I suppose I could use a couple of diodes, given that the sidechain is threshold-dependent, so who cares about the 0.6V drop, and there is the 33K resistor in series, so the internal resistance of the 6AL5 would not have made much of a difference anyway.
So either I seal up the extra hole I made (DAMMIT), or I suppose I could use it to put a 6386 in there (I have a couple) as an 'alternative' tube to pick between the two, or maybe to put another 6BC8 in parallel..
Or I could get a 7-pin socket and adapt the hole
Just in case.. Does anyone here have one in Northern Europe to sell?