What is a 6SN7GTA substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the 6SN7GTA include 6SN7GTB (electrically identical, GTB adds controlled heater warm-up) · 6SN7GT (DOWNRATED — only 300V/5W, do not substitute upward). 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 6SN7GTA?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 20, transconductance gm ≈ 2.6 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 7.7 kΩ, max plate voltage 450 V, max plate dissipation 5 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.6 A.

Is the 6SN7GTA still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the 6SN7GTA 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 6SN7GTA sound like?

RCA's 1953 uprated reissue. Bumped to 450 V plate / 7.5 W total dissipation (3.75 W per section) — the modern 'audio' 6SN7. Drop-in for GT in vintage gear, but vintage GT NOS tubes should not be used in amps designed to GTA ratings without de-rating.. 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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6SN7GTA Triode Vacuum Tube

Q: What is the 6SN7GTA vacuum tube?

The 6SN7GTA is a triode vacuum tube designed for preamp / driver / phase inverter applications. RCA's 1953 uprated reissue. Bumped to 450 V plate / 7.5 W total dissipation (3.75 W per section) — the modern 'audio' 6SN7. Drop-in for GT in vintage gear, but vintage GT NOS tubes should not be used in amps designed to GTA ratings without de-rating..

Dual triode6.3V / 0.6AOctalSPICE

SourceRCA RC-19 (1953)Reviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelKoren v1PDF

Medium-gain triode for driver and line stage applications

Datasheet ↗SPICE

6SN7GTA — RCA·Sylvania·GE·Tung-Sol — triode vacuum tube — (1953)

7.7kΩ

2.6mA/V

2.2pF

4.0pF

0.70pF

GAIN20%

POWER13%

DRIVE92%

LINEARITY90%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.6 A

Max Plate Voltage450 V

Pa max5 W

Gain Factor20

gm2.6 mA/V

rp7.7 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk2.2 pF

Cgp4 pF

Cpk0.7 pF

PinoutOctal

Era1953

RarityCommon

HEATER6.3V / 0.6A

MAX PLATE450V / 5W

BASEoctal

SECTIONS2 (dual)

Source datasheets

3 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for 6SN7GTA

3 verified

TYPICAL OPERATING POINT

SPICE model(2 available)2 .subckt available ↓

Va325V

Ia14.53mA

Vg-9.680000000000001V

Pd4.72W

RL8kΩ

Av20.7dB

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The 6SN7GTA is a dual indirectly-heated triode from RCA·Sylvania·GE·Tung-Sol, introduced around 1953. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 20 with 7700Ω plate resistance. Commonly used in preamp / driver / phase inverter applications. RCA's 1953 uprated reissue. Bumped to 450 V plate / 7.5 W total dissipation (3.75 W per section) — the modern 'audio' 6SN7. Drop-in for GT in vintage gear, but vintage GT NOS tubes should not be used in amps designed to GTA ratings without de-rating.

APPLICATIONS

Push-pull outputVoltage amplifierPhase splitter

Generic triode preamp / driver / phase inverter stage

• Hi-Fi stereo• Headphone amp

HISTORY

Introduced1953ManufacturerRCA·Sylvania·GE·Tung-Sol

Golden Age

6SN7GTA Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

Test this tube on a Metrix

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