May 8, 2012
-
GEC KT88
With all the reviews I’ve been doing lately of tubes in the KT88 family, I thought it’d be appropriate for another reality check. So, I took out a quad of GEC KT88 tubes to give them a listen.
It’s become almost fashionable lately to bash the GEC KT88 as being not worth the money. I’m not going to get into the midst of that argument. I’m just going to describe how they sound to me and along the way, there may be some comparisons to other tubes, but that will only be in passing. My intention isn’t to say what’s worth what.
The sample tubes were manufactured by the Marconi-Osram Valve Co. in England at their Hammersmith plant which is designated by the letter “Z” on the tube label. They are the solid, black plate type with two side getters. Interestingly, the getter splash screen is transparent (see photo below). One tube is a 1972 vintage with a blue GEC label (see photo), two are from 1975 and one is from 1978. All three of the latter have the amber label (also see photo). The have a brushed aluminum-colored collar and a brown base.
Rear(?) of GEC KT88 showing Hammersmith "Z" designation GEC KT88 and its box
Close up of transparent splatter shield Newer amber label and older blue GEC labels
These tubes were intended for sale in Europe since those for US sale were labeled either “Genalex,” “Gold Lion,” or “Gold Monarch.” This name-differentiation was due to the fact that it was felt “GEC” might be confused with the American manufacturing giant, General Electric. In fact, GEC does stand for General Electric Company but it had absolutely no affiliation with the similarly-named American company. I think this was a tempest in a teapot, but that’s only my opinion, naturally.
Listening Impressions:
- Smooth and delicate sound with treble transients integral to the whole without drawing attention to themselves.
- Excellent bass response with instruments such as the cello having a woody, resonant sound.
- Horns are burnished but can be blatty (I know that’s not a word, so live with it) when the recording calls for it.
- Voices and vocals are natural and almost life-like.
- Continuous sound stage but instruments occupy their separate acoustic spaces.
- Effects such as studio reverb are easily distinguishable from natural reverberation.
- The “emotion” of the music is conveyed without effort (see examples below).
- Detail is abundant but never in your face.
I said I’d give some examples at how good these output tubes are at conveying music’s emotional content and here are three examples. Two of the lachrymose kind and one just plain evocative.
While listening to Kenny G’s “Wedding Song” (no comments, please) I found that tears were streaming down my face without my even realizing what was happening. Now perhaps the song was triggering some unconscious memories and associations, I don’t know. What I do know is that the song was evoking such a strong emotional response, that my body was reacting to a stimulus I didn’t even know was there.
Second example. I was watching one of Anthony Bourdain’s eat-fest travelogues and this one took place in Lisbon, Portugal. Throughout the hour-long show, the music of a Portuguese guitar duo by the name of Dead Combo was featured. These two guys played a type of Iberian-infused rock that I’d never heard before. But it managed, somehow, to bring me back to my much younger years when guitar work by people like Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, David Gilmour, Eric Clapton and a host of others spoke to me in a way that was personal and direct. The Dead Combo didn’t sound anything like these guitar players, but the connection was there nevertheless.
Final example. A 27 year old Portuguese woman by the name of Arnauth Mafalda was featured for a brief sample of one of her songs. She’s evidently quite popular in Europe although I’d never heard of her before and she sings in the Portuguese style known as fado. I don’t speak or understand Portuguese: its vocabulary and pronunciation are sufficiently different from the Romance language I know a little of that I can only pick out words here and there. However, she sang with such emotion, such anguish that once again, I found the tears rolling from my eyes before I knew what the hell was going on.
Of the output tubes I’ve had in my system of late, only the Tung-Sol black plate 6550 and surprisingly to me, the Valve Art KT88 have left an impression on me that come near to the GEC KT88. Each of those sound different, but then almost everything does. They may come near, but for me right now, not all that close.
Maybe my medication needs to be changed. I don’t know. What I do know is that with the GEC KT88 tubes in my system, there’s an emotional connection to the music that seems to bypass my head and go straight to my heart. I may take a hiatus from reviewing other power tubes for the immediate future; I just don’t want to take these out.
