Sophia Electric EL34 or KT88 ??

@whacky

While I have not personally tried the Genelex Gold Lyon KT77 in any or my prior amps, I too would try them if my current KT150 based amps could support it. They will not. I first heard about the KT77s from Jim McShane years ago after sharing I was a big EL34 fan and wanted something between my EL34s and KT88s, thus KT77s. In the future, I may buy or commission a custom build for a 2nd amp down the road just to try KT77s too. Keep us posted on your progress if you go with them.Thanks.

@whacky

+1
Agon member @johnss mentioned one other tube above that I heard a year ago in a tube replacement situation on a friend's amp. As it turned out he was running the wrong spec tubes for the amp, TS KT150s, actually. Great tube, wrong amp for them.

Went back to KT88s. The repair person, ex-dealer, chose a well-matched quad of PSVANE KT88 tubes  for the replacement.  We heard the before and after results. It was a notable difference.  The right tube for the amp, or maybe lucky synergy. Still running after a year so far. Maybe another one to add to your research list, fwiw. 

@whacky

+1
Agon member @johnss mentioned one other tube above that I heard a year ago in a tube replacement situation on a friend’s amp. As it turned out he was running the wrong spec tubes for the amp, TS KT150s, actually. Great tube, wrong amp for them.

Went back to KT88s. The repair person, ex-dealer, chose a well-matched quad of PSVANE KT88 tubes for the replacement. We heard the before and after results. It was a notable difference. The right tube for the amp, or maybe lucky synergy. Still running after a year so far. Maybe one to be sure to add to your research list. They did sound more musical than any of my former EH, GL, JJ KT88s I heard prior, fwiw.  

@tuberist

Gold Lion KT77s are great tubes. Very detailed and dynamic top to bottom. Only shortcoming I experienced was in the mid bass department; a little lean for my taste. However they are really good tubes.

Do you prefer the Genelex Gold Lyon KT88 over the KT77 then?

@stereo5 

07-29-2020 11:20am
decooney, Prima Luna recommends the KT150 tubes and they are safe to use in all the Prima Luna amps. They do not come standard due to the $100.00 price per tube.

Look here. Reads "Premium"only, and not all models. See the PrimaLuna-usa site.  https://www.primaluna-usa.com/tube-rolling-legacy

The other matter is some brand amps will run KT150s, and yes its safe for some, and yet the transformers, power supply, and plate voltage may not always be designed or upsized to drive KT150 tubes properly.  

In reverse, my current KT150 amps with much larger transformers and more plate voltage with manual bias cannot run KT88s or EL34s, it will burn them up prematurely.  Best to always check with the amp designer.

@whacky,
re: "I once tried a full battery of KT150 but sold them", "...not EL34 magic."

A few things to note fwiw. If the PL DP does not have the appropriate plate voltage or transformers to drive KT150s properly, it won’t sound right nor will it have the EL34 magic. Truly takes the right amp(s) and transformers to get the most out of KT150s, IME. Found this to be the case with multiple KT88 based amps.

In addition to PSVANE CV181-T, Shuguang or WEKT88, TS 7581As, and others mentioned, have you also looked into Genelex Gold Lyon KT77s? As I recall Jim McShane of McShane Design is a big fan of them too.

Noted a few others who prefer the KT77s over many of the re-issue KT88s (excluding high $ EAT KT88s), IF you like the EL34 type of "tone" but want a bit more sparkle too between EL34 and generic KT88s, may be worth it to looking into KT77s too along with other great tubes mentioned earlier.

@johnss
Thanks for that update Johnss. It’s helpful, as we kinda know many of us are trying, using, and always on the lookout for a few of the good ones to buy and keep spares of. I’ve concluded these really do become throw-away tubes with no warranty or replacement option in most cases (at the lower prices). However, at a premium price, and unless of course you buy through some intermediary outfit in the US you pay an up-charge for to gain some added coverage in year-1, or maybe not. I’ve not found a great benefit there yet, but keep searching there too.

I did something similar as you are doing with the Shuguang WE tubes with my input and driver tubes on my 6SN7 preamp. While I’ve stashed away my vintage 6SN7s, I bought two overseas N7s, then a quad, and a second spare quad after I found something I liked a lot. Unfortunately this particular overseas boutique company’s founder/owner/designer passed on and the Co. has since changed their lineup some and its no longer clear what the future holds. He was a small mfg selling and relabeling to the big outfits overseas. Part of his tooling and lineup was partially bought up by PSVANE, were told. Like you, hoping the spares hold up for a while. Not so easy to go back the more generic well known tubes that last longer but just sound "okay".

Once I noted Peter of AudioNote was now sourcing tubes from PSVANE for his lineup, it became clear we are seeing another evolution stage of these new tubes out there. Hopefully it continues to evolve and maybe quality will improve better than cheap throwaway light bulbs. I’m trying all PSVANE in my amps now for input and drivers. They sound pretty nice so far, but how long will the last, hopefully longer than a year. We we will see. Thanks.

@tomic601 
Was it this way before with RM, It appears RAM Labs redirects the RAM EL34 selection to the TheTubeAudioStore site now,  http://www.tubeaudiostore.com/elecgrad.html