OaklandA
Gold Supporting Member
- Messages
- 390
Ok, so I'm getting a PRRI soon and was going through my tube stash to see if I had anything interesting for a tube upgrade or whether I'll order new tubes. While I was doing this a friend came over and saw a pair of what I've always thought were JAN GE 6V6GTA tubes (probably from the late 70's). They had come in a MMB I had once that I later upgraded to JJ's.
Anyway he looks at them and says they are most likely fakes, counterfeits. In fact he's sure that they are Fender tubes that someone had scrubed the Fender stamp off and restamped to look like JAN GE's. You can see traces of scarlet ink on there like Fender uses and make out a small "C" and a "TA" on one tube, but slight hints of ink on the other when held to the light. Further he believes that a real JAN GE would have the bigger base as opposed to the smaller base like these.
He later brought over a Fender 6V6 and while very similar they definitely are not the exact same tube. The plates on the Fender tube have a slightly different shape and are much darker.
What do you guys think? I've heard of counterfeit tubes floating around but I'm not convinced they're fake yet. Not a big deal - I have a genuine set of NOS Hytron brown base or could also go new production Tung Sol.
Apologies in advance for the pictures....I am a lousy photographer....tried my best to get the light right.
Hopefully you can see the "6V6 GTA" as well as the GE "dots":
Another angle trying to capture the ink:
And last, the Fender tube (Chinese?):
Discuss...
Thanks
Anyway he looks at them and says they are most likely fakes, counterfeits. In fact he's sure that they are Fender tubes that someone had scrubed the Fender stamp off and restamped to look like JAN GE's. You can see traces of scarlet ink on there like Fender uses and make out a small "C" and a "TA" on one tube, but slight hints of ink on the other when held to the light. Further he believes that a real JAN GE would have the bigger base as opposed to the smaller base like these.
He later brought over a Fender 6V6 and while very similar they definitely are not the exact same tube. The plates on the Fender tube have a slightly different shape and are much darker.
What do you guys think? I've heard of counterfeit tubes floating around but I'm not convinced they're fake yet. Not a big deal - I have a genuine set of NOS Hytron brown base or could also go new production Tung Sol.
Apologies in advance for the pictures....I am a lousy photographer....tried my best to get the light right.
Hopefully you can see the "6V6 GTA" as well as the GE "dots":

Another angle trying to capture the ink:

And last, the Fender tube (Chinese?):

Discuss...
Thanks