Vintage NOS GE General Electric 6386 Tube In Box Compressor Limiter Rarity

  

This is an original GE 6386 Tube. This legendary tube was used in broadcast recording vari-mu compressors/limiters such as the Gates Sta-Level, General Electric Uni-Level, Collins 26, RCA BA25 and many others. This is one of the most desirable tubes on the market and this one appears to be new old stock, BUT I have no way to prove it has never been used other than it's very good original condition in the original box. The lettering looks un-handled and the tube looks very clean. The tube will pass audio and the tube will also need to be burned in before daily use.

In my experience just like other tubes such as a 6AU6 in an Altec M11, Altec displays in the manual to "burn the tube in for 24hrs to get it in tip top shape and releasing any noise or gas build up". In my experience this is common with the 6386 tube as well. This tube came from a collector who kept it on a shelf for decades.