From: pfjw@aol.com   
      
   Somewhat it depends on which Jolida you have. There are amps made and   
   assembled in China, and those final-assembled and tested in the US. The latter   
   are the better ones. There are better amps at more dollars, and better amps at   
   less dollars. But the    
   latter will be legacy amps and require some skills and time you may not have   
   or wish to invest.    
      
   As to tubes: The bottom line is which ones sound better to you. At this   
   moment, apparently there are a lot of problems with recent-issue Tung-Sol   
   tubes. There have always been problems with any-issue Chinese tube, but -   
   apparently - that may be getting    
   better.   
      
   Go to a legitimate, reputable tube dealer, explain your taste and let them   
   help you through the process. Writing for myself, I have sufficient   
   NOS-US/Euro stock to handle my needs into the foreseeable future so, I will   
   not advise on present-manufacture    
   tubes. But, I tested 15 Sovtek 6550s last night for a musician friend who   
   needed two matched triplets from the bunch. They were _all_ reputed as 'new'.    
   I keep a Hickok 539B, so I also could match plate and heater current as well   
   as output. I used my 40-   
   year old set of GE 6550s from my Scott LK150 as reference tubes. I was able to   
   match two sets of three. One set tested at the minimum, one set tested *just*   
   above the minimum. The GEs tested at about 25% over the minimum.    
      
   And this is why you go to a reputable dealer.    
      
   Peter Wieck   
   Melrose Park, PA   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)