KT88 recom. for quicksilver mini mono's

No, you are absolutely right Newbee. I was confusing the 6L6 with 6550's. My bad, and thanks for pointing that out. Strike my comments on the 6550's and give me a good swift boot in the ass. It sucks getting old. I don't think I ever tried the EL34's in the Baron because I was steered to the 6L6's from my complaints about the KT88's. I got mine as a Tri-tube.

Marco

In my case, I liked the KT90's in the mini's. They had more depth that the small transformers seemed to lack. In the Cary amp I owned, I switched between the Winged C and the EH KT88's, but the mini mono's just needed more for my setup. The mini mono's were very good and a steal for the money. The mid mono's are a whole different level with the large transformers and seem to tube roll much better for me. The KT 90's were just too much or fat in the mid mono's. Besides the sound, tube amps are fantastic to fine tune your sound to your particular tastes and the reason I love tubes.
Enjoy!

From what people here and elsewhere have said, it seems there is a strong following in the el34 crowd. I have a set of older brown base el34 tesla's, some svetlana el34's, and some sovtek 6l6, and I tried the chinese kt88 (didn't care for). Of these I have tried to truly figure out the differences, not just what my expectations may have been. Instead of just kt88 responces, what have you guys heard that you liked in mini's?? I have a guy offering a set of Ei kt90's, any thoughts on them?

Chinese in the Linestage preamp made all the diference, I cound't care less if they were green or square, the chinese ones Mike sends them out with sounded best to me. I just didn't care for the particular chinese kt88 I tried. Although with no brand markings, i couldn't tell you what they were :)

Count me among those who prefer a good EL34, such as the JJ, over the 6550, KT88, and KT90. The midrange, which gives "life" to the music is simply light years better. That being said, I have seen more than a few amplifiers that for whatever reasons (maybe improper bias?) that can run both, and just do not come alive with an EL34.

Another option is the JJ KT77, or the 6CA7 which is offered by Ei and ElectroHarmonix. My experience with the KT77 was that it was a good compromise between the JJ E34L and their KT88 - powerful lows of the bigger tube, with superior mids (though still not close to the E34L).

I've been meaning to write up the tube shootout our audio group did in three separate systems - 1960s Mullard XF1 EL34, JJ E34L, EH EL34, JJ KT77, JJ KT88, but have never gotten around to it. For what it's worth, the conclusions were pretty consistent...