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Date: Tue, 26 Oct 93 12:00:39 EDT
From: henry@ego.psych.mcgill.ca (Henry Pasternack)
Subject: Tube-building thoughts.

   I got a very interesting catalog from Angela Instruments
yesterday.  It costs $5, you can use your credit card to order
by phone (301 725-0451), and you get 158 pages of indescribable
funk relating to vintage guitar, audio, tubes, etc.  Not a
bonanza for DIY tube audiophiles, but an interesting read none-
theless.  Very colorful language, and a really good guide to the 
different varities of tubes out there.  Interesting pictures and 
graphics.  Recommended value.

   The catalog mentions the 6BG6G as a way-better replacement 
for the KT-66 than the Sovtek 5881's.  Does anyone have any data
on this tube?

   I'm curious if anyone has any thoughts on the relative sonic
merits of the 6550 and the 6L6GC/5881/807.  How does the 6550
do in triode mode?  I'm straddling the fence on whether to use
a pair of 6550s in my amp (it's starting to come together now,
finally) or two pairs of 5881s.  My output transformers are best
suited to the 6550s (5K primaries), but they can be coaxed into
a variety of other applications.  Help me, Mr. Wizard!  I guess
my biggest problem with 6550s is that they look crummy, IMHO.

   Actually, this choice of output tubes is a fairly complicated
subject, which I have been mulling over an over and over again
for more than a year.  I need to break the gridlock.

   Has anyone had any experience with the new Russian 6550s?  Are
they as UGLY as the Chinese junk I see in magazine ads?

-Henry