I recently had to order some spare 6BC8 tubes for my vari mu compressors and I have noticed they are not so easy to find as they used to be.
You can get plenty of single tubes on ebay and similar markets, but chances are they are not suitable for a vari mu compressor. Maybe they have already been rejected.
In my experience with this tube there are many rejects, either the two sections are not balanced or they have a high noise floor or are microphonic.
The safest way is to buy a good quantity from a large stock, which is less likely to have been pre selected.
With many commercial units both vintage and modern production employing these tubes as well as the diy productions, I have the feeling there will be problems sooner than later with finding replacements for these tubes.
What about replacing the 6BC8 with a 6AQ8 / ECC85 ? That is still manufactured by Electro Harmonix
You can get plenty of single tubes on ebay and similar markets, but chances are they are not suitable for a vari mu compressor. Maybe they have already been rejected.
In my experience with this tube there are many rejects, either the two sections are not balanced or they have a high noise floor or are microphonic.
The safest way is to buy a good quantity from a large stock, which is less likely to have been pre selected.
With many commercial units both vintage and modern production employing these tubes as well as the diy productions, I have the feeling there will be problems sooner than later with finding replacements for these tubes.
What about replacing the 6BC8 with a 6AQ8 / ECC85 ? That is still manufactured by Electro Harmonix
