No other tubes can deliver vocals like the Blackburn Mullard's, and that's a fact. These special ECC82 tubes, with the rare goal post square getter and 17mm long plates, carrying the unmistakable vintage sound signature of the very early Blackburn K61 (1st generation of ECC82 long plates) production, are extremely hard to find today and shouldn't be overlooked by critical listeners and tube enthusiasts.
The overall tonality of Mullard ECC82 tubes is warm and lively with a very spacious sound stage. "Like a warm British jacket of the finest tweed, these glorious tubes have an attractive sweet warmth in their midrange and lower regions." This is how the experts on audiotubes.com describe the sound signature of British-made Mullard tubes. The top end is silky and pleasant and doesn't get rolled off. They retain a fine sense of "air" at the top, and the upper midrange is smooth and liquid. These tubes reproduce the human voice, especially female voices, with haunting realism. The British made Mullard tubes are also known to have an attractive sparkle at the top with rich bass...now we know where that "warm British jacket" comes from!
THREE variants available:
Mullard ECC82 Long Plates Square Getter Original Box - Blackburn '55 K61 – NIB ($353.50)
Silkscreen:
95% - 100%
Date codes:
K61 B5K (K61 = ECC82 long plates production gen #1, B = Blackburn, 5 = 1955, K = November)
Technical Measurements
Transconductance (mA/V)
(100% = 2.2 mA/V)
Plate Current (mA)
(100% = 10.5 mA)
Triode 1
Triode 2
Triode 1
Triode 2
Tube 1
2.1
2.35
10.735
14.021
95%
107%
102%
133%
Certification Device
Certification Date
RoeTest V11
9/23/2024
Mullard ECC82 Long Plates Square[] Getter Matched Pair - Blackburn '58 K61 – NOS ($662.48)
Silkscreen:
95% - 100%
Date codes:
K61 B8A (K61 = ECC82 long plates production gen #1, B = Blackburn, 8 = 1958, A = January)
K61 B8I (K61 = ECC82 long plates production gen #1, B = Blackburn, 8 = 1958, I = September)
