What's with BAT?

The Russian 6H30 was actually introduced to the USA by BAT(who has as it’s designer a genuine Russian rocket scientist). The tube is more efficient than the previous 6DJ8/6922, allowing less tubes in circuit, to perform the same job. ie: My VK-D5 uses six 6922s(early sixties, Siemens CCa Grey Shields) vs the VK-D5 SE’s four 6H30s. It’s also an innately quieter design, which makes it attractive for high-gain devices. Nowhere near as many variants/iterations as the manufactured for many decades, by a plethora of providers, with as many sonic signatures, 6DJ8/6922/ECC88/6N23P types.

The Russian 6H30 was actually introduced to the USA by BAT

 New Sensor was sending us samples two years before BAT went into business. Just FWIW.

Hello Ralph- Do you know of anyone, stateside, that actually incorporated the 6H30 in their designs/products, before BAT('98/'99)?

No- we rejected the tube as it had a lot of the same problems as the 6922 and similar. Frame grid triodes although very linear usually don’t have good microphonic characteristics.

New Sensor at the time made a pretty big deal about the tube- I think they wanted to sell some. But the guitar guys weren’t interested and it was a few years before we saw any product actually using them- and in that regard I do think BAT was one of the early adopters.