Tube suggestion for Quicksilver Mid Mono Blocks

Mid Monos are great amps.   Its like they have multiple personalities.   I like JJ 6L6 and JJ EL34 in these amps.  They present in different ways.  The 6L6 has a great low end and good upper frequency energy , midrange is slightly laid back compared to EL34.  

The KT77 is like an EL34 on steroids and the KT66 is more like a 6L6 but more clear and full sounding.   

Right now my pair has JJ 6L6 matched quad, matched pair of Reflektor 6n23eb drivers, and some holy grail late 50's RCA 12ax7a.   They sound great 

I also have a new quad of EL34 JJ that I will use down the road.   I tend to like the more rock and roll attitude of the 6L6 in these.    I love it with EL34 too.   

Buy tubes from a trusted source and hopefully no more issues.  

I pulled mine out of storage and put them back in my system to retube and make sure all was well.   I ended up leaving them in for a little while .   They don't sound quite like my 300b but they are definitely great amps.   

I was plannning to use them in a second system but ended up buying an integrated amp.   Not so sure I want to sell them.   I think I am going to hang on to them and rotate them in and out of my system like I do with other gear.   They are too nice to sell for the $1000 or so I would get for them.  

@oddiofyl 

Nice to meet another QuickSilver fan. Yeah, I almost sold them and pulled it, just glad no one jumped on them.

I used to run 6L6's in my MiniMites, I just dont see them anymore. Im thinking of getting a quad of kt66's and 6L6's IF I find any online.

The JJ e34L's sounded nice but at least one of them blew within 3 days, puts a sour taste in the mouth. I think the JJ KT88's aren't half the tubes the GL Kt88's are, just my opinion, but to me its day and night.

I bought some Heresy IV's and they are too sensitive for the 88's.

T

One of my favorite EL34  is the EH with the green logo.  Not sure if they are still available 

Fortunately those are tough little amps and when a tube goes it usually only blows the mains fuse.  

I pulled the ad I had up on those due to the ridiculous low ball offers....  glad I did because there aren't many amps better than these at this price.  Even new at $2200 they are one of the best values out there. 

Supposedly Western Electric will be producing EL34 and 6l6 tubes someday.   Along with 12ax7...  Imagine ?  

I’ve owned that amp years ago and used EL34 tubes . Why would one blown tube put a sour taste in your mouth? BTW, I am a QS fanboy!

@yogiboy 

"Why would one blown tube put a sour taste in your mouth?"

A tube should more than three days. :-)

@yogiboy 

What QS are you using today?

I always thought I wanted some V-4's, now I want a Horn. :-)

Look at my system , it lists the QS amp that I am using. BTW, just because you had a tube failure in 3 days doesn’t mean that you should write off the EL34 tube to use with the Mid Mono amps!

Those Mono amps are discontinued. Most of the QS amps are discontinued. It looks like Mike is winding down. The pickins' are real slim if you take a gander at the QS site!

I think you are right Yogi.   I think the materials shortage also discontinued some QS a little early.  

@yogiboy 

"Those Mono amps are discontinued. Most of the QS amps are discontinued. It looks like Mike is winding down. The pickins' are real slim if you take a gander at the QS site!"

Funny, I was just thinking that today. Who will take QSs place?

I havent given up on e34....just JJ.

I purchased a new set of GL KT-77’s for my Had Inspire. At about 50 hours one let go damaging the amp. The exploding capacitor made quite a pop. It took me about 2 hours and 10 Q-Tips to clean out the mess. Dennis replaced the cap and the connector strip that broke from the explosion. I’m not a Quick Silver owner yet but I’m looking hard at the KT’s. Check with Hilde45 as he has a pair and experiments a lot. I have tried about a dozen power tubes in my amp. I have NOS GEC and SED and Tungsol , I like them all. I’ve run modern GL, JJ, EH , Psvane and Tungsol. My extensive testing and spending left me with this conclusion. Get the best NOS input and driver tubes you can afford and run modern power tubes. I prefer the Tungsol KT -150, and KT - 120’s. I had the similar results with reproduction Dynaco MK III’s. Regards , Mike. 

Great question. I love my KT77 for my QS Mono 60's but got rid of my KT 150's. Now I'm looking for KT66 as well.

Thanks everyone.

I am using KT77's now and do like them. The 88's sound awesome except they are slightly fatiguing with my Heresys. They were great with my last speakers but just slightly hot currently.

Im looking to get some backups, definitely another set of GL77's  but....maybe some 66's as well.

@buellrider97 

sux about the blown tube. I guess it can happen to GL's just like JJ's.

@buellrider97 "...Dennis replaced the cap and the connector strip that broke from the explosion. I’m not a Quick Silver owner yet but I’m looking hard at the KT’s."

Coming from an Inspire amp myself to Quicksilver Mono 120s for a little more drive, the key I found, and  a few colleagues, with the larger higher power monos, was ensuring to pair up with a really good tube preamplifier. While the QS Linestage is a good match for the lower power Mid-Monos amps, I found the higher power 60/120 Monos come to life more with a really good 6SN7 preamp. Imo, it’s the extra it takes for QS amps to give the Inspire a run for the money. Keep us posted if you try the new KT Monos! 👍

I used my Mid Monos for a while with a Zesto Leto preamp....   that preamp really demonstrated how good those little 40 watt amps are.     

In my experience the preamp is the most important component in the chain.  Get it wrong and the whole system suffers.  Get it right and you'll hear a pronounced improvement in SQ