Sylvania/Tung Sol 5881's Feb. 13th 1962

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I just scored eight Sylvania labeled Tung Sol 5881's. Sylvania did make their own 5881 but like other tube manufacturers, they often purchased and relabeled tubes if purchase orders exceeded their stock at any given time. The Sylvania 5881 is a very good tube but the Tung Sol was the "cream of the crop". The Tung Sol 5881 is rugged with welded plates, heavy duty spacers and "snubber" tabs to prevent rattle These tubes all have the letters "YCN" on the base and the boxes are all dated Feb. 13th 1962. They also have a green and red "dot" on top, which leads me to believe they were tested for use in the medical field and are "medical grade" tubes. Remember, tube were used in just about everything years ago, including X-ray machines and other medical devices. After some testing I have found three sets to be between 1ma-2ma apart and one set to be 4.5 ma apart. I prefer matched sets to be under 5ma apart, so I have four matched pair. They didn't come cheap but I paid much less than a tube retailer would sell them for.

 

[H]

Nice! They're great tubes.

 

I've got four pairs of late 50s Tung Sol 5881 tubes - one set in my VR, three in reserve

[rockabilly69]

I just bought a Victoria Regal II and this looks like a tube I would like to try in it. Any recommendations

for rectifier tubes?

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I just bought a Victoria Regal II and this looks like a tube I would like to try in it. Any recommendations

for rectifier tubes?

 

Which rectifier and power tubes are you running now? It all depends what you want to accomplish. Is the amp; too bright, not bright enough, too compressed?

[rockabilly69]

 

Which rectifier and power tubes are you running now? It all depends what you want to accomplish. Is the amp; too bright, not bright enough, too compressed?

I'm awaiting on the amp as I just bought it a few days ago, but it is being shipped with a 5Y3 and two 6V6's.

I was just wondering what rectifier you would recommend for these 5881's. As this amp will be used for recording I want

to have a few different sets of tubes around to change the character of the tone. Last night we played my friends Regal

and he was using Genelex reissue KT66's in it with a 5AR4 rectifier in it.

 

The Regal can run quite a few different tubes. And you can use one power tube at a time as it's parallel single ended class A.

 

http://www.victoriaamplifier.com/amplifiers/classic-amplifiers/victoria-regal/

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With the 6V6GT's (12 watts) or 6V6 GTA's/7408 (14 watts)...a 5Y3

With 5881's (23 watts), 6L6GB's (23 watts), EL34's (25 watts) or KT66's (25 watts) a 5R4 or 5U4GB but for less compression a 5V4GA

With a 6L6GC's (30 watts) 7581's (30 watts) or 7581A's (35 watts) a 5AR4/GZ34

 

These are just my opinion's. Nothing is written in stone, especially with some of the newer amps that can accommodate many type of vacuum tubes. Use which ever sounds best.

[212Mavguy]

A 5v4ga has the same heater current draw as 5y3, puts out a little less voltage and current than a 5ar4, indirect cathode heating/slow warmup , same pinout. Used strong or new old stock ones go 10-20 bucks on eBay. Will handle those 5881's beautifully, Dan.

 

5r4 has lower heater current draw than 5u4. I like the tater mashers from Chatham or Bendix Red Bank, lots.

 

Your ears will tell you...