What is the 6GE5 vacuum tube?

The 6GE5 is a tetrode vacuum tube designed for sweep / power (se) applications. Great triode mode. Mu 4.4 like 2A3..

What is a 6GE5 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the 6GE5 include 6AV5GA, 6FW5. 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 6GE5?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 4, transconductance gm ≈ 7.3 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 18.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 770 V, max plate dissipation 17.5 W, heater 6.3 V / 1.2 A.

Is the 6GE5 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the 6GE5 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 6GE5 sound like?

Great triode mode. Mu 4.4 like 2A3.. 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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6GE5 Tetrode Vacuum Tube

Tetrode6.3V / 1.2A12-pin Compactron

Sourcevinylsavor 6GE5 datasheetReviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelunder reviewPDF

Beam power tetrode rated at 17.5W for high-power output stages

Datasheet ↗

6GE5 — GE·RCA — tetrode vacuum tube — (1962)

18.0kΩ

7.3mA/V

16.0pF

0.3pF

7.00pF

GAIN4%

POWER44%

DRIVE82%

LINEARITY95%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 1.2 A

Max Plate Voltage770 V

Pa max17.5 W

Gain Factor4

gm7.3 mA/V

rp18.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk16 pF

Cgp0.34 pF

Cpk7 pF

Pinout12-pin Compactron

Era1962

RarityCommon

HEATER6.3V / 1.2A

MAX PLATE770V / 17.5W

BASEcompactron

Source datasheets

3 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for 6GE5

3 verified

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 6GE5 is a indirectly-heated beam tetrode from GE·RCA, introduced around 1962. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 4 with 18.0kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in sweep / power (se) applications. Great triode mode. Mu 4.4 like 2A3.

APPLICATIONS

High-power output

Generic tetrode sweep / power (se) stage

HISTORY

Introduced1962ManufacturerGE·RCA

Late Production

6GE5 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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