EL34 & 6L6 characteristics

Joe ;
No , unfortunately the EL34's are Ruby EL34LCZ with what appears to be a black base !
The JJ's are EL 34L's with a Tube Depot paper bias label on each base . I have 2 tubes packaged together with a sticker identifying them as a matched pair .

The Mesa Engineering are 6L6 GC and under the Mesa logo is STR 430 . These are listed on the base as 'handtested in amplifiers and computer matched' . I have 3 box's of matched pairs and 3 individually boxed tubes .

Mikirob ;
Glad to here that you are still enjoying the Dynamo .
Have you tried any other 6CA7's ? If so , which ones ?

Thanks

As I said above they shall remain nameless.

I've owned the Psvane TII KT88 and 6CA7 tubes but only listened to the KT88s in the CAD 120S MkII. They sounded more dynamic but the midrange is not as sweet and pronounced as the Svetlana/SED Winged C EL34s which are biased at only 100mA with the pot maxed out. Cary Audio stated in the manual that it supports EL34 with 140mA bias but owners could not get that high.

Anyway the Psvane TII tubes are more expensive than the Shuguang black treasure and supposed to sound better. I also owned and listened to the new Tungsol KT120s in the same CAD 120S and they have bigger sound overall. I've also owned and listened to the Svetlana Winged C 6550s and they sound not much better than the KT88s. I've got the EH GP in the driver and TJ Full Music gold pin in the front end. The CAD 120S MkII is driven by the SLP-98P with Telefunken in the phono stage and two Sylvania JAN WGTA in the front end and the TJ Full Music gold pin as driver. I've not tried the acquired JAN CHS V231 Sylvania GTBs yet but for only a few listening hours with the more expensive MELZ 6SN7 in the CAD 120S, these cool looking ones sounded really wonderful.

The CAD 120S MkII is only a few months old with the Clarity factory upgrade but the Vcap CuTF have replaced them. The SLP-98P had the Mundorf S-G-O cap upgrade with better resistors. I also installed bypass capacitors in both.

Both are driving the new Maggies 3.7i speakers with AQ speaker cable and Columbia interconnects.

The REL sub is fast enough to keep up with the very fast ribbon drivers.

The result is breathtaking! The musical instrument clarity is just outstanding. So are the soundstage and image with better accuracy. For example the saxophone notes sounded so lively vibrant that they slightly annoyed my ears (you know that happened when getting near to a real saxophone playing).

Thanks for the info Musicrazy .

Just an update while listening to the Mesa 6L6 GC 430 ...
I called Mesa today and they are claiming Sodek In Russia as the manufacturer of these particular tubes . It seems that each iteration of the 4x0 designation , 430 in my case , denotes a different manufacturer .
These tested out near the top of the scale so I am thinking that they are unused . They did open up a little after about 6 hours of initial use . The Mesa's seem to do everything , extension , detail and separation a little bit better than the EH's but are lacking in enjoyment/musicality .
As my wife puts it "they don't have any sparkle or make you want to get up and dance like the EH 6L6's did ! These Mesa's are for sitting back and relaxing." I have noticed that on the CD Clapton & JJ Cale I can hear two distinct voices singing , something that I have not heard with the EH 6L6's or the EH EL34's .
I will give these Mesa's some more burn in time and then try the Ruby EL34L's (Shuguang).

Happy Tunes.

Just an update to this thread .
After having tried some more variants ie. the reddish/brown
based Shuguang EL34's and the Black Treasure 6CA7's , the BT 6CA7's are the winner ! They embody most of the traits that I was seeking . Air when it is present , defined bass , really nice midrange with just enough warmth and the best definition that I have heard from any power tube . Referencing the above definition of the voice separation , not only do I get the best delineation between the voices but now I can also hear JJ Cale missing his que and coming in late ! This is with the stock Shuguang input and driver tubes !
The only thing that I am missing is some sparkle and top end extension . I am hoping to find these with some small tube rolling .
Thank you all for your help with my quest .