What is the VT-116 vacuum tube?

The VT-116 is a pentode vacuum tube designed for preamp applications. Military designation..

What is a VT-116 substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the VT-116 include 6SJ7 mil. 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 VT-116?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 19, transconductance gm ≈ 1.65 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 1000.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 300 V, max plate dissipation 2.5 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.3 A.

Is the VT-116 still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the VT-116 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 VT-116 sound like?

Military designation.. 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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VT-116 Pentode Vacuum Tube

Pentode6.3V / 0.3AOctalSPICE

Sourceaudit-us_b (CLEAN — matches canonical datasheet)Reviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelKoren pentodePDF

Small-signal pentode for low-noise voltage amplification

Datasheet ↗SPICE

VT-116 — RCA — pentode vacuum tube — (1942)

1000.0kΩ

1.6mA/V

6.0pF

0.0pF

7.00pF

GAIN19%

POWER6%

DRIVE0%

LINEARITY91%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.3 A

Max Plate Voltage300 V

Pa max2.5 W

Gain Factor19

gm1.65 mA/V

rp1000.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk6 pF

Cgp0.005 pF

Cpk7 pF

PinoutOctal

Era1942

RarityModerate

HEATER6.3V / 0.3A

MAX PLATE300V / 2.5W

BASEoctal

Source datasheets

4 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for VT-116

4 verified

Triode-connectedRCA1948 (June 15, 1948)

Specs when the screen grid (g2) is tied to the anode — the tube acts as a triode.

According to RCA (Radio Corporation of America) (1948 (June 15, 1948)): « Triode connection »

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The VT-116 is a indirectly-heated pentode from RCA, introduced around 1942. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 19 with 1000.0kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in preamp applications. Military designation.

APPLICATIONS

Voltage amplifier

Generic pentode preamp stage

HISTORY

Introduced1942ManufacturerRCA

Pre-War

VT-116 Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

Test this tube on a Metrix

SIMILAR PENTODES

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