5751

It is purely subjective.If you've never tried either the current production or a NOS 5751,it may be worthwhile to try a current production first before you spend the $$ for a nos.To me the current production are dull and lifeless by comparison,like a weak chinese AX7.Even a used old stock 5751 is better.I have a good supply of various brand old stock 5751's and although some are better than others,in certain circuits the lesser ones are better than the "better" ones.If that makes sense.I have too many amps,so I can only be kind of general in my descriptions.Mavguy or Wolf can give you a clearer description of comparisons,they've done more extensive comparisons and are more discerning in their conclusions.You can do a search or,perhaps,they will chime in.

Every Sovtek preamp tube i've ever played for more than 100-200 hours developed "the tick" and i'm pretty sure I remember Wolf saying this one was garbage compared to the JAN philips. I would imagine if not for tone, than for reliability, the JAN would be better. I do love the grit in some of my high gain Sovteks, but definitely love the reliability in my NOS tubes over that annoying tick more!

You wont find any current production tube that will stand up to any old stock tube as far as reliability.Even the used old stock tubes are better in that regard.The JAN Phillips are not the best of the old stocks,but I like them very much.I have a bunch of those,the last batch I got I paid around $50 for a sleeve of 5 if I recall.I think you can find them fairly easily.If you find them for a price you can live with,they are good tubes and much better than current production.