What is the EC86 vacuum tube?

The EC86 is a triode vacuum tube designed for uhf / preamp applications. UHF frame-grid..

What is a EC86 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the EC86 include 6CM4. 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 EC86?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 68, transconductance gm ≈ 14 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 5.5 kΩ, max plate voltage 220 V, max plate dissipation 2.2 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.2 A.

Is the EC86 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the EC86 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 EC86 sound like?

UHF frame-grid.. 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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EC86 Triode Vacuum Tube

Triode6.3V / 0.2A9-pin NovalSPICE

SourcePhilips EC86 datasheet — single UHF triode; corrected sections=1Reviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModel2 enginesPDF

Medium-gain triode for driver and line stage applications

Datasheet ↗SPICE

EC86 — Siemens — triode vacuum tube — (1960)

5.5kΩ

14.0mA/V

3.6pF

2.0pF

0.20pF

GAIN68%

POWER6%

DRIVE95%

LINEARITY66%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.2 A

Max Plate Voltage220 V

Pa max2.2 W

Gain Factor68

gm14 mA/V

rp5.5 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk3.6 pF

Cgp2 pF

Cpk0.2 pF

Pinout9-pin Noval

Era1960

RarityModerate

HEATER6.3V / 0.2A

MAX PLATE220V / 2.2W

BASEnoval

Source datasheets

4 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for EC86

4 verified

TYPICAL OPERATING POINT

SPICE model(2 available)2 .subckt available ↓

Va105V

Ia11.51mA

Vg-0.5V

Pd1.21W

RL6kΩ

Av31.3dB

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The EC86 is a indirectly-heated triode from Siemens, introduced around 1960. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 68 with 5500Ω plate resistance. Commonly used in uhf / preamp applications. UHF frame-grid.

APPLICATIONS

Voltage amplifierHigh-gain preamp

Generic triode uhf / preamp stage

• Hi-Fi stereo• Headphone amp• Studio/recording

HISTORY

Introduced1960ManufacturerSiemens

Late Production

EC86 Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

Test this tube on a Metrix

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