Originally Posted by MartyStrat54

Just got a nice surprise in the mail. I bid on seven 6BQ5/EL84's the other day. It was a Power Seller and he just had them listed as, "Seven Sylvania 6BQ5's, NOS." No test figures as he was selling them NOS. I get the tubes and I get 8 instead of 7. Wow! That was a plus for several reasons. I take them out of the boxes to test them and, "Holy Cow," five of them are black plate. I test the BP's and they all match perfectly within one to two points. Out of the three gray plates, one was older and a mouse had ate the end of the box off. It tested 82 and the other two tested 86. The BP's tested between 86 and 88.

Other tube news: I won three NOS, NIB 7025's. Can't wait to test them. This is the ultimate V1 tube, especially if it reads at least 27/27. Perfect for matching up to an ICBM in V2. In addition, I won two RCA 7025's and I am waiting on them. I have just a small number of 7025's left, maybe 8 or 9 and I wanted to restock. I also have two new in box 12AX7A Westinghouse tubes coming in. Finally, I received two Mullard Blackburn plant XF4 EL34's. I was able to get them for $99 plus shipping. I tested them and they test at a whooping 99/100. So now I have a pair of Mullards for my other 602. Like I say, a good, balanced retubing is like doing a mod on your amp. You can hear the difference.

Marty

Originally Posted by steelhorse

I couldn't handle it after a few minutes. I got whiplash during the cleans (from almost nodding off) and then thought the dog was howling during the first part of the distortion.

He pretty much lost me with the tongue thing right off the bat though to be honest.