What is the 6N7 vacuum tube?

The 6N7 is a triode vacuum tube designed for driver applications. Dual triode. Warm..

What is a 6N7 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the 6N7 include 6N7G, 6N7GT. 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 6N7?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 35, transconductance gm ≈ 3.1 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 11.3 kΩ, max plate voltage 300 V, max plate dissipation 5.5 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.8 A.

Is the 6N7 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the 6N7 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 6N7 sound like?

Dual triode. Warm.. 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

←6N7

← 6N6P 6N7G →Compare → 6N7G

6N7 Triode Vacuum Tube

Dual triode6.3V / 0.8AOctalSPICE

SourceRCA RC-15 6N7 datasheet · Norman Koren SPICE modelReviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelNorman KorenPDF

Medium-gain triode for voltage amplification applications

Datasheet ↗SPICE

6N7 — RCA·Sylvania — triode vacuum tube — (1938)

11.3kΩ

3.1mA/V

1.5pF

2.00pF

GAIN35%

POWER14%

DRIVE89%

LINEARITY83%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.8 A

Max Plate Voltage300 V

Pa max5.5 W

Gain Factor35

gm3.1 mA/V

rp11.3 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk1.5 pF

Cgp1.5 pF

Cpk2 pF

PinoutOctal

Era1938

RarityCommon

HEATER6.3V / 0.8A

MAX PLATE300V / 5.5W

BASEoctal

SECTIONS2 (dual)

Source datasheets

6 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for 6N7

6 verified

TYPICAL OPERATING POINT

Va250V

Ia6.86mA

Vg-3V

Pd1.72W

RL23kΩ

Av26.9dB

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 6N7 is a dual indirectly-heated triode from RCA·Sylvania, introduced around 1938. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 35 with 11.3kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in driver applications. Dual triode. Warm.

APPLICATIONS

Push-pull outputPhase splitter

Generic triode driver stage

VS 6N7G

μ 0%Rp +0%Pd 0%Full comparison →

HISTORY

Introduced1938ManufacturerRCA·Sylvania

Pre-War