HiFi Valve Amplifiers & Valves
The amplifier can be used with (at least!) the following valves:
Input stages:
| Valve type | Cyrillic | Brand/type Stocked - click to see our valve page |
|---|---|---|
| 6N1P | 6H1П | Voskhod: NOS The classic 6N1P tube from Voskhod (Kaluga) great sound. |
| 6N1P-EV | 6H1ПEB | Voskhod and Nevz (Novosibirsk) NOS, Military ruggedised, extended life, version. |
| 6N1P-VI | 6H1ПBИ | Nevz: NOS NIB, Military Ruggedised version. Optimised for Peak/pulse current; great for punchy bass and for use in an output stage. |
| 6922 | e.g. Electro-Harmonics 6922EH and 6922EH Gold (not stocked but tested; sound great; identical construction to the 6N23P-EV triodes) | |
| E88CC | Tesla, JJ etc. (not stocked but all tested) | |
| ECC88 | Philips, Siemens etc. (not stocked but tested) | |
| 6N23P | 6H23П | Reflektor (Saratov) and Voskhod: NOS standard and Military ruggedised versions. Fantastic sound, really clear highs and firm solid bass. |
| 6N23P-EV | 6H23ПEB | Reflektor: NOS & NIB: Best of the bunch! Military ruggedised, extended life version of this fanstasic sounding triode. |
| 6N6P | 6H6П | Nevz: Taller tube, higher power, double triode, designed for audio. Lower i/p gain. Sounds similar to the 6N23P-EV i.e. excellent; Two versions stocked, both NOS. |
| 6N2P-EV | 6H2ПEB | Voskhod: NIB & NOS: Provides higher i/p gain, for lower input signal applications. Impeccable sound, Military ruggedised, extended life version stocked. |
NOS (New Old Stock) valves are new, unused valves from old stock, not modern, remade valves. A NIB valve is a NOS valve in its original manufacturer's box. All are tested rigorously by us before being used in any of our audio equipment.
Note: all of these valves can be ‘rolled’ in to the input stages without modification, ideally the amplifier will need to be calibrated or tuned whenever valves are swapped or replaced.
Output stages:
Low Power pure triode output
| Valve type | Cyrillic | Brand/type Stocked - click to see our valve page |
|---|---|---|
| 6N1P-VI | 6H1П-BИ | Nevz (see above) |
| 6N1P | 6H1П | Voskhod (see above) |
| 6N6P | 6H6П | Nevz (see above) |
| Valve type | Cyrillic | Brand/type Stocked - click to see our valve page |
|---|---|---|
| 6BQ5/EL84 | The classic 6BQ5 and EL84 Pentodes e.g. Mullard, Philips, GEC, JJ, Electro-Harmonics, Bugera, RFT, Sovtek, TAD, Tung-Sol etc. (not stocked, some tested) | |
| 6P14P | 6П14П | Reflektor: NOS. The 6P14P is a great equivalent to the 6BQ5/EL84 pentode but with higher power capability, (14W not 12W anode power). . |
| 6P14P-EV | 6П14ПEB | Reflektor: NOS & NIB. Military ruggedised, extended life version of the 6P14P. |
| 6P14P-ER | 6П14ПEP | Reflektor: NOS & NIB. The ultimate Military version of the 6P14P; specifically selected for stable characteristics over its life. |
| For the SAM-A2/A3 | ||
| 6P3S | 6П3C | Reflektor: NOS & NIB Military. Output Beam Tetrode; Octal base. 375/300V (anode/2nd grid) 20W. Near Equivalents; 6L6, 6L6GT, 6L6GC, 5881 |
| 6P3P-J | Guigang: Chinese classic (from the factory allegedly bought by PSVANE). NOS, NIB Output Beam Tetrode, Octal base. These are a big bottle valve looking like the 6L6GC, very similar to the 6P3S- 400/330V 20.5W. A great sounding, great looking valve! |
Notes: Replacing or swapping output valves will always require the bias to be reset and ideally the amplifier should be calibrated or tuned. All valves/tubes supplied with the SAM-A1, or for use with any of our amplifiers will be provided with the test results for each tube. Different grades are available for most of the tube type we stock and they are available with different grades of matching. We will never supply a set of valves that cannot be used with your amplifier and that do not sound right for their type; having matched a set appropriately, we will test them in our own amplifier before supplying them.