Preferred Series KT88 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched)

22 Reviews
SKU: PS-KT88

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.

USD $‎59.95
Each

Need matched power tubes? Don't worry! Price includes matching in any quantity you need for no extra charge. Need a matched pair? Just order "2" tubes. For a matched quad order "4" tubes. Matched sextets and octets are available as well.


Our Preferred Series KT88 vacuum tube is a versatile high quality tube. It is very musical and with a frequency range balanced from top to bottom. It has a strong detailed bass and smooth highs, with the mids slightly warm yet still detailed. The soundstage is wide and deep. The Preferred Series KT88 power tube construction features a solid plate design and triple getters.

We have been working at sourcing a good quality KT88 tube for the past couple years. This KT88 has excellent quality and for the price is one of the best KT88 in production today. They are custom made for us in China by the Shuguang factory. Our years of experience in testing, rating and listening, combined with customer feedback and knowledge were used to give you the best tube value we can provide. These are tubes that consistently provide us with positive customer feedback.

This tube is also sold as or known as Penta KT88SC or KT88-SC tube.

The Preferred Series KT88 tubes carry a 6 month extended warranty.

Wholesale pricing: Is available on 25 pairs or more. Contact us for pricing.

Other Preferred Series tubes          KT88 Tube Types

Additional Information and Downloads

Tube Matching Information:
Power Tube Matching FAQ
Perfect Pair System


Warranty Information and Return Policy

Warranty Period: 6 months

Preferred Series tubes have a 6 month warranty from date of purchase. (Any exceptions will be noted on that tube's Warranty tab)

If you receive a tube that does not perform to the manufacturer's specifications, please do the following:

- contact us to get a return authorization
- return it via regular mail within 180 days from when we shipped it, and we will provide an exchange or refund of the full purchase price of the tube.

Returns not related to warranty or defect will be considered at our discretion, and are subject to a 15% restocking fee.

We can not accept returns that don't have an authorization, are past 6 months, or are returned improperly.

These guidelines may be updated without notice.

Ratings & Reviews

22 reviews

Preferred Series KT88 | Average sound, but maybe not so reliable

by

One or more were noisy, which seemed to burn off and then happen only occasionally. At less than 3 months one burned out in rather spectacular fashion. The Tubestore replaced under warranty. Then another burned out same way. So 2 tubes out of 5 in less than 6 months.

Compared to some old spares on hand, the Svetlana have less glare, and JJ have a noticeably greater sense of ease, almost silky refined midrange and treble, and quite a bit deeper and more palpably real sound stage. Quite a surprise considering how old they are, years, with probably two thousand or more hours on them.

I'm giving three stars as on sound quality they are about average, and assuming 2 bad tubes was just my bad luck.

Preferred Series KT88 | Amazing!

by

Amazing! I bought a used Rogue Tempest II, recently. It came with KT88EH (ok), Sovtek 12ax7 (eh), and no name Chinese 6SN7GT. I was going to replace the smaller tubes first since they were the cheapest and worst, but I decided to go all out on the Black Friday sale. I got the PS-KT88s, PS-7025, and Tungsol 6SN7GTBs.
I'm too old to spend the time and energy on A-B testing so I switched out all the tubes and fired it up. With nothing more than a warmup the sound difference was like an entire system upgrade. I've been around audio a long time (and I really do not like the general direction the industry has gone) and I was a professional classical musician for many years. I would not have though that much improvement could come from a moderately priced tube upgrade.
The sound is better in every aspect. And not by a little bit.
Detail vs warmth? Don't settle!
If the detail is not revealing better music, then what is it really doing?

Deep and wide soundstage clear and detailed sound

by

These sound fantastic in my ST120. I got the kit that shipped with the Russian 6550s and after 60-120 hours I wasn’t hearing that wide 3d soundstage I was wanting. The 6550s sounded really good but I felt the right tube could really open up and fill the room. These KT88 tubes do that very well. Amazing clarity across the spectrum without harshness.

New Life and Sparkle!

by

I just replaced the stock KT88s on my Bogner Shiva Anniversary with a matched pair of these and the difference is huge. So much more life and sparkle. So much more high end extension and sweet mids. Both my Strat and Pensa MKII now out-chime my outdoor chimes. Totally worth the price. Couldn't be happier..

Smooth tubes all through out the tonal spectrum

by

I initially had issues with these tubes being to to bassy sounding, but i have a handful of preamp tubes, and decided to go back, and experiment. I had to take out the JJ 12ax7 out of V1, and went back to the Tung Sol for that position. In the V3 position i like the Tungsram ECC83 for my Coreblade. I find that these three preamp tubes really work well together, and help the mid knob get a airiness type mid range that doesn't overly affect the bass, and resonance adjustments on the amp. With my previous EL34b power tubes these preamps tubes just wouldn't' work because they eliminated all the bass frequencies, and since I added the KT88's I was able to get all those bass frequencies back, which is awesome. I find I can turn up all my amps tone adjustments, and affects adjustments to the max settings, and still get a good sound. I don't have nearly as much percussive pick attack as i did previously, but that is more because I replaced my Jensen Blackbird/ Tornado speakers, with Warehouse speakers ET90, in my Port City OS Wave 2x12, which i find is brings out smooth lead tone instead. In order for me to get any semblance of percussive palm muting attack on my A standard tuned Reaper I have to dial back the resonance,, and bass parameters a lot. I might possible in the future try out a Vintage 30, after i try adding a compressor to my sound to see if i can bring the percussive back for the certain rhythm I like to use it on.

I moved the Dimarzio D activator pickups on my guitar as far away from the strings as i could, and raised the Poles as close as i could get them to the strings to help further reduce the bass that i get from my 27" scale mahogany Agile Reaper. This helped clear up the bass on the Bridge pickup some, but i still have issues with the neck having more bass then i care for, so I think I'm not going to use it much if ever. I found with the KT88's i can get a really good warm but not dark lead tone with the bridge pickup on It's own, with some minor amp tone adjustments which is sweet.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the sound I'm getting with my amp after these changes. They have been a great improvement.