Is there a LOCTAL equiv to a 6V6?

[Kay Pirinha]

Were Locktal based tubes made anywhere other than Sylvania's Emporium, PA, plant? AFAIK, not in the U.S.A.

In Europe, Loktal (we omit the "c" here) tubes were introduced to the market by the Philips group of tube manufacturers in the 1940ies as a big improvement over the pich-typed predecessors. Repackaging existing designs was also common here. So the old pinch-typed EBL1 became the EBL21, the ECH4 mutated to ECH21 etc.

Another company outside Philips that manufactured Loktal tubes was C.A. Lorenz, Stuttgart, West Germany. They made equivalents to some Philips tubes with other numbering (EBL21 -> EBL71, ECH21 -> ECH71), but many more xx71 Loktal tubes also.

Btw, later Lorenz became the 1st European company to manufacture exact replicas of 7-pin U.S. tubes, such as 6AQ5 -> EL90, 6BE6 -> EK90, 6AU6 -> EF94, 6AT6 -> EBC90, 6X4 -> EZ90 etc.

Best regards!

 

[Kay Pirinha]

As a substitute for the EL84 try a 7189 or 6GK6.

The 7189, aka E84L, is (always has been) waaay more expensive than the 6BQ5. He's been asking for inexpensive substitutes. Being the rugged SQ version, it indeed is a good substitute.

Best regards!