Cheap alternative to EF86

[7N7]

Originally posted by Wavebourn
6EJ7 looks good on paper as well.

Yes EF184 a good valve; makes a super triode and I have some - I bought four new Mullards for £1 on ebay, but it needs rather more current than the likes of EF86 or 6BR7 to operate properly.

7N7

[kevinkr]

Originally posted by Wavebourn
6EJ7 looks good on paper as well.

Most of them don't sound as good as you might expect, and can be quite microphonic - might just be the batch of Zenith and Scott (Sylvania??) branded ones I ran across.. (Some late Scott tube tuners used them in the IF strip, as did a lot of tube tv sets of the late 1960s.) IIRC There is a European equivalent which is the EF184..

[Shoog]

I took a look at the 6BR7 and it looks excellent. The national valve museum has an interesting comment on the 6BS7, it reacons that it was a version of the 6BR7 specifically marketed at incompetent DIY'er, as any competent engineer should get just as good results from the 6BR7. The 6BS7 seemed to fall out of favour because of this marketing angle, so availability is likely to be poorer than for the 6BR7. Also who really want's to mess about with top caps unless absolutely essential.

At the moment the 6BR7 is the winner, but it depends on the availability with my preferred supplier.

Shoog

[7N7]

Originally posted by Shoog
I took a look at the 6BR7 and it looks excellent. The national valve museum has an interesting comment on the 6BS7, it reacons that it was a version of the 6BR7 specifically marketed at incompetent DIY'er, as any competent engineer should get just as good results from the 6BR7. The 6BS7 seemed to fall out of favour because of this marketing angle, so availability is likely to be poorer than for the 6BR7. Also who really want's to mess about with top caps unless absolutely essential.

At the moment the 6BR7 is the winner, but it depends on the availability with my preferred supplier.

Shoog

That's a funny comment really from the museum: it seems most unlikely that Brimar would produce a special version with amateurs in mind. The top cap is only the G1 connection so there are no voltage issues; Brimar presumably aimed at getting the grid wiring as far as possible away from the heater circuitry - a.c. heaters were of course the norm in those days.

6BR7 is stocked by a number of UK dealers, but whilst EF86 is currently manufactured, I doubt that anyone will start making 6BR7s.

Recently I have found six on ebay and they didn't cost me very much.

7N7

[Shoog]

I saw a lot of three go up on Ebay yesterday for £2.99, though they were untested. From Colomar they seem to go for about half the price of the EF86.

Heres the Valve museum entry;

http://r-type.org/exhib/aab0164.htm

Shoog

[7N7]

Originally posted by Shoog
I saw a lot of three go up on Ebay yesterday for �2.99, though they were untested. From Colomar they seem to go for about half the price of the EF86.

Heres the Valve museum entry;

http://r-type.org/exhib/aab0164.htm

Shoog

Thanks for the link, I have to say that I imagine Marconi had very good reasons for selecting the 6BS7 for the valve voltmeter I had.

I'll have a look at ebay now...

7N7

[fauxpas]

Originally posted by 7N7
Yes EF184 a good valve; makes a super triode and I have some...

7N7

EF184 on eBay

[coolmaster]

Alternative to EF86 would be the American made RCA 5879 sharp cut off pentode.
I've got one in place of the EF86 in my DIY Leak TL25+ clone..only difference is the pin designation and its been working flawlessly for quite a long time now. I think it sounds as good as the EF86 or better.

[gr_virgmann]

Prefer EH EF86 or a good substitute, EF184, if you can find (NOS of course) tungsram or philips miniwatt. I'v also tested brimar but they were too old and had too many years sitting on a vintage TV set to sound well..

[7N7]

Originally posted by Shoog
I saw a lot of three go up on Ebay yesterday for �2.99, though they were untested. From Colomar they seem to go for about half the price of the EF86.[...]
Shoog

I bought them for £2.99; I bought three before from this bloke and they were fine; I wonder where he got them? One is marked "pre-production sample"!

7N7