A beautiful pair of Sylvania 2A3's hailing from the very late 1940s/early 50s era. At this point of, the 2A3 was still built to the beautiful standards of patient prewar quality. Discovered amongst the spares stash of a tube amp technician.
These early 2A3's are known as "Green Leaf" Sylvania's as they bear that logo in bold green ink on their bakelite bases. Sylvania's of this era have nearly the full side plated with brilliant, mirror like flashing, and feature a single foil bottom side D getter, and have tall, deeply dark, chalky black plates (Not much changed during the 1940s till end of war.), with lever spring filament supports.
These are the early versions of the ST shape glass. They were refined, and structurally much stronger and rugged internally (see exhibit G). Early balloon types were more prone to grid shorts, dead filaments and lost vacuum. The 1940's and early 1950s are a terrific era of the 2A3; by then a mature, refined power tube -- designers work out so many of the kinks and bugs that plagued the earliest models.
By the late 1930s/early 40s -- Sylvania and RCA had completely refined this excellent sounding triode, enveloped in the ST shape. These are the ones to buy if you want the best sound, and amazing reliability. Sylvania's like this are favored by noth audiophiles and collectors..
They are in brilliant condition, and are a nice, really close match -- see photos for tests and evaluation. Unit #1 & #2 feature matched "1V" date codes, which place them around 1951 they're well matched both in sound to ear and under test (please refer to exhibit B and reports). Both ST bottles feature etched 2A3 letters (see exhibit D), though Unit #1's "2a3" etching is a bit faint to see
They read closely matched, in mutual conductance -- - see full test reports with a Dan Nelson calibrated Tv7, both reading like strong,almost new tubes in the mid 80s (Unit #1 85 / min 38 and Unit #2 85/min 38) On the Tv7 Min = 38 is around 70% -- so these tubes are reading super strong in new (NOS) tube territory, even though they may have been used a few hours -- these tubes will last you a very long, perhaps lifetime of listening.
An ideal set if you need spares, or to use as "daily drivers" to upgrade your SE triode amp. You can't do better than original US built tubes from this era.
The original Sylvania box sleeves are a bit dusty, tattered and worn at edges. To be expected of the old boxes, they are close to 70 years in age, they do include the test reports and cotton excelsior shown.
Tested in multiple lab calibrated tube checkers...
You'll love these tubes, they are very low hours. Guaranteed safe arrival and NO DOA.
If you love the beautiful tone and midrange detail 2A3's can give you -- it's worth seeking out these very old Sylvania versions...they bring a magical focus and sweetness -- not unlike some of the best large triodes in the world can do ... like the RE604, (earlier 45, 47, and 50) types and various versions of the 300B. The difference is nice 2A3's like these -- while getting hard to find, cost less -- and there are many factory and handbuilt amps all over the world that bekon to run these.
No shorts, perfect, NO DOA guaranteed. They are beautiful of construction.
This beautiful matched PAIR set will sell very quickly. It's the nicest set you'll see anywhere.
See our 100% feedback, to be assured SAFE PACKING & DELIVERY. These are likely the best Sylvania 2A3's with old box sleeves .. and most throughly tested you'll see anywhere. -- They will be TRIPLE Packedin triwall box with reinforced tape, for SAFE OVERSEAS shipment.
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Please study photos below. SAFE PURCHASE, 100% - *** Domestic or OVERSEAS OK. FAST SHIPPING, WILL DISPATCH IMMEDIATELY after PAYMENT -- OVERSEAS OK, FULL TRACKING number via email after shipment.
