Tube question

[Denis]

A local guy is working on my Sunn 200S and said the 6AN8 tube is bad (not warming up at all). I'll have to order one, but as common as the 6AN8 is the 6AN8A. What's the difference between the two?

[dadagoboi]

If he can't tell you the difference maybe he's the wrong guy to be working on your amp.

[clankenstein]

http://www.r-type.org/pdfs/6an8.pdf i think they are quite similar the 6an8a has slightly more plate dissapation(grunt) ,its the 5an8 that has a different heater voltage .,my 1965 rca recieving tube manual describes 6an8a as medium mu(gain) triode-sharp cut off pentode,so one side is a triode and the other a pentode.

[Denis]

If he can't tell you the difference maybe he's the wrong guy to be working on your amp.

I didn't ask him the difference when I was on the phone with him, in part because the schematics call for the 6AN8.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

The "A" suffix typically stands for a later version that has some performance improvement.  I doubt you'll find a "plain" 6AN8 nowadays. Lemmee look through my oddball tubes and see what I have, but if you have to use a 6AN8A, it won't hurt anything or sound much different.

[Denis]

The "A" suffix typically stands for a later version that has some performance improvement.  I doubt you'll find a "plain" 6AN8 nowadays. Lemmee look through my oddball tubes and see what I have, but if you have to use a 6AN8A, it won't hurt anything or sound much different.

Cool, thanks!!! Yeah, no one around here has them and the only ones I found were on eBay. We used to have a few big electronics shops around here but, like many other things, they've pretty much gone out of business.

[FrankieTbird]

I've got a few here too if PBG can't hook you up.  Let me know.