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Thread: The 6SL7GT valve & It's variants - MY ADVENTURES!

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  1. #1
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

    Default The 6SL7GT valve & It's variants - MY ADVENTURES!

    Part 1 - Intro!

    This year I decided to properly get into tube rolling on the Croft pre-amp.

    I decided to embark on some adventures with the 6SL7GT so far I have tried the following

    Mullard 6SL7GT - UK
    RCA black base 6SL7GT (AMERICAN)
    Reflector 6H9C (Russian) - Non military version
    Sylvania black base 6SL7GT - USA

    On order

    MELZ 6H9C Metallica base
    MELZ 6H9C Black base

    Currently trying to do a deal on some General Electric (USA) 6SL7GT'S

    I'll post some pics and findings as I get time.


    So my first valve. The Reflector 6H9C (NON MILITARY version)

    Reflector 6SL7 69HC with box 01.JPG

    This is not my image. My camera's battery was exhausted. These can be purchased very cheaply from Russia or Watford valves if you don't want the hassle of e$cum. I would heartily recommend trying this valve out purely for so you get some idea of how the valve can be bettered. It's only when you hear a so-so valve do you then start to appreciate just how good things can be. It's an inoffensive valve which is pretty much middle of the road. It's not very detailed when compared to the Sylvania's and Mullard's of this world but for a cheap starter it's perfectly ok. I'd probably keep a set of this in my box as spares when testing out new amp purchases when I dont want to put additional hours of some of my rarer valves. It's not particularly good at soundstage depth or instrument separation and timbral detail is severely lacking. This valve is magical in being a benchmark of how crapiness (sic). But, as stated if you learn it's weaknesses you can then appreciate a really good valve.

    STAY TOOBED!
    SS
    CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10

    VALVE
    PRE
    Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker



  2. #2
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Manchester, UK

    Posts: 266
    I'm Simon.

    Default

    my favourite 6SL7 are the Sylvania 6SL7WGT brown base



    best of luck
    Simon
    SJS Arcadia Line Level Pre-amplifiers, Headphone amps, MM Phono Stages and SET Power amps - service, repairs, upgrades.
    Designed and hand-built in England.

  3. #3
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by sjs View Post
    my favourite 6SL7 are the Sylvania 6SL7WGT brown base



    best of luck
    Simon
    Hi Simon,

    I agree, but for best sound, it's got to be the 1950s vintage ones, which look like this:



    Those sound stunningly good!

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  4. #4
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Manchester, UK

    Posts: 266
    I'm Simon.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    Hi Simon,

    I agree, but for best sound, it's got to be the 1950s vintage ones, which look like this:



    Those sound stunningly good!

    Marco.
    Marco

    Aren't they the same ones? ;-)

    There are some 6SN7s which look v similar and they are also v nice

    Simon

    Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
    SJS Arcadia Line Level Pre-amplifiers, Headphone amps, MM Phono Stages and SET Power amps - service, repairs, upgrades.
    Designed and hand-built in England.

  5. #5
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

    Default

    The 50s ones have dark black anodes, not grey

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

    Also **SAY NO** to unjust 'vaccine passports' or certificates, which are totally incompatible with a FREE society!!!


  6. #6
    Join Date: Nov 2011

    Location: Manchester, UK

    Posts: 266
    I'm Simon.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    The 50s ones have dark black anodes, not grey

    Marco.
    I think it's just the lighting on the photo I chose from Google :-)
    The one I have had always had gloss black anodes. :-)


    Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
    SJS Arcadia Line Level Pre-amplifiers, Headphone amps, MM Phono Stages and SET Power amps - service, repairs, upgrades.
    Designed and hand-built in England.

  7. #7
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

    Default

    Simon,

    Thanks for replying. I've seen these over on ebay.com and they are getting more expensive as each month goes by! I'll be dipping my toes into the Russian variants at the end of this month. I have some Melz coming. I'm listening to to Sylvania black base 6SL7GT's at the moment and so far they have been excellent. Prior to those I had some Mullard's in which were simply sublime. The Sylvania's are stopping in until the Melz turn up and then I'll write some words on my findings.

    Thanks

    A
    SS
    CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10

    VALVE
    PRE
    Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker



  8. #8
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

    Default

    Hmmmmm not liking the Sylvania black base 6SL7GT as much as the Mullards. More details tomorrow when I plonk the Mullards back in for comparison.

  9. #9
    Join Date: Nov 2010

    Location: Yorkshire

    Posts: 9,302
    I'm Andrew.

    Default

    Pt II - Sylvania Black Base 6SL7GT

    WOW, what a valve. Very very detailed. A massive improvement over the Sovtek 6H9C valve. The soundstage is very cohesive in fact it's the first thing that strikes you when you try them out. The Sylvania does lose out however to my Reference valve which is the Mullard 6SL7GT in that piano presentation is a little lacking in end note decay in that you can hear the note "wobble" as it decays. This is something that I don't get with the Mullards piano notes are sharp and crisp and have a very sharp leading edge. The Sylvania's have less end note decay and notes don't seem to "float" as well the Mullards. Percussion work on the Sylvania's is excellent but again the Mullards just seem to ace them again. I have to say that the Sylvania's are very very good at findings those little extra details in the background of live recordings. Cal Tjaders Session Live record being a good example. You can hear several members of the audience getting up out of seats whilst talking to each other and squeaking floor boards as they move around. All excellently rendered by the Sylvania's. All in all a very very good valve but I'm glad I have my Mullards back in. I'll give these a score of 7/10.

    DSCN3515.jpgDSCN3517.jpgDSCN3516.jpg

    For a little fun I've decided to have a 6SL7GT shoot out list, so here goes.

    1. Mullard 6SL7GT 9.25/10
    2. Sylvania 6SL7GT black base 7/10
    3. Reflektor black base 70's version 5/10

  10. #10
    Join Date: Jan 2013

    Location: Birmingham

    Posts: 6,772
    I'm James.

    Default

    Any chance Andy of a picture of the valves in situ in the Croft preamp?
    Main system : VPI Scout 1.1 / JMW 9T / 2M Black / Croft 25R+ / Croft 7 / Heco Celan GT 702

    Second System : Goldring Lenco GL75 / AT95EX / Pioneer SX590 / Spendor SP2

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