Tung-Sol 5881 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched)

9 Reviews
SKU: TS-5881

Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours.

USD $‎41.95
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.


There are some important things to know about the reissue Tungsol 5881 vacuum tube before you decide to use it. The Tungsol 5881 is a 23 watt tube and is rated for a maximum plate voltage of 400Vdc. The many amplifiers that have higher plate voltage but use a tube rectifier can use the Tungsol 5881 power tubes without issue. A prime example is the '59 Bassman LTD. However it is also critical to rebias the amp heeding the 5881's 23W rating. This will provide a vintage tone and less clean headroom. Leaving the bias set to a 6L6GC setting and/or using the Tungsol 5881 in a high voltage amp with a solid-state rectifier, will likely cause problems and are not covered by warranty. For these cases consider the Tung-sol 6L6GC-STR tubes instead. They are rated for 30 watts and 500V so they will hold up better. Their tone is quite similar to the 5881 too.

If you are not sure what is appropriate for you, contact us.


From our review of this tube: "The Tung-Sol 5881 tube may be the best option available for guitar toting tone freaks. The magic is definitely not in the name. The new Tungsol 5881 tube has it all going on. The pair I evaluated has been seeing steady gigging use for about 8 weeks. In this case, about 20 hours a week in a 1964 Fender Bassman running flat-out. One tube has drifted about 1ma, but that's after 150+ hours of full power usage. The tone is everything you would expect from NOS for about 1/3 of the price. These are full spectrum bottles that deliver everything from the classic, deep, "piano-like" lows to crystal clean highs. They are very tolerant with regards to biasing; allowing anything from 50% - 70% of rated plate dissipation to be dialed in at idle while still producing great tone. The construction differs slightly from the NOS in my possession but they are very close. Microphonics has not been an issue at all; no ringing, pops, ticks or squeals - unless you create them with a guitar. The overdriven tone is thick but articulate and just gets fatter the harder they are driven. Dime your amp and then use your guitar's volume and tone controls to dial in just about anything you want."

View the original Tungsol 5881 tube data sheet.

The Tung-Sol name and trademark have been acquired by the New Sensor Corporation. This new production Tungsol tube is manufactured at their Xpo-Pul factory (also known as Reflektor) in Saratov, Russia. New Sensor is an American corporation and since taking ownership of this factory has been steadily improving the quality of current production tubes.

Note: 25 Watt tubes (and similar) such as 6L6, 6L6GB, and 5881 are rated for plate voltage up to 400 volts.
30 Watt tubes such as 6L6GC, 6L6WXT+, and 6L6WGC are rated for plate voltage up to 500 volts.
The KT66 tube type is a 25 Watt tube rated for plate voltage up to 500 volts.
Check your amplifier's owner manual to find out what your amp requires or ask us.

Other Tung-Sol tubes6L6 Tube Types

Additional Information and Downloads

Reviews:
6L6 Tube Review

Tube Matching Information:
Power Tube Matching FAQ
Perfect Pair System

Downloads:
Tung-Sol 5881 Datasheet (PDF)


Download Adobe Acrobat PDF reader


Warranty Information and Return Policy

Warranty Period: 3 months

All our tubes are guaranteed for 3 months from the 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 90 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 3 month, or are returned improperly.

These guidelines may be updated without notice.

Ratings & Reviews

9 reviews

Great tonal balance and harmonics, easy to break up, no noise.

by

TS5881 put a smile on my face.

Use: Blackstar Studio 10 6L6 through a 10" Celestion Gold cabinet. Guitar is an Ibanez hollow body with 490 Gibson pups.
The tone is "full", meaning there's no lack of treble, mids, nor bass. Treble is very present, never fatiguing. Mids are very present. Bass is full (I play semi-hollow electrics) but tighter and more controlled than a 6L6.
It's got more harmonics and it is easy to distort than the original TAD6L6GTR. Somehow it is punchier too.
Miles ahead of JJ's 5881, which needs a preamp pedal like the Echoplex to sound like the Tung-Sol sounds without it.

MESA HEARTBREAKER

by

The Heartbreaker is a love/hate amp because it's a very fussy amp for tubes and speakers as it is a "total amp construction kit" that mimics a swath of classic amp circuits.

I've tried about 8+ different models of power tubes in this amp across 6L6, 6V6 and EL34 types. This was my first attempt at 5881's - recommended by Jon.

With the right speakers, this amp with Tungsol 5881's hit 9.5/10, the best this amp has ever sounded overall by a significant margin for American influenced clean
and edge of breakup tones. Expressive bluesy vibe. Total Pro-tone with the right cab.

Marshall JTM45

by

I have tried 6L6's (too boomy and too much treble) and KT-66"s (very boomy but very hi-fidelity clarity) in my Marshall JTM45 and have gone back to the 5881's. These tubes have a very even response. They do not over do the bass or treble frequencies. They have a nice bite to them and excellent clean tone clarity. Slightly flat and not hi-fidelity per say, just very even and workable. They also soak up overdrive and distortion pedals very well. Not perfect, but definitely very good. Will buy again.

Quality tube - not the best for my application

by

Tried them in my Fender DeVille, which has a solid state rectifier. Had bias adjusted. I use a wide variety of tones for soul/blues/rock in nightclub rooms. I can't crank up the volume. At nightclub volumes, these tubes sounded too clean and thin, compared to the warmth and depth I get with JJs.

Great Value!

by

These worked very well in my 20 watt Krank Rev Jr. They got rid of the bad stuff and kept the good stuff. Sufficient compressed gain without getting saggy (responsive). No artifacts or weird clipping noise. Smooth runnings :)