6an8 substitution for Sunn amplifier

[Music Teacher]

Hello to all,

I had the chance to put my hands on a '67 Sunn Sentura II tube guitar amplifier. It is in a pretty bad shape but I intend to refurbish it since it is known to have such a great clean tone. I can get all the tubes required in it locally except the 6an8. I have read that it is not made anymore. Is there another tube I can use as a substitution? I was told the 7199 might work but the pin out isn't the same... Is the 6an8 still available? If yes, were???

Thanks,

J-F

 

[leadbelly]

6AN8 has a unique pinout and has no substitute other than 6AN8A. Your choices are to find another one or rewire for a different tube. They are plentiful enough; you can find them for $6 at vacuumtubes.net and they are a good choice for mail order to Canada.

 

[Music Teacher]

Thanks... is there any brands I should look for? Were they better brands when they used to be made?

 

[tricomp]

I've used 6AN8A with some problems arising.
Sylvania and RCA NOS tubes (1 pair of each) developed a high pitched mechanical whine of sorts after 1-2 months of service. Very annoying and frustrating to listen to but maybe it could have been removed or muffled with the use of tube 'damper-rings'.
I was just lucky enough to stumble over some NOS Toshiba 6AN8 Hi-Fi tubes at a fair price. They've been doing fine for the better part of a year by now and haven't developed any such problems. Other than the lack of vibrations I haven't noticed any other influence or change in sound using Toshiba's over RCA & Sylvie's.
Maybe 7258 is a suitable equivalent.

Scanned data-sheet for the Toshiba's attached.


rgds,

/tri-comp