"Regats" wrote in message
news
3udk.1250$bn3.187@trnddc07...
So - nobody knows - or is there simply no difference except the name?
There really is no difference between the Gold Lion, Gold Monarch, Genalex
and GEC branded KT88s. OTOH, when it was made, does have some significance.
The earliest single top getter version is more rare and is considered more
desirable/valuable.
The single getter version also falls into the category of "the older the
better". While this is not always true, there is some truth to it. The
older ones from 1950s thru 1960s physically look to be better made. Once
you get to the mid-1970s black base version, they don't appear to be as well
made and they very well may have been made in China as many people say. The
1950s and 60s ones all have brown bases.
The Gold Lion version was strictly a marketing ploy. Fancy red label, fancy
box and bogus test report. Bogus in the sense that it's NOT an individual
test report. If you read it carefully, you find out that the printed test
results are a "representative sample". I have seen a few from different
sources and they were all the same. I wonder if they ever printed a
different one?
In summary, if the ones you were selling have brown bases that's the most
important thing. Later black base are less desirable and single top getter
more desirable.
Gerry