Alternative 6SN7 family tubes

[2FarGone]

I have a Von Gaylord LAD-L2 preamp that I’ve been running brown-base 5692 tubes in and the combination has been exemplary, but the last matched set of tubes (purchased from a reputable tube reseller) lasted only about 7 months before beginning to produce an unacceptable noise level. Does anyone have a suggestion for 6SN7 family tubes that may have comparable performance to the brown-base 5692? I’m okay with spending the money for good tubes, but I consider 7 months to be an unacceptable lifespan for tubes this expensive.

I prefer not to purchase Russian or Chinese tubes of current manufacture for personal reasons I needn’t go into here. Any suggestions?

 

[Michaels HiFi]

Hi - 2 things:

Possible there is something in your unit that may be causing them to last a shorter time;

What year are the tubes you currently have? Without knowing year/mfg it's impossible to make suggestions.

Happy to help but need to know exactly what tubes you have now. If you can post 3-4 pics of what you have now that would help as well.

 

[2FarGone]

Thanks for the response.

I’ll pull the tubes that are in the preamp today or tomorrow and install the backup set that I bought at the same time as the first ones. The set in there now came from a different reseller. I’ll post photos of both once I get them switched out.

I doubt there’s a problem with the preamp. It’s only a few years old, and Ray at VG tells me that tubes should last about 5 years before being switched out. There’s no power switch on the front of the unit, since it’s Ray’s feeling that inrush current shortens tube life as much as leaving the preamp on.

The tubes just removed are on the white tablecloth. The ones just installed are on the receipt, purchased from SND Tube Sales about 5 years ago. The ones just removed came from Brent Jessee.

Even the “new” ones aren’t as quiet as I’d hoped, though. This rig is already on two dedicated 20-amp circuits, so I’m not quite sure where to go from here. I'll dig into it further tomorrow.

 

[2FarGone]

…

 

[Michaels HiFi]

…

Thanks for posting the pics.

From what I can tell they look like different tube manufacturers and internals - one appears to be a GE and one a CBS/Hytron. It's possible they are the same internal structures and are still the same tubes - just one being rebranded - but I can't tell.

They *typically* have different sounds so depending on how dialed in your system is you may detect a dissimilar sound from between the speakers. My experience having tested and compared dozens of GE's of various decades vs. CBS/Hytron is the CBS it typically a more analytical and sound I'm not a fan of. Hopefully disclosed to you either they are the same structure just one being a rebrand or different brands and structures. Either case should have been disclosed prior to sale.

I personally don't feel 5692's are worth the crazy prices they now command. A tube can still test fairly strong but be noisy.

I hate to say it, but I've bought plenty of mediocre tubes from reputable sellers over the years and that is what got me going down the tube tester road - I received 2 very poor sets of tubes from an extremely reputable seller in a row and by the time I realized it, I was outside any recourse time period and was out quite a bit of money. As tubes become more scares, this is going to become more common.

Shoot me a PM and happy to make some suggestions for you.

 

[2FarGone]

Thanks for posting the pics.

From what I can tell they look like different tube manufacturers and internals - one appears to be a GE and one a CBS/Hytron. It's possible they are the same internal structures and are still the same tubes - just one being rebranded - but I can't tell.

They *typically* have different sounds so depending on how dialed in your system is you may detect a dissimilar sound from between the speakers. My experience having tested and compared dozens of GE's of various decades vs. CBS/Hytron is the CBS it typically a more analytical and sound I'm not a fan of. Hopefully disclosed to you either they are the same structure just one being a rebrand or different brands and structures. Either case should have been disclosed prior to sale.

I personally don't feel 5692's are worth the crazy prices they now command. A tube can still test fairly strong but be noisy.

I hate to say it, but I've bought plenty of mediocre tubes from reputable sellers over the years and that is what got me going down the tube tester road - I received 2 very poor sets of tubes from an extremely reputable seller in a row and by the time I realized it, I was outside any recourse time period and was out quite a bit of money. As tubes become more scares, this is going to become more common.

Shoot me a PM and happy to make some suggestions for you.

That appears to be my experience at this point, so will do. .

 

[jdal]

In my 6SN7 based preamp, I have tried NOS 6FQ7's and 6CG7 tubes (mostly RCA) with adapters. I would check with the manufacturer. It could be an option.

 

[2FarGone]

In my 6SN7 based preamp, I have tried NOS 6FQ7's and 6CG7 tubes (mostly RCA) with adapters. I would check with the manufacturer. It could be an option.

What would be the advantage of doing so? Aside from probably lesser demand for the tubes themselves, are there any benefits sonically?

 

[Michaels HiFi]

What would be the advantage of doing so? Aside from probably lesser demand for the tubes themselves, are there any benefits sonically?

Typically it will either allow you to get into a lesser expensive tube and/or open doors to a different sound.

For instance one of my 300B amps can run 6H30, 6DT8's or 6CG7's. Each tube offers a different amount of gain and sound.

But like jdal correctly said, you need to make sure your gear manufacturer is ok with it.

ETA: some times adapters can be a detriment to sound - but not always. For instance the gain from me running vintage WWII 807's in my 6L6 amp using adapters is such a positive, any potential negative impact of adapters I don't care about.

 

[jdal]

What would be the advantage of doing so? Aside from probably lesser demand for the tubes themselves, are there any benefits sonically?

It’s been a while since I have used them. My guess is that a NOS RCA 6FQ7, even with an adapter, will sound better than a current production Russian 6SN7, but I have no experience with those.

 

[2FarGone]

Typically it will either allow you to get into a lesser expensive tube and/or open doors to a different sound.

For instance one of my 300B amps can run 6H30, 6DT8's or 6CG7's. Each tube offers a different amount of gain and sound.

But like jdal correctly said, you need to make sure your gear manufacturer is ok with it.

ETA: some times adapters can be a detriment to sound - but not always. For instance the gain from me running vintage WWII 807's in my 6L6 amp using adapters is such a positive, any potential negative impact of adapters I don't care about.

In my admittedly limited experience with adapters, I’ve indeed noticed a degradation of the sound when they were used. I don’t need additional gain, so I think that I’ll just kind of file this tidbit of information away for possible later use. My guess is that Ray at VG would not approve in any case.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

In my admittedly limited experience with adapters, I’ve indeed noticed a degradation of the sound when they were used. I don’t need additional gain, so I think that I’ll just kind of file this tidbit of information away for possible later use. My guess is that Ray at VG would not approve in any case.

Good news is there is a fantastic variety of great 6SN7's available (and admittedly a lot of poor sounding ones).

I've probably run at least 50 different ones through my gear to get a pretty strong grasp on their different sounds by manufacturer (which can be different than what the label says), place of manufacture and year of manufacture. You've got some great options.

I *personally* would not use an adapter in this instance.