Tung Sol ECC803S reissue - thumbs down

[riccoryder]

Originally Posted by Kay Pirinha

Right. The designation ECC803S once was used by TELEFUNKEN for a special quality, rugged, low noise, high reliability, long life version of the ECC83/12AX7 tube, featuring frame grid construction. All we can buy from current production is none of it.

Nearest comes the J/J ECC83S which at least is a frame grid tube.

Best regards!

It would be overly polite to call what J/J does a joke or marketing. Look at what's on Ebay listed under EL509 or 6KG6A. The real tubes are magnoval (large diameter 9 pin) with a plate cap, able to handle peak current of 1400 mA and pulse voltage to 7000 V in horizontal deflection service (line amp) in television sets, much like a 6LQ6, yet those being sold, with the number printed on them no less, have an octal base, no plate cap, and require so-called modifications. It's no wonder I see reports of other types that can't properly saturate in amplifiers to deliver full peak current/power, or others that draw excessive current at the usual bias voltages. They're not what they're being sold as. In the past when various vendors made types sold under the same numbers what they produced may have had some differences but met all of the the industry standard physical and electrical specifications for each specified type.

Silk screening doesn't give another valve type a legitimate number any more than frosting on something found in meadows creates cupcakes.

[DF96]

There is a general problem with modern valves. The people who make them either don't know, or don't care, that the valve name is supposed to mean something. ECC99 should have a B7G base. All ECC83 or 7025 should have a low hum spiral wound heater - anything else should be marked 12AX7. PL/EL509 is a beefy colour TV line output valve. Maybe it is due to our modern obsession with style rather than substance. I expect rubbish from the Chinese, but European factories (and American relabellers) ought to know better.

And don't mention the grid support rod tabs with shiny surfaces which won't dissipate much heat in a vacuum!

[Kay Pirinha]

Another weird example is the so called EL156B of current Chinese production. The TELEFUNKEN EL156 once was a rugged, reliable and powerful output pentode with an admittedly somewhat strange 10-pin base, as the designation declares it. This base provided sufficient isolation of the plate pin from all the others. Not so the Chinese tube: It uses the same base and the same pinout as the EL34 - with the same disadvantage of possible break-through between anode pin 3 and heater pin 2, especially when operating at higher voltages in the 800 V region.

Best regards!

[Kay Pirinha]

Originally Posted by DF96

I believe the Tesla version is supposed to be good, but not as good as a real Telefunken. Given that it looks similar, it is an obvious gift to scammers. I suppose that there is a possibility that it could be an 'official fake' - many Western valve companies relabelled Eastern valves at the end of the valve era. Not all 'Telefunkens' were actually made in a Telefunken factory.

As boywonder tells us that his pictured tube has no Telefunken diamond at the bottom, I'm quite sure that it's a counterfeit: It clearly shows the batchcode U4002400, which means that it was, or should have been, produced at the Telefunken valve factory at Ulm, Germany. But all Telefunken miniature tubes produced at Ulm or Berlin have diamonds at their bases, whereas tubes of other origins, but officially relabeled by Telefunken, never show batchcodes referring to their Ulm or Berlin valve plants.

Best regards!

[Wavebourn]

I am happy with this one, it can be soldered under the socket as well:

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Kay Pirinha

As boywonder tells us that his pictured tube has no Telefunken diamond at the bottom, I'm quite sure that it's a counterfeit: It clearly shows the batchcode U4002400, which means that it was, or should have been, produced at the Telefunken valve factory at Ulm, Germany. But all Telefunken miniature tubes produced at Ulm or Berlin have diamonds at their bases, whereas tubes of other origins, but officially relabeled by Telefunken, never show batchcodes referring to their Ulm or Berlin valve plants.

Best regards!

Well, now I had to look again.....and it appears to have a diamond....but the printing on the glass is clearly not the flakey stuff typical of the other Telefunkens in my stash.

[grufti]

What is it? I have searched high and low, but I can't find a description on the internet.

Originally Posted by Wavebourn

I am happy with this one, it can be soldered under the socket as well:

[elektroj]

Originally Posted by grufti

What is it? I have searched high and low, but I can't find a description on the internet.

Dual triode. Mu=75; S=3.8mA/V, 6.3V heater, 400 mA, U plate max=250V.

[Wavebourn]

[grufti]

Thank you.