KT88s are great tubes, but I'd also be open to others (not more 77s, though).

Does anyone one have a sense of the kinds of sound changes might be brought by either KT90 or better KT88 or KT120 or KT150s?

If it matters, I'm using a QS Line stage and stand mount speakers, 8 ohm 87 db.

One thing I'm looking for (possibly) is a somewhat tighter bass, but I'd be open to hearing what other sonic changes might result from other tubes.

Thanks.

hilde45

Showing 4 responses by noromance

@oldhvymec Totally. I ran 60s RCA 6L6 black plates in my EICOs. And 5881 Tung Sol brown base. Now run the 7581A which make the amps sound like really clean and neutral 34s. QS used run the sweet 8417 until they ran out of them.
Donvito is correct. I got carried away on tubes and forgot the QSilvers. While you can generally go up from 6L6 to KT88 in an amp designed for the smaller tube, you can't always go down from a big tube to a smaller tube in an amp designed to work with a bigger tube. This is because the plate voltage among other specs won't tolerate lower powered tubes. The TS 7851A maxes at 500v anode while a KT77 can stand 800v. I suspect the QS may have 600v on hand and that rules out the smaller 6L6 class tubes.
Second new Tung Sol 7581A. They're my current tube in 2 sets of monoblocs.  I've also heard good things about new TS EL34B.