I have tried to capture the history and the chronology of the straight-bottle GE 6550A and the Sylvania 6550 tubes to the best of my knowledge: 1. The straight-bottle 6550A was manufactured by GE. I have seen GE 6550A also re-labeled as Philips. GE manufactured the 6550A tubes from ~1971-1991*. There were at least two iterations of the GE 6550A tube. First version had welded plates and three circular holes in the plate. Ver.1 was in production from approximately ~1971-1979*. Second version had stamped/stapled plates and had two circular holes and one rectangular hole in the plate. Ver.2 was in production from approximately ~1980-1991*. 2. Straight-bottle 6550 was manufactured by Sylvania. I have personally come across RCA labeled Sylvania 6550 tube. Sylvania manufactured the 6550 tubes from ~ 1971-1979* *Dates are approximate. Please add your inputs in the comments section if you have any additional context or information. Thanks!
Thank you! I was wondering if you also tried the JAN version of the GE 6550 and could comment if there is any difference in sound from the regular GEs.
There is no sound difference with the JAN tubes. From my understanding, at some point GE/TungSol stopped manufacturing the tubes for consumers but still manufactured some batches for the military in the form of JAN tubes. Eventually these showed up as military surplus. They are the same exact tubes sound wise.
I have tried to capture the history and the chronology of the straight-bottle GE 6550A and the Sylvania 6550 tubes to the best of my knowledge:
1. The straight-bottle 6550A was manufactured by GE. I have seen GE 6550A also re-labeled as Philips. GE manufactured the 6550A tubes from ~1971-1991*. There were at least two iterations of the GE 6550A tube.
First version had welded plates and three circular holes in the plate. Ver.1 was in production from approximately ~1971-1979*.
Second version had stamped/stapled plates and had two circular holes and one rectangular hole in the plate. Ver.2 was in production from approximately ~1980-1991*.
2. Straight-bottle 6550 was manufactured by Sylvania. I have personally come across RCA labeled Sylvania 6550 tube. Sylvania manufactured the 6550 tubes from ~ 1971-1979*
*Dates are approximate. Please add your inputs in the comments section if you have any additional context or information. Thanks!
Thank you! I was wondering if you also tried the JAN version of the GE 6550 and could comment if there is any difference in sound from the regular GEs.
There is no sound difference with the JAN tubes. From my understanding, at some point GE/TungSol stopped manufacturing the tubes for consumers but still manufactured some batches for the military in the form of JAN tubes. Eventually these showed up as military surplus. They are the same exact tubes sound wise.
@@vintagetannoy Thank you!