I have them both and have tried a few others as well. I like the Gold Lion reissues for robustness and warmth, relatively speaking. I like the SED KT88s for extension, treble clarity, and reliability.
I used the Gold Lions in a pair of deHavilland KE50A monoblocks, 2 per. I used the SED KT88s in an Air Tight ATM-2 and Cary SLI-80.
Currently, I'm using old stock Tung Sol 6550s in the KE50As, which sort of split the sonic difference between the new Gold Lions and SED KT88s.
JJ KT88s can be very clean-sounding and extended as well, but some find them hard on top. I didn't, but they weren't as reliable in my Air Tight as the SEDs. But neither were the Gold Lions, which blew up at an alarming rate in the Air Tight ATM-2. SED KT88s I found the toughest. The Air Tight threw huge voltages at start-up, and thus stressed tubes to an extraordinary degree.
The KE50As are very soft-starting, so the Gold Lions do very well in them.
I used the Gold Lions in a pair of deHavilland KE50A monoblocks, 2 per. I used the SED KT88s in an Air Tight ATM-2 and Cary SLI-80.
Currently, I'm using old stock Tung Sol 6550s in the KE50As, which sort of split the sonic difference between the new Gold Lions and SED KT88s.
JJ KT88s can be very clean-sounding and extended as well, but some find them hard on top. I didn't, but they weren't as reliable in my Air Tight as the SEDs. But neither were the Gold Lions, which blew up at an alarming rate in the Air Tight ATM-2. SED KT88s I found the toughest. The Air Tight threw huge voltages at start-up, and thus stressed tubes to an extraordinary degree.
The KE50As are very soft-starting, so the Gold Lions do very well in them.