Joe wrote:

They use them in guitar amps for the way they transition into
distortion, tone
The RCA with the black plates do sound totally different, they are going
after specific tubes made by spacific factorys , spacific years
They ID them by plates, getters, tops, logos.
A set of domestic GE 6CA7's or RCA 6V6's is a hard find in 2006.
All the Eastern block and Chinese (fancy silkscreen reliable Groove
Tubes) just sound lousy or short
You cant run them in a classic Marshall JTM 45 and play Led
Zepplin.........even if you turn down to 11.

Some of these rock and roll and Bass guitar amps like a 70's Ampeg SVT
are very hard on tubes, who needs a failure in the middle of a show or
have lug a spare 90 pound beast around.

Check out the prices on Telefunken 12AX7's, GE 6550's and British
KT-88's.......OUCH !

-Joe


"funkbastler" wrote in message
...

Somebody please clue me in about what's going on. A pair
of 6CA7's just went for $203. Earlier today, a pair of
6SN7's went for over $300 (I missed out on checking the final
price). I get the impression that people are collecting these,
and the color of the base, or the shape of the getter, or
*whatever* is very important (to them) in determining the value.

Can anyone really tell the difference in the way 6SN7's by
RCA/Sylvania/Dumont/etc sound in a preamp? Does a brown base
impart better tonal qualities than a black base, or is it the
other way around?

Tell me what's driving these ridiculous prices.... I may be
sitting on a gold mine here and not know it.

--
-fb-


Its also very much a vanity thing. The well-eared gang claim to hear
subtle differences (always an improvement) in certain tubes and will pay
dearly for them...if for no other reason than bragging rights. And then
some tubes have a better proven reliability when stretched to abuse - as
Joe sez.
I can't hear these differences so to me any 6SN7 will always be just
another old TV set tube and anything more than $2/pair is excessive.
If you fancy yourself to be a seller in that market be prepared to have
on hand a $500 tube tester sitting somewhere to validate your claims and
a tonne of otherwise-useless BS writing skills.
Do some research and find out which ones sell and go for it. That
research and effort is what the deep-pocketed audio buyer is ultimately
paying for.
\
-ex