What is the ECC180 vacuum tube?

The ECC180 is a triode vacuum tube designed for preamp applications. Frame-grid VHF..

What is a ECC180 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the ECC180 include 6BQ7A, 6BC8, 6BS8. 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 ECC180?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 60, transconductance gm ≈ 5.5 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 11.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 300 V, max plate dissipation 2.5 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.3 A.

Is the ECC180 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the ECC180 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 ECC180 sound like?

Frame-grid VHF.. 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

←ECC180

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ECC180 Triode Vacuum Tube

Dual triode6.3V / 0.3A9-pin NovalSPICE

Sourcebtb-elektronik 6BQ7A/ECC180 datasheetReviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelNorman KorenPDF

Medium-gain triode for voltage amplification applications

Datasheet ↗SPICE

ECC180 — Philips — triode vacuum tube — (1960)

11.0kΩ

5.5mA/V

2.3pF

1.6pF

0.45pF

GAIN60%

POWER6%

DRIVE89%

LINEARITY70%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.3 A

Max Plate Voltage300 V

Pa max2.5 W

Gain Factor60

gm5.5 mA/V

rp11.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk2.3 pF

Cgp1.6 pF

Cpk0.45 pF

Pinout9-pin Noval

Era1960

RarityModerate

HEATER6.3V / 0.3A

MAX PLATE300V / 2.5W

BASEnoval

SECTIONS2 (dual)

Source datasheets

5 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for ECC180

5 verified

TYPICAL OPERATING POINT

Va120V

Ia5.18mA

Vg-2.01V

Pd0.62W

RL5kΩ

Av23.5dB

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The ECC180 is a dual indirectly-heated triode from Philips, introduced around 1960. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 60 with 11.0kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in preamp applications. Frame-grid VHF.

APPLICATIONS

Voltage amplifierHigh-gain preampPhase splitter

Generic triode preamp stage

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

VS 6BQ7A

μ +58%Rp +86%Pd +25%Full comparison →

HISTORY

Introduced1960ManufacturerPhilips

Late Production

ECC180 Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

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