PT XIII - New Reference. Tung Sol black Bottles - 1940's vintage.

Say hello to my new reference valves. Yet another score from USA. A beautiful light airy mid range. Piano playing is crisp and exact. Soundstage is wide and 3D in nature with very carefully positioned band members. It is with extreme ease that I can follow every band member and not in a rushed manner, the music just simply flows with great clarity and with a timeless manner. Drum work is fast, snappy, accurate. These valves have no problem in transcribing complex jazz passages. Every note just seems to start and stop with pinpoint accuracy. These valves are a little strident and female vocals can appear a little shouty but in all honesty it's something I can live with. These valves are sure packed with an addicitve factor. It's been quite some time that I've wanted to try so many pieces of vinyl to see how a pair of valves perform. My only gripe with these valves is that they take quite a while to warm up, but boy once they are warmed up they perform, and perform well! I have to say that in all the valves that I have reviewed TUNG SOL seem to produce the best to my ears. I'm now running out of 6SL7GT's and shall
be starting with the 6SL7GTW's, I've ventured into the VT229 territory and if my wallet can handle it, the ECC35 and
5691 variants. The USA seems to be a fertile hunting ground for these valves.



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So how do these fair on the shoot-out table?
1. Tung Sol 6S7GT (Black Bottle) 9.6/10
2. Tung Sol 6SL7GT (Orange base) 9.5/10
3. Mullard 6SL7GT (Black base) 9.25/10
3.= Ken Rad 6SL7GT (Black Base) VT229 9.25/10
4. Tung Sol 6SL7GT VT229 (Black bottle) 9.1/10
5. General Electric GSL7GT (Black base 1970's) 8.75 / 10
5. Slyvania 6SL7GT black base 7/10
7. Brimar 6SL7GT (black base) 6.25/10
8. Reflektor black base 70's version 5/10

Next time, we shall be looking into the more exotic 6188 and 5691 variants!