Metropoulos Forum

I have had great luck with my Groove Tubes (Saratov) Silver Series KT66 tubes in my custom built JTM45/JTM50 head. The Groove Tubes "Silver Series" line of tubes are non-matched tubes. I lucked out with my (4) single Saratov KT66's because I remember when Groove Tubes first came out with this tube, and they called it the KT66 HP, but they were inconsistent in their quality (I had to personally return two matching pairs back to Groove Tubes). Somewhere in the interim before Groove Tubes went to the chinese KT66's with the brown bases, the Saratov KT66 HP's managed to improve in quality such that some people still swear by their Saratov KT66 sets. Later Groove Tubes was bought out by Fender, the GT KT66 HP's were of chinese construction and the rest is history.

In my quest for great KT66's at reasonable prices, and not NOS tubes I'm looking for other Metro Forum member experiences with Valve Art KT66's, Genalex Gold Lion KT66's, and JJ KT66's. The reason I pick these 3 KT66 types are: 1) the VA & Gold Lion KT66's profess to be knock offs of their original U.K. KT66 made counterparts (Which of the two are most like the originals made in the U.K.?) and as for the JJ KT66, a very knowledgeable amp tech told me that this is what he prefers to recommend (at least as far as wear, durability, and construction go for modern foreign made tubes).

there is a lot of information here already in old post. I'm using gold lions

Not sure if Valve Art are same as Shuguangs, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I preferred Gold Lions over the Shugs. Very bid difference. I even swapped back in the Shuguangs to see if I was hearing things. The Gold Lions IMO have a smoother tone, still great grind, and a much less harsh top end. They just sound more "vintage."

Under tube type reviews by " thetubestore.com " they compare the Shuguang to the Gold Lion, " We tested a set of Shuguang KT66 tubes for comparison. They produced similar results at low to moderate volume ranges. The next step was to crank things up and listen to the nature of the tube's overdriven tone. At higher volumes the difference between the Shuguang and the Gold Lion becomes more apparent. The compression in the Gold Lion tubes really seemed focused on the highs and upper mids, producing a smooth, singing sustain as each note bloomed. Chords compressed very nicely without loss of individual note definition or mushiness. By comparison, the Shuguang tubes were more compressed in a slightly lower frequency band, leaving the highs a little more raw sounding. While both sounds are very useful, I feel the Gold Lion tubes are better for those that want that smooth Santana sustain and the Shuguang tubes are the way to go if you want the raw sound of reverend Billy Gibbons. "

The only problem that I've heard about the Gold Lions had to do with inconsistent internal construction issues f.e. one pair might bias well, burn in well, and work well in the amp for some time but the very next pair might short out immediately upon biasing (both situations being under normal conditions), however recent or most recent batches of these tubes may have compensated for any past construction errors or problems.

I think you'll like the Gold Lion(Russian) over the Valve Art at least that's how it's been in our experience. I have not tested the JJ version. It's worth getting some of each and seeing what you like the best. I bought 8 of the Gold Lions and swapped them around to match them reasonably close for both a 50 and a 100 watt amp. I didn't have to do this with the Valve Art but this also was a year ago so now they might be more consistent. They do sound good and they have not caused any trouble in either amp both running at around 500 volts.

From the brief summary and review of the Shuguang KT66's and Gold Lion KT66's at http://www.thetubestore.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, I came to the conclusion that I will use, and will prefer the Gold Lion KT66's as well. The Tube Store made a simple review comparison, if you like the raw Billy Gibbons sound then use Shuguangs however, if you prefer the smooth Carlos Santana sound then use Gold Lions.

The only problem that I've heard about the Gold Lions had to do with inconsistent internal construction issues f.e. one pair might bias well, burn in well, and work well in the amp for some time but the very next pair might short out immediately upon biasing (both situations being under normal conditions), however recent or most recent batches of these tubes may have compensated for any past construction errors or problems