Tung Sol 5998 require modifications or Speedball?

[sadkins]

Just finished build my Crack, and it sounds amazing with the 6080 tube that it shipped with, but decided I wanted to do a little tube rolling to see if I could find a combo that sounds even better.

I plugged in the Tung Sol 5998 (ebay) and it lights up and seems to function (audio on both channels etc), but the volume is lower than the 6080 and distorts at anything over about half way through the volume pots range (stock volume pot, and everything else really)

I don't have anything means to test other than comparing to the stock tube, so my question is - does this tube require any modifications (speedball?) to sound proper or did I get a bad tube?

Thanks,

[Paul Joppa]

You do have some means - check the voltages on the 8-pin socket.

[sadkins]

Well, turns out I do not need to test this tube any further - the popping sparks within the tube appear to have answered the question as to integrity of this specific tube.