Tung Sol 6550 vs. GEC/Genelex/Gold Monarch KT88

i have 1960 Gold monarchs kT88 IN MY pA100/100are they are so Great!

I "lucked" across a brand-new quad of the original GEC MO Gold Monarchs a year ago. I play them every day and they continue to astound. I'm hoping by the time they're worn completely out, the Chinese, who are getting close, will have achieved a similarly sweet-sounding and long-lived KT88.

@deepee99 GEC Marconi Osram KT88s are magic with lovely holographic midband.

@tvad Make sure you try a different 6SN7 too. You might be amazed the difference rolling them will have on how the power tubes sound.

@noromance@tvad@lizardzkingI guess we belong to a rather exclusive club. I'm angling for another quad of the GEC Marconis with a guy right now but I fear the days of the $750 NOS quad are over, unless you're willing to take your chances on counterfeits.
I echo tvad's sentiments on drivers. I use a total of 7 of them (3 in the driver section of the amp; four in the line pre-amp -- all 6SN7s. A lame driver array will make even the best output tubes sound like yesterday's oats. The beauty of 6SN7s is they're plentiful and cheap to come by. I probably have enough chrome-dome Sylvanias to decorate the Christmas tree. Here is where the Chinese really shine, and I think are competitive with the best of the American and European NOS offerings. Currently I am using Shuggie CV-181-ts to great effect but PSVanes churn out some good 6SN7-types as well. I dislike rolling output tubes, but tube-rolling drivers is (relatively) inexpensive good sport. The Russians have, IMHO, yet to turn out a good 6SN7. This is prolly worthy of another thread, but who likes what in your volt-amp holes?

FWIW, I use Psvane 6SN7 Globes and they are very good. Most detailed and finely grained version I've heard. A little bright for the first 20 hours but then they settle in.