CIFTÉ / MAZDA 6AK6

Last week I was doing some studying on what to buy next for my shop which I want to offer and sell to my customers. I found a brand I didn't know: CIFTÉ or as some write it: CIFTE. I was curious what this French brand was all about! I found through Google some references for 'French military', 'radio equipment', 'Mazda', '12AU7' but not a lot more. Real European NOS tubes is becoming very scarse indeed!

From what I read it became clear, CIFTÉ was a very good brand, and the 12AU7 NOS are very expensive. So I decided to buy a box of 200 tubes named 6AK6, probably used in radio equipment of the French army.

I think the 6AK6 tube hasn't got a real equivalent, but it seems to be a 7 pin base mini pentode, outputting 2,75 watts. Today I received the box with 200 tubes. Wow! These tubes are made in 1964 so there now 54 years old! As you can see they are individually packed in boxes with paper and carton around them. Still after 54 years in great condition.

The print is 100% and the pins are straight. I took out 10 tubes to randomly test for ratings on my Amplitrex AT1000. Wow again! Where 15 mA = 100% I still measured 15,6 mA after 54 years!

So why did I buy these tubes ? I found them very cute, exceptional good quality, and also nice to build a SET of PP amplifier. A good starting point for DIY projects with tubes that are not very expensive and something else from the commonly used EL34, EL84 or other well know tubes.

I found a clip on YouTube for an guitar amplifier with this tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOP2OaEz7sg. It's sound quit 'noisy'. There's not a lot of info on the internet. Can someone tell me where I can find a amplifier design made for this 6AK6 tube ? Should I use a single end EL84 design with one 6AK6 per channel and an ECC83/12AX7 ?