I have an EL84 power amp that is driven by the 6N3 tubes. I tossed the Chinese supplied and immediately replaced with this Ukrainian/Soviet 6N3P. As Jim and Charles show, these Soviet era mil spec tubes are excellent. Rock solid and nice clear sound. The Ukraine OKTYABR / OTK factory produced great tubes…All mine are military spec E or EV. The equivalent 2C51 / 5670W are just a bit warmer, IMHO. I have 5 Sylvania-green labeled 5670W from 1982 that are nicely paired with the EL84. Also Mil spec tubes. But the Soviet 6N3P are taller and look better in the amp….vanity here! There is also an adaptor you can buy to use the incredible 6GU7 tube in this position, as long as your amp can handle the higher current draw. I find the 6GU7 + EL 84 to be really really nice combo… Thank you for highlighting this great tube. Affordable and good sounding.
Not only Chinese companies, Schiit just released the Vali 3 which comes stock with the 6N3P and they're an American company. The 6N3P tube that comes with it sounds pretty nice right out of the box, but I've found the WE396A and Tesla 6CC42 to sound quite a bit better. Nice to see these tubes getting some more attention, though!
The ECC808 ( kind of ECC83 for very low noise , low signal amplification -mic /tape head /medic etc ) was build the same way - symetrical. this kind of build also stands for a better soundstage ......same electrical parameters and capacitance between electrodes . The WE ( inventor of the tube ° : WE 396A and the 2C51 Other US manufacturers produced the tube under the american industrial tube numbering 5670...GE/Sylvania/RCA:/Kenrad ... In Europe Ericson made a very high military quality version. There is also a variant with a higher filament voltage ..I think it was the ( WE) 407A ... The original WE tube was tested for lifespan on racks under controled continuos operation for twelve years and the majority of the tubes was still within the specifications ! As I said before ..........just like diesel engines......they run almost forever but wear out faster at every start up and shut down.... Interesting but somewhat funny ..WE also specified the tube as a PP flea power amplifier, someone build ( in the Netherlands ) an amplifier with these tubes using 50 tubes ... The Russian tube may be an excellent tube...........not so the chines ( crap ) Very good sounding as a tube output on CD players .............excellent input/driver tube on an amplifier to drive the EL84:6BQ5 tubes .......this tube combination has the magic because of tonal synergy ... Have a nice day
The 45 is a fabulous tube ...........music becomes like lace ......it's one of the most favoured loike triodes , only to produce flea power ( use very high sensitive speakers ) The most rare 45 tubes are the 245 and 345 RFCA / Cunningham ............even more musical tha the ST shaped tubes....... Some peple like especialy the RCA -Tungsol and other like Philco etc... Current versions do not have the flavour of the old nos .......some have more power but the sound is not up to the musicality of the real stuff....... 250 vA /32 mA/5K load is a good operation point and the right current to make them bloom open......like a beatifull flower . Yamamoto build a wonderfull sounding amplifier with The 45...The AO8 and the AO8S The 2A3 is kind of a double 45 , some 2A3 are in fact buit wit two sections of 45 inside... Parallel paired triode tubes ( SE) never sound as clean and good as a single one does , some kind of loss of precision , tonal blurring and less finesse ... One should drive( a good river is the this triode ( as many others ) with a good pentode driver tube because of the synergy and the beautifull harmonic harmony ... A good driver tube is the WE 717A ( octal)............a strange but nice looking doorknob shaped tube , precursor of the 6AK5 - WE 403a/b ( noval ) .......( 16 Mhz developped for the first radars in WW2 )
@@albeklik8055 we answer every serious question we get on both of our RUclips channels and via email, 7 days a week. My apologies if we missed your enquiry, jist post it again and we'll hopefully see it. The best way to get a detailed answer to a question is to go through the store contact page, but keep an eye on your spam box, we use protonmail and it often gets tagged as spam.
Tubes produced by the St Petersburg Svetlana plant are the best. Don't knock the tubes from China; Shugang produce excellent tubes, whilst PSVane produce tubes that massively out-perform anything from the West (as does the Russian Genalex plant)
@@phils4634 Given I've heard more than my fare share of modern tubes, I have to disagree with pretty much everything you said after praising the original St. Petersburg Svetlana's. In particular Shuguang tubes must be some of the worst tubes ever made, the exception being very early military types. In my experience the tubes manufactured in China have two significant problems. First they have a very short lifespan compared to any quality vintage equivalent and second they just don't sound very good, same goes for tubes made by New Sensor in the old Reflektor factory in Saratov Russia. Now in fairness there are always exceptions and outliers. A good example of this is the Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 (not the Chinese fake copies) but the real Russian copies of a tube that never actually existed as a vintage 12AX7. Those tubes were well made, have low noise and sound very good. But as a premium tube they also cost almost as much as a quality vintage tube. The big advantage of modern Russian, Chinese and Slovakian tubes is their initial cost, but if they only last 1/10 of the lifespan of a quality vintage tube are they really a bargain in the end?
@@tubelab194 Fair enough! What is your opinion on PS Vane? They certainly seem to charge an arm and a leg for, e.g. their "high end" 300B's (incidentally I have relatives in Russia, so I can get quality Russian "OC" spec. tubes at a very significant discount 🙂)
@@phils4634 PSvane is a Chinese company started up by a group of engineers who left Shuguang. Their business model has them selling good/better/best tubes. What that means is they probably select off the line and grade the tubes based on performance. Personally I'm not interested in fancy logos and fitted boxes, what I want is reliability, longevity and great sound. I don't have a lot of experience with their tubes, but they're often the best option (out of a bunch of bad ones) for tubes like the 300b. Personally I wouldn't build or own a 300b amp for that very reason.
I have an EL84 power amp that is driven by the 6N3 tubes. I tossed the Chinese supplied and immediately replaced with this Ukrainian/Soviet 6N3P. As Jim and Charles show, these Soviet era mil spec tubes are excellent. Rock solid and nice clear sound. The Ukraine OKTYABR / OTK factory produced great tubes…All mine are military spec E or EV.
The equivalent 2C51 / 5670W are just a bit warmer, IMHO. I have 5 Sylvania-green labeled 5670W from 1982 that are nicely paired with the EL84. Also Mil spec tubes. But the Soviet 6N3P are taller and look better in the amp….vanity here!
There is also an adaptor you can buy to use the incredible 6GU7 tube in this position, as long as your amp can handle the higher current draw. I find the 6GU7 + EL 84 to be really really nice combo…
Thank you for highlighting this great tube. Affordable and good sounding.
Not only Chinese companies, Schiit just released the Vali 3 which comes stock with the 6N3P and they're an American company.
The 6N3P tube that comes with it sounds pretty nice right out of the box, but I've found the WE396A and Tesla 6CC42 to sound quite a bit better.
Nice to see these tubes getting some more attention, though!
The ECC808 ( kind of ECC83 for very low noise , low signal amplification -mic /tape head /medic etc ) was build the same way - symetrical.
this kind of build also stands for a better soundstage ......same electrical parameters and capacitance between electrodes .
The WE ( inventor of the tube ° : WE 396A and the 2C51
Other US manufacturers produced the tube under the american industrial tube numbering 5670...GE/Sylvania/RCA:/Kenrad ...
In Europe Ericson made a very high military quality version.
There is also a variant with a higher filament voltage ..I think it was the ( WE) 407A ...
The original WE tube was tested for lifespan on racks under controled continuos operation for twelve years and the majority of the tubes was still within the specifications !
As I said before ..........just like diesel engines......they run almost forever but wear out faster at every start up and shut down....
Interesting but somewhat funny ..WE also specified the tube as a PP flea power amplifier, someone build ( in the Netherlands ) an amplifier with these tubes using 50 tubes ...
The Russian tube may be an excellent tube...........not so the chines ( crap )
Very good sounding as a tube output on CD players .............excellent input/driver tube on an amplifier to drive the EL84:6BQ5 tubes .......this tube combination has the magic because of tonal synergy ...
Have a nice day
The 45 is a fabulous tube ...........music becomes like lace ......it's one of the most favoured loike triodes , only to produce flea power ( use very high sensitive speakers )
The most rare 45 tubes are the 245 and 345 RFCA / Cunningham ............even more musical tha the ST shaped tubes.......
Some peple like especialy the RCA -Tungsol and other like Philco etc...
Current versions do not have the flavour of the old nos .......some have more power but the sound is not up to the musicality of the real stuff.......
250 vA /32 mA/5K load is a good operation point and the right current to make them bloom open......like a beatifull flower .
Yamamoto build a wonderfull sounding amplifier with The 45...The AO8 and the AO8S
The 2A3 is kind of a double 45 , some 2A3 are in fact buit wit two sections of 45 inside...
Parallel paired triode tubes ( SE) never sound as clean and good as a single one does , some kind of loss of precision , tonal blurring and less finesse ...
One should drive( a good river is the this triode ( as many others ) with a good pentode driver tube because of the synergy and the beautifull harmonic harmony ...
A good driver tube is the WE 717A ( octal)............a strange but nice looking doorknob shaped tube , precursor of the 6AK5 - WE 403a/b ( noval ) .......( 16 Mhz developped for the first radars in WW2 )
Last time I asked you guys a question nobody answered me this time I'm not going to ask anything😊
@@albeklik8055 we answer every serious question we get on both of our RUclips channels and via email, 7 days a week. My apologies if we missed your enquiry, jist post it again and we'll hopefully see it. The best way to get a detailed answer to a question is to go through the store contact page, but keep an eye on your spam box, we use protonmail and it often gets tagged as spam.
Tubes produced by the St Petersburg Svetlana plant are the best. Don't knock the tubes from China; Shugang produce excellent tubes, whilst PSVane produce tubes that massively out-perform anything from the West (as does the Russian Genalex plant)
@@phils4634 Given I've heard more than my fare share of modern tubes, I have to disagree with pretty much everything you said after praising the original St. Petersburg Svetlana's. In particular Shuguang tubes must be some of the worst tubes ever made, the exception being very early military types. In my experience the tubes manufactured in China have two significant problems. First they have a very short lifespan compared to any quality vintage equivalent and second they just don't sound very good, same goes for tubes made by New Sensor in the old Reflektor factory in Saratov Russia. Now in fairness there are always exceptions and outliers. A good example of this is the Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 (not the Chinese fake copies) but the real Russian copies of a tube that never actually existed as a vintage 12AX7. Those tubes were well made, have low noise and sound very good. But as a premium tube they also cost almost as much as a quality vintage tube. The big advantage of modern Russian, Chinese and Slovakian tubes is their initial cost, but if they only last 1/10 of the lifespan of a quality vintage tube are they really a bargain in the end?
@@tubelab194 Fair enough! What is your opinion on PS Vane? They certainly seem to charge an arm and a leg for, e.g. their "high end" 300B's (incidentally I have relatives in Russia, so I can get quality Russian "OC" spec. tubes at a very significant discount 🙂)
@@phils4634 PSvane is a Chinese company started up by a group of engineers who left Shuguang. Their business model has them selling good/better/best tubes. What that means is they probably select off the line and grade the tubes based on performance. Personally I'm not interested in fancy logos and fitted boxes, what I want is reliability, longevity and great sound. I don't have a lot of experience with their tubes, but they're often the best option (out of a bunch of bad ones) for tubes like the 300b. Personally I wouldn't build or own a 300b amp for that very reason.