BEST EL34 & why (current production)
BEAR
I'm counting upon your experience here... (no BS please)
Looking at *currently available* EL34 tubes. (in the USA)
Which is the BEST & why.
Which is ABSOLUTELY STAY AWAY & why?
Choices:
EH offerings:
EL34EH <-- anyone try this one?
EL34WXT
E34L (JJ/Tesla)
E34BL (JJ/Tesla)
EL34 (Svetlana Orig Logo)
and a 6CA7EH
Ned @ Triode
EL34SED (Svetlana C logo)
(and Ned has the other EH stuff too)
I can also get SINO branded as RUBY
Any others I missed??
Interested in performance - biasing - stability over time - plate impedance/
power output - and SOUND (please quote the rig if you talk sound).
If you think you've got the real inside poop and lowdown skinny, email
me privately...
TIA
_-_-bear
--
_-_- BEAR Labs
- Custom Audio Equipment, Cables, Mods, Repairs -
http://www.bearlabs.com
Rich Sherman
In my 8 years of sampling the bunch, my top-dog is the Svetlana's EL-34.
Over the years, the Svet's have been the most consistent performer in my DIY
Mullard based monoblocks that runs my EL34 into the low 60 ma kingdom with
400 Volts on the plates! This is not a place for wimpy tubes as it's pushing
them to the limit.
Truthfully, not all modern production EL34's can survive the 'Hi-Fi' bias
levels imposed on them by the Vintage amp crowd. I would prefer to design
EL34 output stages with more conservative voltages and plate dissipation
levels. The EL34's would last much longer and save $$.
For currents and/or plate dissipations close maximum 25 watt range (i.e. 418
Volts plate x 60 milliamps = 25.08 watts) you have to choose a very robust
tube.
The Svetlanas also tolerate higher filament voltages in the 6.5 VAC or
higher range that may be typical in some designs that have filament
transformer loads which don't manage to settle down to within the
recommended +/- 10% range from 6.3 VAC.
Most definetly I would stay away from Ei (nipple-tops) EL-34's, they are
wimpy tubes and almost blew-up when I asked them to settle down at 20 watts
plate dissipation.
In addition to this, the Sovtek 'slim-boys' (WXT) are also not suited for
the higher-bias and plate dissipation levels of Vintage Hi-Fi amps. These
are more of a guitar amp tube for 45-50 milliamps and 20 watt plate
dissipation levels. They do have a nice distortion though!
As far a JJ's they are robust and nice sounding, but not quite a Svet. I
also had luck with the Fat-Bottle Sovtek 6CA7's that lasted well over 3
years under constant high volume use with no signs of premature wear.
Don't know about the EH tubes.
Of course, Killer Vintage Telefunken, Mullard and Amperex EL34's might
survive a trip to Mars, but the prices are getting to the point where I
would not be surprised to see them being auctioned at Sotheby's.
These are my two-cents worth, hope it helps.
Bye,
Rich
"BEAR" <be...@bearlabs.com> wrote in message
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Andy Evans
nackered original 6CA7 tubes back in. Much better top to bottom.
=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.
Nothing40
>
> I'm counting upon your experience here... (no BS please)
>
> Looking at *currently available* EL34 tubes. (in the USA)
> Which is the BEST & why.
> Which is ABSOLUTELY STAY AWAY & why?
>
> Choices:
>
> EH offerings:
>
> EL34EH <-- anyone try this one?
I got some in my ST-70,and they have held up well.To me they sound
pretty similar to the (kinda worn out) fatter bottle RCA's I had in
there before.
I have also used these tubes in my homebrew P-P "Protoamp" at about
420vB+,about 50ma bias per-tube.The OPT load is about 3.5-4Kohms.In
testing they sound great,and hold up nicely.The bias is pretty stable!
I noticed with the older RCA's it would drift a bit,and need to be
checked/adjusted a bit fairly regularly.Now it's
set-and-forget.Whenever I check it it's close enough to not need to
worry about.
Originally I purchased a quad from Ebay,and about a month later while
auditionong the amp at my Dad's,on his Magnapans,one tubes filament
went open!
The sound didn't change much,nor the percieved power output.I just
happen to notice this one "dark" tube as I was walking by to get
another beer! (Doh!)
So I ordered a matched pair for that channel from Jim McShane,and
havn't had any problems with them since.For the price,they seem to be
pretty good tubes.
(I don't have any complaints.)
I imagine once these are in need of replacment,I'll get some
Svetlana's and give those a spin! ;-)
Dan Nicotera
don't own that amp at the present, but I have been running a new matched
quad of svets in an Eico HF87 which runs the plate current at about
61ma..they are handling this quite well.
As mentioned in the above posts a lot of the vintage amps were made to run
mullards and these russian tubes should be a good
test to see how long they can handle the 60ma.
Dan
"Nothing40" <noth...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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to...@nospamprepair.com
Winged C (formerly Svetlana) gets my vote. I use lot's of em in
all type of amp repairs (mostly guitar amps and many are pretty demanding).
They don't sound as good as the German tubes (Siemens/Telefunken) or the
Mullards of course but they aint bad at all and they are sturdy. Very few
problems - overall good quality & consistent tube.
EL34WXT - I tried these numerous times over the last 5 years or so. I found
them to be pretty much useless at pD levels above 18W. They did seem to
sound pretty good for guitar amps but they are just trying to be real EL34's
as far as meeting spec's go.
The JJ EL34's are nice tubes - pretty consistent, sturdy. I think they can
be a little harsh sounding - if you could use a harder brighter sound -use
em. I prefer the Svet's over em 9 out of 10 times though.
I have tried a few EH's here and there but my experience with them is
limited. I thought they sounded pretty good but they looked exactly like
the WXT to me and I am a little reluctant.
Havent tried the 6CA7EH
Todd
"BEAR" <be...@bearlabs.com> wrote in message
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Bob Hedberg
years, and every once in a while I check them out and they are still
nuts on matched. They sound very close to Mullards on my system.
The JJ's are nice, but not quite as smooth sounding. They did hold up
well and stay matched while I used them, for about a year or so.
Bob Hedberg.
BEAR <be...@bearlabs.com> wrote:
Bob H.
Just grab that plate in one hand, the chassis in the other,
and FEEL the power of tube audio!!!
(not literally, of course, just kidding. DON'T DO THAT!)
west
There's an outfit on the net selling them for around $65. He and many on a
valve forum claim the VA's superiority. I'm not speaking from personal
experience. I have the Svets, but am ordering the VAs to find out and
separate the wheat from the chaff.
Cordially,
west
"BEAR" <be...@bearlabs.com> wrote in message
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Patrick Turner
west wrote:
> Is there a reason no one mentioned Valve Arts, especially cryo treated?
> There's an outfit on the net selling them for around $65. He and many on a
> valve forum claim the VA's superiority. I'm not speaking from personal
> experience. I have the Svets, but am ordering the VAs to find out and
> separate the wheat from the chaff.
> Cordially,
> west
I would be interested in seeing what the differences might be
with the thd measurements when the tubes are tested
under identical conditions and drive signals.
Patrick Turner