the closest thing to Tung-Sol 5881.TS6l6gc or kt66?

[espinete]

I'd like to know more tubes with similar tonal characteristics as the Reissue Tung-Sol 5881 power tube. But with higher power handling.
Do you think kt66 sounds more like a ts5881 than a tung sol 6L6gc?

[cruisemates]

I can tell you my amp tech just took some Ruby power tubes out of my Bogner last night and put in Sovtek 5881s. he said Ruby makes great pre-amp tubes (and I agree, my Marshall JTM 30 just sings with them) but he said the Ruby 6L6xxx tubes are cheap and fall apart.

I have not tried it out yet - but I heard what the Rubys power tubes were doing and it was not good. I believe many techs like the 5881s for their durability. (not a tech myself).

My personal limitation is that I rarely get a chance to really crank up any amp - so if I can't get the tone from the pre-amp it isn't happening for me. My LP standard through the ruby pre-amp tubes on my small Marshall (JTM-30) also with 5881 tubes sounds great.

[espinete]

Would you say tung sol 6L6GC's are closer than kt66 tubes to the sound of the tung sol 5881's ? kt66 instead?

[RocksOff]

I would say that any decent quality 5881 is more similar to a 6L6 than a KT66.

[Joe Porto]

http://thetubestore.com/6l6review.html

You may find the above link useful...

[espinete]

Thank you both. That's the kind of information i was looking for

[Chicago Slim]

After playing Tung Sol 5881's, for over 25 years. I've been using JJ 6L6-GC's. They sound good in my amp, and have held up remarkably well. Many others, have not had the same experience. I'll occasionally put an old pair of 5881's, in my amp for comparison. I keep going back to the JJ's. In the past, when I would put a modern tube into my amp, I would always switch back to my old 5881's. YMMV.

[espinete]

Thank you, Chicago Slim !
I've got jj 6L6gc's in my headstrong amp. For my tastes the best power tubes i ever tried:
1. tung-sol 5881
2.jj 6L6GC

the thing is, i don't want two ab763 amps with same sound.
i love ts5881 tone but they only can handle 400v. maybe 450v.
voltage plate of my super reverb measures up to 500v, so either i choose Tung sol 6L6GC power tubes or i check one zener to drope the voltage for current 5881's.