Guitar Amp Power Tube Comparison Listening Session

In this video, we will compare the sonic differences between 11 types of power tubes in a single-ended guitar amp: 5881, 6L6GC, 6V6GT, EL84, EL34, 6CA7, KT66, KT77, KT88, 6550, and 7581A. Below is a link to a free .pdf to take notes to help evaluate each tube. I highly recommend doing this comparison in a critical listening environment as some differences can be quite nuanced. Clean amp examples: 2:44 7581A 3:10 EL84 3:36 6V6GT 4:02 6L6GC 4:28 KT66 4:54 EL34 5:20 6CA7 5:46 6550 6:12 KT88 6:38 KT77 7:04 5881 “Edge-of-breakup“ examples: 7:49 7581A 8:19 EL84 8:49 6V6GT 9:19 6L6GC 9:49 KT66 10:19 EL34 10:50 6CA7 11:20 6550 11:50 KT88 12:20 KT77 12:50 5881 Maxed amp examples: 13:30 7581A 14:17 EL84 15:06 6V6GT 15:54 6L6GC 16:42 KT66 17:30 EL34 18:18 6CA7 19:06 6550 19:54 KT88 20:43 KT77 21:31 5881 Copyright © 2023 Colin Sapp. All rights reserved. Spread love not hate.