[bladesmith]

Has anyone seen any good deals on 6SN7's lately  ?

(Looking for a set/pair, if anyone knows of any. )

Thanks,
V...

[bunky]

I like the Black treasure CV181-Z from Hanshare electronics ebay store.  I have purchased several matched quads of black treasure power tubes and several matched pairs of the CV181-Z preamp/driver tubes from this seller with zero problems.

[RPM123]

PM sent.

[Wig]

I'm in the market for deal on a pair of 6sn7 too.

Wig

[RPM123]

I'm in the market for deal on a pair of 6sn7 too.

Wig

PM sent

[Hugh]

Looking for some too.

[RPM123]

Looking for some too.

PM sent

[JackD]

Guys you can buy tested NOS tubes from Andy at VTS for the same price or cheaper than this Ebay stuff or the Psvane or Black Treasures. Pretty much the same with Brent Jessee.

[DaveC113]

I'd recommend NOS over current production as well.

All 6SN7s are good tubes and you can get US-made NOS 6SN7s for cheaper than the cheapest current production Chinese tubes on ebay.

If you want a very quiet tube check out 5692s, they are a ruggedized military version with a reinforced internal structure. AFAIK they are all the same internally, the red base tubes go for more but I see no difference. I'd just go for Sylvania 5692s, you can get them for right at or under $100/pair.

For cheapies, any Sylvania GTA or GTB will be a great tube, no need to get the super expensive versions. The later coin-base GTB tubes got a bad rap somehow but I like them a lot, they have a larger envelope. I picked up 8 of them NOS for well under $100 a while ago. I have a ton of 6SN7s, lol...

IMO the pricey versions of 6SN7 are not that much better than the cheapest, but YMMV depending on the gear... my preamp balances out the non-linearities so tube rolling doesn't make as much of a difference vs typical circuits.

[JackD]

Dave

I've never had any luck with the Chinese tubes, but that may have been me.  I bought a pair of tube monoblocks about 15 years ago that needed a pair of 6SN7's in each as drivers when tube prices were down and there were a number of reputable sellers on the Bay.  I bought about 40 matched pairs of various brands for very little including a quad of 1943 Sylvania GT's with the factory inspection tags still attached.  On many of the auctions my main competition was Peter Q from Audio Note UK.

[sfox7076]

Other option is 12SN7 if you can kick the voltage on the filament up.  They are a lot cheaper than the 6SN7s.  I have about 10 or so matched pairs of RCA JAN smoked out tubes that I will have to sell off at some point.  All from the same batch.  The 6SN7 versions are $100 a pair new.  12SN7s are much cheaper.  I overpaid to get them all from the same lot, but they are still like 1/2 the price.

Shawn

[DaveC113]

Other option is 12SN7 if you can kick the voltage on the filament up.  They are a lot cheaper than the 6SN7s.  I have about 10 or so matched pairs of RCA JAN smoked out tubes that I will have to sell off at some point.  All from the same batch.  The 6SN7 versions are $100 a pair new.  12SN7s are much cheaper.  I overpaid to get them all from the same lot, but they are still like 1/2 the price.

Shawn

I'm going to run 6 or 12V heaters in the new Aikido buffer/preamp I'm currently building so I can run 12SN7 or 12SX7 too. I hear the the 12SX7s are awesome, Broski recommended them so there's that...

Jack, I have had bad luck with new production tubes too... no more for me, NOS tubes all seem way better. I know some people really like the high end new production 6SN7s like Black Treasure, PSVane and Create but they are very expensive. What tubes did you end up preferring? I'd have a hard time picking myself but would probably go with the Melz metal-base 6N8S or 5692. I managed to get the Melz 6N8S for $40/pair, they are now $80-100/pair on ebay. The 1578 hole-plates are getting ridiculous at $200+/pair. The construction quality on those two seem more rugged than others and result in less noise, especially the 5692. The 12SX7 is supposed to beat any 6 or 12SN7 though, I look forward to trying them.

[JackD]

Dave

In the amps I preferred the RCA Graphite GT's.  I am waiting on my Modwright preamp to be reshipped as UPS destroyed the first one, so I will have to see what I prefer in it.  I actually don't have any 5692's.  I have all 6SN7's or VT-231's from Sylvania, RCA, Raytheon, Ken-Rad, GE, CBS, Hytron and Tungsol.  One combo I liked was RCA GT's in the V1 slot of each amp and Tungsol GTB's in the V2 position. 

[Hugh]

If any of you guys got a pair of RCA 5692 Red Base then I'd be interested.