Those damn Russkies always threw surprises. Using in Melq the Russian-made tubes, probably very few the most remarkable tubes they ever made, the life defiantly threw some hi-fi astonishments.

The people who follow my saga with Melq know that I do not use in Super Melquiades’ HF channel the 5E5P but rather 6E6P. It is basically the same tube but I find it slightly softer, more elegant and more sophisticated sounding. A have also the 6E6P-DR with is high reliability (perhaps military) version of 6E6P, with better construction, 10.000 hors of life-time, and so on. I use 6E6P-DR routinely in Super Melq’sa HF channels and it does fine.

A few weeks ago I dug a party of strange tubes: 6E6P-DRY(DRU). When I got them I was very surprised. They are from 1972, gold pins (Russian tubes with Gold pins (!), and they are all heavily pre-burned. I know that Russian special QA for top-notch military application burned the tube and then mach them 15% into their life expectancy. It looks like they are a party of those tubes. What was also interesting that all of them have their gloss tips submerges in some king of transparent bluish coating… Very interesting.

I run those tubes on tester and the showed mutual conductance and gain, as they are new. Well, I said… and forgot about them. Today I spoke with Dima and he proposed the those tubes besides everything might have different coating on the cathode that might make then even to sound deferent. So I tried. Yes, the do sound different and they are even more soft and tuneful then regular 6E6P-DR.

Now is the mystery: what DRY means? None of the book that I have mentions anything about the DRY. None of the tubes gurus I asked, including Russian guys ever heard about the DRU. Does anyone know anything about the DRY (DRU)?

Rgs,
Romy the caT