2. amps-preamps
  3. 1381392517

New KT150 tubes?

Has anyone any experience with these pretty new tubes. There are already one or 2 amps I know of, that use them. The review of one of these amps in a UK magazine suggested they were a little warmer and more natural sounding than the nearly new KT120's

The article also suggested they were a straight swap for KT120 based amps, with no adjustment necessary. They are more than twice the cost of KT120's, but still not too costly compared with NOS tubes. I know changing from KT88's or 90's to 120's. did require some amp modification. I have an ARC reference 75 and might want to try the new tubes at some point, ARC don't seem to have a customer E-mail service, to ask the question
david12
wolf_garcia
6,631 posts
 
Ebay had that price from somebody a few times...seems actually fair.
tsushima1
1,165 posts
 
04-20-14: Wolf_garcia
BASE NOTES...man..."Base fishing anyone?"

LMAO, Base fishing? No, not quite. I do however find 'Angling' for the Lesser Pedantic Grammar Pilchard considerably more edifying, Altho, a somewhat 'predictable' feeding habit does tend to leave them incapable of resisting the bait/bate as proffered.

;0}
wolf_garcia
6,631 posts
 
I'm a bass player who doesn't fish.
bifwynne
2,206 posts
 
Wolf ... I checked eBay. Right you are. Number of vendors offering to sell KT-150s for prices you mentioned above. Even still, I have three concerns.

First is that ARC hasn't approved the tube for use in its amps yet. I suspect that the additional current draw is not signficant, but I don't want to experiment with my amp.

Second, my amp requires matched tube sets. I've had some difficulty in sourcing pairs that match well. So far, only ARC has been able to provide reliable matched sets.

Third, I do not know anything about the reliability of the eBay vendors. At least with vendors ARC and Upscale Audio, I am comfortable that the tubes are properly run in and tested before being sold.

In short, it might cost me $700+ to buy 2 quads just to satisfy my curiosity .. although I am curious about the tubes.
wolf_garcia
6,631 posts
 
I'm confused...Only ARC has matched sets? Have other matched sets proved unreliable? I don't understand what that means since you say they haven't approved them for use, but then I'm easily confused. Many Ebay sellers know what they're doing and are rated by the customers so there's that, and my experience with non frozen or overpriced KT120s worked out fine.
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