How could one come by four Svetlanas and a bottle of rum? Would you have to be a rich Russian oligarch, or a naughty salary man? Neither a tryst, nor an escape, nor a drink fueled indiscretion – yet the four Svetlanas are for real. We are not talking about a high stakes, closed door kinky Moseley moment here… No the Svetlanas I am talking about are of a different kind entirely. These Svetlanas come from a distinguished long line of Svetlanas that came before them – they have been in existence since 1928 – but don’t look a day older…

We are talking about the great JSC Svetlana valves – in particular about the 6L6GC Winged-C variety. And, there are four of them, since we need four matched ones.

Beware: The Svetlana brand name in the U.S. is owned by an entirely different company, and you will not be getting the original production at all. So if you live in the US or Canada, make sure you are asking for JSC Svetlanas. According to Watford Valves, they are the “best clean sounding current production 6L6GC made to day.”

I have put these into my good ole’ ValveKing 100, and they have brought the thing to life. When you want valves, you gotto go Russian!

Here they are in situ, purring happily away:

And… here is another wicked sample of Russian graphic art:

Yes, the Russians are back!

Of course, I am talking about valves – in this case the Sovtek 12AX7WC – the cryo treated version.

The valve is definitely high gain – but you get a lot of high gain with comparatively little clip & distortion – producing a well-directed, strong, and punchy sound.