[TV MAN]

Thanks Rich! I haven't found anything even close other than originals, which do pop up from time to time, but most sellers are rather proud of them. I stumbled across these and the price was reasonable, not cheap, but not bad for a set. They are 3D printed, but probably won't worry about the brass rings. They came as a set of 8 for a 500c, so I have a couple left over. I'll ask the seller if he's going to keep making these, and if so, I'll post the info. I'd like another set myself to have on hand. Seems the originals like to fall off or something.

I've seen a few amps for sale from a jukebox and Conn organ that use those 7868s. I suppose it was a "modernization" of the layout, maybe was a little cheaper to produce at the time without the octal base or something. Who knows. I've read that they are run pretty conservative on these and tend to last a long time. In the future, if I ever come across another, I'd probably switch sockets and run 6L6, 7591, 6CA7 or something. I do believe the primary impendence is a little higher in these, so 7591s might be happier, but we all know that a 6L6 will run about anything you can connect them to 

I do believe the Compactrons have their place too, but since they were mainly for TVs, they can be a little different. Thought about trying some on an amp build driver where I have limited space, but a big drawback would be the fact that they are no longer being produced, so a couple spares would be needed on hand. 

This project is getting interesting and building steam! Setting up for a father/son project at the moment. Look for a thread on that