What is the 6DQ6-B vacuum tube?

The 6DQ6-B is a tetrode vacuum tube designed for power applications. TV sweep power..

What is a 6DQ6-B substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the 6DQ6-B include None. 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 6DQ6-B?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 4, transconductance gm ≈ 7.3 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 18.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 770 V, max plate dissipation 18 W, heater 6.3 V / 1.2 A.

Is the 6DQ6-B still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the 6DQ6-B 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 6DQ6-B sound like?

TV sweep power.. 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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6DQ6-B Tetrode Vacuum Tube

Tetrode6.3V / 1.2AOctalSPICE

SourceGE 6DQ6-B datasheet (tekwiki)Reviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelKoren pentodePDF

Beam power tetrode rated at 18W for high-power output stages

Datasheet ↗SPICE

6DQ6-B — RCA — tetrode vacuum tube — (1955)

18.0kΩ

7.3mA/V

15.0pF

0.5pF

7.00pF

GAIN4%

POWER45%

DRIVE82%

LINEARITY95%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 1.2 A

Max Plate Voltage770 V

Pa max18 W

Gain Factor4

gm7.3 mA/V

rp18.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk15 pF

Cgp0.5 pF

Cpk7 pF

PinoutOctal

Era1955

RarityCommon

HEATER6.3V / 1.2A

MAX PLATE770V / 18W

BASEoctal

Source datasheets

2 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for 6DQ6-B

2 verified

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 6DQ6-B is a indirectly-heated beam tetrode from RCA, introduced around 1955. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 4 with 18.0kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in power applications. TV sweep power.

APPLICATIONS

High-power output

Generic tetrode power stage

HISTORY

Introduced1955ManufacturerRCA

Golden Age

6DQ6-B Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

Test this tube on a Metrix

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