Those Shuguang Tubes


There are some great things to be had in Chinese tubes these days since we are, ah, all cutting corners. Some of them, knock the ball out of the park. Some of them, violate the infield fly rule. Here is my guide to help you.


Shuguang 12AX7, 12AT7, 12AU7, 7025, 6922(derivatives)

Fa-gyet-a-bout-it. Really. I have tried. They are either very bad or average. Use the 7025 for 12AX7 replacements for listening to background music. Theses tubes are in the realm of extremes: either very dull or very bright. No matter what I try them in, the Classic Preamp, the Ming DA 7R preamp or the excellent Doge 6130, they are remarkable by their sheer lack of remark-ability.

Shuguang 6SN7GT

The Shoo 6SN7GT are worth looking into, and for the price, cannot be beat. Now pay close attention, brothers and sisters of the halo getter, as I am referring to the 6SN7GT models with the white lettering and the brown base. I am not referring to the Shoo 6SN7s the have the silver base and I am not referring to the tubes that have 6N8P labeled on them. So hey, be careful out there.

The Shoo 6SN7GTs are a delight and are far from the listless bland sound coming out of EH these days. After listening to some EHs in the ever critical Bada PH-12 head amp, I was actually getting fatigued by the Bada trying to pull detail out of these tubes and the tubes fighting it every step out of the way. When I placed the Shoos back in, the window opened up and I was hearing things with detail and a sense of firm instrument placement that I have never heard before. This is a consensus view of the Shoos, as most folks that I respect (Response Audio, for example) is fond of them as well.

Shuguang 2A3C

Please have a spare of these, you RCA lovers, ‘cause you are in for a treat. These are the white label and (current) white base that have “Shuguang 2A3C” in white letters (hence white label) stamped on them. I am not referring to the 2A3Bs that you should remove the insides of, fill with wax and use them as Yuletide candles for the holidays.

The 2A3s are just going to be tough to beat for the price as nothing comes close, sans for the EH 2A3s. The JJ Teslas are just two, well JJ Tesla-ish. Viz., the bass goes mush and the dynamics are missing. The sound is a kin to the JJ KT88s – they just need some guts behind them to get them to sound right. Alas, the confusion is, the Teslas sound correct tonally, at first install, after a while, you will know what I am talking about.

The Shoo 2A3s bring a SET listening to a whole new level and those 300B folks, so endeared to a lucid detailed, vocalist lip-smacking midrange may want to give these a try. The EHs are correct tonally, but are missing the last bit of detailed that the Shoo 2A3s reproduce.
I use the Shoo 2A3 tubes in the famous MC2A3 preamp and they are just dynamite.

Shuguang 300B

Again, these are the 300BC white label and white base (sometimes they have a brown base) 300B tubes.


The Shuguang 300BC is probably one of the most reliable, industrial 300BC these paws have ever handled. I use them in a variety of ways: to bias the 3008 Mono blocks and for general purpose listening. I do not like them as much as the Shuguang mesh plate varities (or any other mesh plate variety for that matter). I also do not like them as much as the bargain-of –the century Sovtek 300BC (which you can no longer obtain, and I have not heard the EH 300Bs). I am currently comparing them to the JJ Teslas. Compared to other 300B tubes, the Shoo white label sounds a little too dark for me and in doing so, tends to suck out the midrange ever so slightly. This tube also needs a war-and-peace level break in time as it could take as much as 100 hours before the tube open up. And then, if that were not enough, it needs another 2 hours of turn on time before it even begins to show you what it is capable of. It is as quiet as a mounse and sans its “dark” attributes, is one heck of a tube. Use it if your amp has a hot high end and upper mid as you may find this tube endearing.

The Shuguang KT88-98

These are the KT88-98s and not the KT88 and not the KT100. The KT88-98 comes in two varieties: the white label and the hand picked red label that you can only get when you purchase the Shuguang Blue S8 amplifier.

The Shoo KT88-98 is one of the punchier KT88 tubes. I like it a lot and prefer it over all new tubes, sans the Cadillac Genlex, which surpasses a KT88 tube in just about every category. The Genelex has it over the KT88-98 in the mids to highs, where it parts a 300B sound to the highs and a 2A3 sound to the mids. Punch for punch, bass for bass, dynamic for dynamic, it is on par the with the Shoo KT88-98, which is why it is worth having a pair on hand.

The Shuguang 6550

These are supposed to be replicas of the GE 6550. Well, they are not. And for that matter, none of the replica tubes are “replicas”, IMO. Take the Mullard New Sensor re-issues. Nice tube, no replica. Same thing for the Shoo 6550, nice tube, no replica. My favorite 6550 tube remains the EH and SED, where I place the EH, SED and Shoo 6550 in that order. The Shoo 6550 needs a tremendous break in time and sounds like the 300BC tube, a little dark and withdrawn – but it has the punch bass of its kinkless trioide. cousin. I like in amps that sound a little bright and forceful, where it paints a scene of delicate subtleness with these amps. The 6550 shoos are standard in the Ming Da MC 368B90 amp.

Shuguang tubes have come a long way since there inception in the early 1990s. They seem to get better year by year. Even as the dollar rises against the Chinese Yuan, the Shuguang tubes represent a great bargain. Enjoy these tubes and enjoy their price point.