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Best modern 6550 tube for ARC per-amp

There are a lot of modern 6550 tube in the market such as Reissue Tung-Sol 6550,  GE-6550A (Green letter), Svetlana 6550, Russia Gold Lion 6550/KT88........etc.  What is the best modern 6550 tube for ARC per-amp in your opinion?  (PS: GE 6550A is not newly made but still a lot in the market).

I used to own a NOS black plate 3 holes Tung-Sol 6550 but which has leak and now I’m using the stock Svetlana 6550. I want to buy a nice sound 6550 for my ARC Ref 6 and my stock Svetlana 6550 will be used as spare. Will not consider NOS black -plate Tung-Sol again because of pricy and not sure the condition.


mmbl622
musicmann1
96 posts
 
There have been man anecdotal posts over the years regarding tube rolling in ARC Preamp’s, and the 6550 in their power supply definitely changes the sound....and I can “parrot“....ah I mean 
confirm, (😊) , this in my observation as well in my REF 6 SE......
Cheers....

tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,865 posts
 
Audible differences can cleanly  be heard with any old Jimmy Buffet song, fellow Parrotheads…
johnss
564 posts
 
that 6550 is not in the signal path, but I bet you will still hear a small difference. 

I would be inclined to try a PSVANE KT88 gray glass tube...
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