EL-34s New issue Mullards vs. Teslas


Does anyone have experience with these 2 EL-34s? I am looking at retubing my Quicksilver Mini-mites. Looking for specific sound characteristics of both tubes. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Jim
srtweaker

Showing 3 responses by jazzerdave

I haven't heard the new Mullards, but in my experience, the tubes out of Sensor (Mullard, Tung-Sol, and Svetlana reissues plus the Winged C's) have been more reliable than the Tesla JJ's of late. If you're referring to the older, pre-JJ Teslas, then I'd go in that direction. Otherwise I'd try to find a good deal on the winged C's or if that's out of your budget, I haven't heard anything bad about the New Mullards. I do think the JJ/Teslas sound good (they've got nice, clear highs), but I've had them fail and I know a lot of people who have had pin issues and other failings.

I personally use NOS Svetlanas, Siemens, and RCAs, but just ordered a set of the Shuguang Treasure 6CA7-Z after getting a bunch of very strong recommendations.

What sound are you looking for? IIRC the mini-mites don't require any adjustment to use KT-88/KT-66/KT-90/KT-77/6550's. If you're looking for more bass and less of the euphonic midrange, you might want to consider KT-88's.

Good luck
If you've tried the GL KT-88's, and want a change, you may want to try the GL KT-66 or the KT-77. I have a quad of the KT-66, and I do think they're closer to the "euphonic" midrange. They aren't compatible with my main setup, but they sound great in my original circuit ST-70 (though I do have to mess with the bias). I would probably give them a chance if I were you.

Upscale Audio still has a bunch of NOS Siemens EL34's in stock if you just want to try those. As far as I've found, the closest current production tube to the original Mullards is the winged C ( =C= ). It's the same tooling/design/factory as my NOS (pre-Sensor) Svetlana's. They're usually price around $150 for a quad.
Well, like I said earlier, I haven't actually heard the reissues myself, but I have heard the original Mullards, the original Svetlana's and their Winged C offspring. If you want to give them a try, I don't believe there's anything wrong with the new Mullards.

You might want to try the new Mullards. You'll save some money, and you may find that you love them. If you don't like them and decide to sell, you can probably get a good chunk of your money back.

Here's the current price list from thetubestore.com (I have never used them, but they had a convenient list of current production tubes with their prices). Each price listed is in USD and for a matched pair:
27.95 Shuguang EL34-B
33.95 JJ E34L
35.95 Electro-Harmonix EL34
35.95 JJ 6CA7
37.95 JJ KT77
39.95 Svetlana
43.95 Electro-Harmonix 6CA7EH
45.95 Mullard EL34
49.95 Tung-Sol EL34B
69.95 Winged "C" (SED)
89.95 Genalex - Gold Lion KT77
169.95 Shuguang Treasure 6CA7-Z

For all I know, the Tung-Sol sits at the top of the "bang-for-the-buck" curve. To a certain extent I do believe that you get what you pay for with the new production tubes, but I think the =C= sit at a good point in the value curve.