What is the 5AQ5 vacuum tube?

The 5AQ5 is a tetrode vacuum tube designed for power applications. 5V heater variant..

What is a 5AQ5 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the 5AQ5 include 6AQ5. These share the same pinout and operating envelope, so they can usually be swapped without circuit changes — though batch-to-batch variations between manufacturers (NOS vs current production) may shift the sonic character noticeably.

What are the key specifications of the 5AQ5?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 10, transconductance gm ≈ 4.1 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 52.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 275 V, max plate dissipation 12 W, heater 4.7 V / 0.6 A.

Is the 5AQ5 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the 5AQ5 as Common availability. NOS (new-old-stock) examples from RCA, Mullard, Tung-Sol, GE, Sylvania and Telefunken trade among collectors; modern production where it exists comes mostly from JJ Electronic, Electro-Harmonix, Tung-Sol (New Sensor), Genalex, and a handful of small-batch makers.

What does the 5AQ5 sound like?

5V heater variant.. Sonic character also depends heavily on the circuit operating point, the surrounding tubes in the stage, and the output transformer when present — use the interactive loadline calculator on this page to explore the trade-offs.

By Jean-Michel Falligan Devergne · Reviewed May 29, 2026

←5AQ5

← 5998 5R4GY →Compare → 6AQ5

5AQ5 Tetrode Vacuum Tube

Tetrode4.7V / 0.6A7-pin MiniatureSPICE

Sourcedatasheet4u 5AQ5Reviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelKoren pentodePDF

Beam power tetrode rated at 12W for high-power output stages

Datasheet ↗SPICE

5AQ5 — RCA — tetrode vacuum tube — (1952)

52.0kΩ

4.1mA/V

8.0pF

0.4pF

8.50pF

GAIN10%

POWER30%

DRIVE48%

LINEARITY95%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater4.7 V · 0.6 A

Max Plate Voltage275 V

Pa max12 W

Gain Factor10

gm4.1 mA/V

rp52.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk8 pF

Cgp0.4 pF

Cpk8.5 pF

Pinout7-pin Miniature

Era1952

RarityCommon

HEATER4.7V / 0.6A

MAX PLATE275V / 12W

BASEminiature-7

Source datasheets

2 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for 5AQ5

2 verified

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 5AQ5 is a indirectly-heated beam tetrode from RCA, introduced around 1952. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 10 with 52.0kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in power applications. 5V heater variant.

VS 6AQ5

μ 0%Rp +0%Pd 0%Full comparison →

HISTORY

Introduced1952ManufacturerRCA

Golden Age