[mordy]

Do these look like real Marconi ? Not sure if they are fakes or rebranded ?

The code on the glass in black at the bottom of the tube I think indicates Blackburn/Mullard - maybe March 1966.

 

[UntilThen]

Do these look like real Marconi ? Not sure if they are fakes or rebranded ?

No reason to think they are fake. It did say British made and of course there's the code as pointed out by Mordy.

 

[UntilThen]

Eric is a Brilliant Master Builder of amps. The UltimatE became my favorite amp until the arrival of my SupremE.

Are you buying yourself a nice present in the WE300B or Elrog 300b or Takatsuki 300b? As with Ultimate, good 300b tubes in Supreme will also make a difference. Although the EH 300B did sound very good at my last audition.

Matt who was the first to get a Supreme, had KR Audio 300 xls for Destiny and I'm not sure what he got for Supreme. He did have the Philips Miniwatt 45. He has ordered GEC 807 ATS25. His Super Black Ultimate is the loaded gun. It will be the most up specced Super Ultimate with Duelund CAST and Vcap cutf. I must get together with him someday. He's somewhere in Australia. I will be auditioning this Ultimate. It will be the first with 6.3 and 12.6v driver option. Finally I will get to use my Tung Sol 12SL7gt bgrp. This last saw duty with GOTL.

 

[VanHai]

Are you buying yourself a nice present in the WE300B or Elrog 300b or Takatsuki 300b? As with Ultimate, good 300b tubes in Supreme will also make a difference. Although the EH 300B did sound very good at my last audition.

Matt who was the first to get a Supreme, had KR Audio 300 xls for Destiny and I'm not sure what he got for Supreme. He did have the Philips Miniwatt 45. He has ordered GEC 807 ATS25. His Super Black Ultimate is the loaded gun. It will be the most up specced Super Ultimate with Duelund CAST and Vcap cutf. I must get together with him someday. He's somewhere in Australia. I will be auditioning this Ultimate. It will be the first with 6.3 and 12.6v driver option. Finally I will get to use my Tung Sol 12SL7gt bgrp. This last saw duty with GOTL.

I am tilting to WE300B, but still not decided yet. Regardless of which brand, they are all very expensive. I have a pair of 45 and a pair of 2A3 waiting for the SupremE.

Does he choose 5v or 6v for his rectifier? The mids and bass sound spectacular and thumping on my UltimatE, I believe, due to 2.5v reverses for the driver tubes. That is a nice pair of Tung Sol 12SL7gt bgrp you have there. I have 2 pairs and used to use them on the MZ3. They are rare and very hard to find.

 

[UntilThen]

I am tilting to WE300B, but still not decided yet. Regardless of which brand, they are all very expensive. I have a pair of 45 and a pair of 2A3 waiting for the SupremE.

Does he choose 5v or 6v for his rectifier? The mids and bass sound spectacular and thumping on my UltimatE, I believe, due to 2.5v reverses for the driver tubes. That is a nice pair of Tung Sol 12SL7gt bgrp you have there. I have 2 pairs and used to use them on the MZ3. They are rare and very hard to find.

WE 300B is a good choice but so are the other 2. In 2018, I had Woo Audio WA5LE for 2 weeks from a friend who has to return to his hometown and he lend it to me for safe keeping. It has Takatsuki 300b and EML 5U4G rectifiers and Brimar CV1988 black glass brown base. I wasn't going to just keep it safe. That was the time I just received my GOTL and naturally for 2 weeks, I was camped in my music room without leaving.

Matt's Super Black Ultimate is exactly like yours but with the addition of 12.6 and 6.3v option and Duelund and Vcap cutf caps. It will use 5v rectification.

His caps.

 

[VanHai]

WE 300B is a good choice but so are the other 2. In 2018, I had Woo Audio WA5LE for 2 weeks from a friend who has to return to his hometown and he lend it to me for safe keeping. It has Takatsuki 300b and EML 5U4G rectifiers and Brimar CV1988 black glass brown base. I wasn't going to just keep it safe. That was the time I just received my GOTL and naturally for 2 weeks, I was camped in my music room without leaving.

Matt's Super Black Ultimate is exactly like yours but with the addition of 12.6 and 6.3v option and Duelund and Vcap cutf caps. It will use 5v rectification.

His caps.

He goes all out hah, beautiful caps . Nice of Eric to allow his clients requests. I have asked him to give a 1/8 inch extra between XLR and 1/4 jacks on my SupremE.

 

[triod750]

Do these look like real Marconi ? Not sure if they are fakes or rebranded ?

From the factory code (bottom line B6C1) you can see that it is made by Mullard Blackburn (B for Blackburn factory) for the company Marconiphone that made radio sets among other products. I have old Philips made EL41 tubes that are branded Marconiphone MEL41 and a rectifier branded Marconiphone MAZ41 (AZ41).
First line, '8t' is type code for EZ81 and second line is factory and date code. 6C1 there means first week of March in a year ending with 6. This is late production code. 'Godk83/03' means accepted March 1983 (my guess).
The code on the box is Swedish military code for the tube.

 

[mordy]

From the factory code (bottom line B6C1) you can see that it is made by Mullard Blackburn (B for Blackburn factory) for the company Marconiphone that made radio sets among other products. I have old Philips made EL41 tubes that are branded Marconiphone MEL41 and a rectifier branded Marconiphone MAZ41 (AZ41).
First line, '8t' is type code for EZ81 and second line is factory and date code. 6C1 there means first week of March in a year ending with 6. This is late production code. 'Godk83/03' means accepted March 1983 (my guess).
The code on the box is Swedish military code for the tube.

Do you think that godkänd 83/03 means that it was retested then and found fully functional?

 

[crakers7]

I bought it but all the EZ81 that are U709 are at least 5 x more expensive so not sure if I got a bargain or not

 

[triod750]

Do you think that godkänd 83/03 means that it was retested then and found fully functional?

Yes, maybe, if it was reboxed. Otherwise I think this would be on a sticker or something

 

[triod750]

I looked at the photo again and the print might actually be on a sticker that is sealing the box.
I don't remember when Philips started to use week on their codes, making them seven digits in total. My memory is partly made up from Swiss cheese, holes and all, especially holes.

 

[Deleeh]

Have a look here and compare the pictures, maybe you will find something that looks like Phillips aka Mullard.
http://www.tube-classics.de/TC/Tubes/Valvo EZ80-81/EZ80-81.htm
You have to be careful with the rectifiers as there are many variations of well-known manufacturers or all were Brander.
Tronix,Ultron ect could all be Mullard,Rft and so on.
So save your $ for well known brands where you can get them for half the price or less.
Ez80 Bel for example is a Mullard that was made in India with Mullard moulds.
Hunt rather really that of Nec,Sylvania,Rca and so on.
Anything that may have been around for a short time or is rare to find are actually top end rectifiers.
The EZ81 Nec for example is a very good one if you can find it at a good price.
I just got the Sylvania EZ81 in and it's just playing in.

 

[mordy]

Have a look here and compare the pictures, maybe you will find something that looks like Phillips aka Mullard.
http://www.tube-classics.de/TC/Tubes/Valvo EZ80-81/EZ80-81.htm
You have to be careful with the rectifiers as there are many variations of well-known manufacturers or all were Brander.
Tronix,Ultron ect could all be Mullard,Rft and so on.
So save your $ for well known brands where you can get them for half the price or less.
Ez80 Bel for example is a Mullard that was made in India with Mullard moulds.
Hunt rather really that of Nec,Sylvania,Rca and so on.
Anything that may have been around for a short time or is rare to find are actually top end rectifiers.
The EZ81 Nec for example is a very good one if you can find it at a good price.
I just got the Sylvania EZ81 in and it's just playing in.

It seems to me that Mullard made the EZ81 for many different brands - is it possible that you can identify them by looking for the lines/creases on the top of the glass?

 

[Deleeh]

It seems to me that Mullard made the EZ81 for many different brands - is it possible that you can identify them by looking for the lines/creases on the top of the glass?

Supposed to be one of the trademarks, but I'm much more interested in the plate construction.
It usually fits.
It often fits, but the getter at the top can often vary.
But I don't think the latter is usually that important, although it is often advertised.
The one linked is a Mullard made in Blackburn.
You can see it quite well on the link I posted.
Although it is from Phillips it could probably be a bit cheaper although it is the same tube.

 

[UntilThen]

Was using 5b/254m tubes when I hear some pop sound after playing about 30 mins. Then the HD800 right channel went dead. I thought oh crap what happened. Did the right tube blow or did my HD800 right channel blow.

Start up Oblivion and plug in HD800 and hurray both channels working. So it must be the right tube of the 5b/254m pair right? Put in a new 5b/254m and listen again and it is OK ! Not satisfied I decided to put back the offending 5b/254m tube into the right channel again and now it is both channel working. So what happened? Something happened but it's ok now. Very strange.

Btw these 5b/254m sound excellent. Highly recommended.