What is a 6DN7 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the 6DN7 include None standard. 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 6DN7?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 15, transconductance gm ≈ 7.7 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 2.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 550 V, max plate dissipation 10 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.9 A.

Is the 6DN7 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the 6DN7 as Moderate 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 6DN7 sound like?

Asymmetric octal dual: one high-μ driver unit + one low-μ output unit, both in the same envelope. Bottlehead-community favorite for one-bottle SE designs.. 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

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6DN7 Triode Vacuum Tube

Q: What is the 6DN7 vacuum tube?

The 6DN7 is a triode vacuum tube designed for driver + power applications. Asymmetric octal dual: one high-μ driver unit + one low-μ output unit, both in the same envelope. Bottlehead-community favorite for one-bottle SE designs..

Dual triode6.3V / 0.9AOctal

SourceRCA 6DN7 datasheetReviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelunder reviewPDF

Power triode delivering 10W for push-pull and SET designs

Datasheet ↗

6DN7 — RCA·GE — triode vacuum tube — (1957)

Asymmetric sections — each unit has its own characteristics

Unit 1 — High-μ (driver)

40.0kΩ

1.7mA/V

Pd max2.5W

2.5pF

4.5pF

0.60pF

Unit 2 — Low-μ (output)

4.4

750Ω

5.9mA/V

Pd max7.5W

6.0pF

6.5pF

2.50pF

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.9 A

Max Plate Voltage550 V

Pa max10 W

Gain Factor15

gm7.7 mA/V

rp2.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk2.2 pF

Cgp4 pF

Cpk0.7 pF

PinoutOctal

Era1957

RarityModerate

HEATER6.3V / 0.9A

MAX PLATE550V / 10W

BASEoctal

SECTIONS2 (dual)

Source datasheets

3 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for 6DN7

3 verified

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 6DN7 is a dual indirectly-heated triode from RCA·GE, introduced around 1957. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 15 with 2000Ω plate resistance. Commonly used in driver + power applications. Asymmetric octal dual: one high-μ driver unit + one low-μ output unit, both in the same envelope. Bottlehead-community favorite for one-bottle SE designs.

APPLICATIONS

SET outputPush-pull outputPhase splitter

Generic triode driver + power stage

• Hi-Fi stereo• Headphone amp

HISTORY

Introduced1957ManufacturerRCA·GE

Golden Age

6DN7 Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

Test this tube on a Metrix

SPICE model not yet available. Loadline calculator requires calibrated Koren parameters.

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