What is the ECL85-P vacuum tube?

The ECL85-P (ECL85 (Pentode)) is a pentode vacuum tube designed for power applications. Pentode section..

What is a ECL85-P substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the ECL85-P include 6GV8. 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 ECL85-P?

Transconductance gm ≈ 7.5 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 25.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 250 V, max plate dissipation 7 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.875 A.

Is the ECL85-P still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the ECL85-P 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 ECL85-P sound like?

Pentode section.. 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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ECL85-P ECL85 (Pentode) Pentode Vacuum Tube

Pentode6.3V / 0.875A9-pin NovalSPICE

Sourcer-type.org ECL85/6GV8Reviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelKoren pentodePDF

Small-signal pentode for low-noise voltage amplification

Datasheet ↗SPICE

ECL85 (Pentode) — Philips — pentode vacuum tube — (1960)

25.0kΩ

7.5mA/V

12.0pF

0.6pF

8.00pF

GAIN0%

POWER18%

DRIVE75%

LINEARITY75%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.875 A

Max Plate Voltage250 V

Pa max7 W

Gain Factor—

gm7.5 mA/V

rp25.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk12 pF

Cgp0.6 pF

Cpk8 pF

Pinout9-pin Noval

Era1960

RarityCommon

HEATER6.3V / 0.875A

MAX PLATE250V / 7W

BASEnoval

Source datasheets

4 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for ECL85 (Pentode)

4 verified

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The ECL85-P is a indirectly-heated pentode from Philips, introduced around 1960. Commonly used in power applications. Pentode section.

HISTORY

Introduced1960ManufacturerPhilips

Late Production

ECL85-P Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

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