The Vintage Tube Legends STR 415's possibly up for**

[River]

Gentleman,

I have a quad of used Sylvania STR 415 6L6's. They were originally in a Blonde Mark 2 C+ when I bought it many years ago, sounded monstrous but being a strange and finicky psychotic fellow, I immediately retubed with new tubes, and did so again for years to come.

Recently sold the amp, and of course found these later in boxes with bubble wrap and labeled by me. I sent them to Coherent Audio in Canada for testing and boxing, and Gary wrote me to say all four are kicking hard, that three of them are matched excellently, and the other one is about 10-12% off from the others. A little mismatch can be cool. sometimes anyway.

The tubes were sent back from Canada, and should get back here within 7-10 days, depends on the customs goofballs.

Supposedly Mesa designed their amps around these specific tubes, so they are delicious when in a Boogie.

Thinking of putting them up for grabs, and have seen them go for 125 a pair, recently at KCA, but that's new. 2 of these even have broken guide pins, that I had Gary label with a white stripe/sticker for placement. What are these worth, under these circumstances? Any guesses? He said they are strong as can be, tested excellent, so I know they are fine fine fine.
I also know these are made by Sylvania/Phillips and are the same as the 7581A's.

I don't really need the cash....Maybe I should just keep them, throw them as a pair in one of my amazing vintage Super Reverbs and see how they run. Then again, hard to pull the RCA blackplates in there, ah yes.

Thoughts and advice would be appreciated.

Regards,

Riverhorse

 

[Joey707]

Used and with some damage I don't think you'd get all that much for them. Keep 'em. They're cool sounding tubes.

 

[Boogiebabies]

The 7581A is a 35 watt tube and the Phillips/Sylvania 6L6GC is 30 watts.

And what is with this "possibly" for sale. Either they are, or they are not.
We can buy them brand new with warranty for $ 75.00 per tube from Mesa.

 

[River]

Boogie Baby- thanks for the info on the 7581 variation. I've been reading all these websites concerning the tubes and get plenty of information, these were the two items that typically were discussed. Obviously off--Good on ya for the update.

As far as your strong and exclamatory tone of prose concerning for sale or not, as I mentioned before, I'm not sure if I should keep them for possible use in one of the blackface Supers, or dish them out cheap to a Mesa owner who has been wanting to get some for a low price, instead of just bubble wrapping them and dropping them in my stash.

I'm on both sides of the fence. That's the way it is. I'm a bit hard core about tone and all the tweaks, sit around running NOS tube shootouts for hours on end writing notes to myself....that sort of thing. I took the time and 15 bucks round trip air shipping to Canada to get these tested, so I would know for sure what they have going on. Was pretty darn curious to say the least.

I'm guessing I'll keep these for my tube collection, firepower for the future when items as such are long gone and only banter for forums about the days of when........

If you have any other info on these tubes, I'd love to hear it. They were in the Mark 2 C+ when I got her and I pulled them, since I had no idea how much kick they had, despite how beautiful they sounded.

I can tell you this:Svetlana's were never as beefy, round, warm, articulate, punchy in a forward out there way.......the Svet's had more sizzle, albeit it in a hissy way, but lacked the fat all encompassing girth. My take anyway.

Drop me some words on what people enjoyed disliked about these, always up for learning, when the discerning player shares scrutinizing sentiments. Apparently the amp was made for these tubes, lore or legend, dunno. Mr. Boogie B definitely has opinions and knowledge, no question about that.

Regards and appreciate the info-

Riverhorse

 

[Boogiebabies]

No beef here. I just dont sit on the fence.

Understandably, you are keeping them. They are from a time when quality meant something and could possibly be good for 10,000+ hours. The new generation of tubes do lack certain charachteristics and longevity of NOS tubes and the plates are not made from dismantled Soviet submarines.
I do not think you could find a better made or supeb sounding tube than the Sylvania/Phillips 6L6GC or the Phillips 7581A. The only other tubes I have a preference for are the black plate RCA's or a nice Tung-Sol 5881. The 7581's IMO have a greater harmonic spread and better natural bottom end.
For EL34's, the Phillips fat boy 6CA7 is amazing. These are getting very expensive, but the GT 6CA7GE is a great alternative. I would not go as far as throwing Mullard's XF3's in a simul class, but I find the GT and the Siemens EL34 to blend nicely with the STR-415's. Other than hoarding these tubes, I generally use the new USA made GT 6L6GE and 6CA7GE or older Svetlana 6L6's and EL34's and use the NOS for special occasions.

 

[River]

10,000 hours? Amazing if true. Well, I'll keep them then.

Another question then BB-

as I mentioned before, the tube tester said three are right on with each other, and one is just 10-12% apart from them. Is that 10 percent a big difference generally when you pair them up? Should I just pick the closest pair and only deal with that, or drop them in with my tech, have him bias them up and let the ears do the talking, thus assuming they are done drifting/breaking in at this juncture for the most part, other than the slow waning.

I agree the RCA blackplates meet the hype, but so far have found the dang rectifier tube to be just as critical, and often overlooked by people. I have Mullard's in both Supers, nothing has come close for sweet sag and beef. Granted I run them full out and dirty with V1 pulled for Texas growl, but since I grew up only minutes from the infamous La Grange, so be it.

Regards,

Riverhorse

 

[RussB]

It is kinda weird that you hung a carrot in front of our noses...it appears you were spaming for offers.

10% mis-match is meaningless. Tubes within 5mA are considered matched.

OK, now a pet peve of mine...

Why, oh why do people have killer tubes in friggin' boxes, they should be in an amp, and you should be enjoying them every time you play.

Burn 'em, Baby! Tubes are only good if you can hear them

 

[Boogiebabies]

It is kinda weird that you hung a carrot in front of our noses...it appears you were spaming for offers.

10% mis-match is meaningless. Tubes within 5mA are considered matched.

OK, now a pet peve of mine...

Why, oh why do people have killer tubes in friggin' boxes, they should be in an amp, and you should be enjoying them every time you play.

Burn 'em, Baby! Tubes are only good if you can hear them

My three reasons:

1- Cheap *******
2- Cheaper *******
3- Supply and demand

I am working on another quad to use in my SLO 100. The Phillips was the stock tube in that amp as well when it was designed in 1986-1987. As far as the Siemens, I got luck and bought two pristine Marshalls barely used quads of them. I also have two new Mesa labeled. I have so many tubes in my closet it is like Christmas when I find something I forgot. Im pretty goofy like that.