Let me give you some of my personal experience.Old tubes were made better, but you cant get them anymore. "NOS" are a completel rip-off...it didnt start that way, back in the 80's and 90's when no one was making tubes anymore, there were still a lot of good unused tubes lying around in warhouses and parts stores. There AINT no more 'o them. trust me. Even reputable dealers are getting ripped off with fakes and worn out garbage. so what do you do? You have to do some shopping. This Groove tube 6L6GE happens to be one of the only American made tubes available. Groove tube aquired the rights and the original machinery to make the old GE "blackplates" and they're doing a fine job. Some say these are a bit more "modern" sounding -higher output and just a tiny biT thinner in the mids and highs...maybe but modern amps eat the old tubes alive anyway. Why spend 300 dollars for a couple of old, 3/4's worn out, glass vacuum tubes, that you wont use anyway? Get the "real deal" from GT and MF and be done with it.In a blind test with my own gear that my band mates and I did, I cant tell the difference between these and my old GE's..i gave the GE's to my little brother and I dont have anything to do with "NOS" tubes anymore.

I purchased a pair of the Groove Tubes GT-6L6-GE and found that they were decent tubes. They were better than the stock tubes in my Peavey 5150 amp, but not by a huge margin.

They have good tone for a modern tube, but not as good as vintage GE, Sylvania, or RCA tubes. If you can't find vintage tubes cheaper, then get these instead.

Im not putting china tube in my American DeVille. i purchased the rating 5 for medium distortion break up. it breakes up my 212 deVille at volume 4. im ordering the 10 right now.for a super clean sound.