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Thoughts on current EL-34 tubes

I have just put my Jolida JD-1000P back into my system, and when I initially fired it up one of the tubes was obviously bad giving a good light show. I found this kind of strange as the amp has been sitting idle with no power to it for about six months now and the tubes Winged C Svetlanas were working fine when I took it out of the system. I replaced the winged C with another Svetlana for now and ordered up 8 matched Tungsol re-issues as I have heard that these tubes are some of the better of the re-issue tubes out now, what are everyones thoughts on current re-issue EL-34 tube available now.
dwr

Showing 8 responses by dwr

dwr OP
113 posts
 
Thanks for the responses so far keep them coming. I have tried the Mullard reissues and did not find them as well rounded as the winged "C" tubes. Rich how have you found the EH tubes as far as reliability, I had some problems with those a while back, maybe they have improved? I may just end up trying a few different brands to compare, the JJ KT-77 tubes interest me also. I do realize this is all system dependent but I appreciate all comments.
dwr OP
113 posts
 
Viridian, I am going to try the 6P3S-E tubes for sure, at their price it is almost a no brainer. I have seen some people that say they may be the best sounding of all the current EL-34 tubes available.
dwr OP
113 posts
 
Rich, I totally agree with the warm up aspect, I too give the amp and preamp 30 minutes of warm up time before playing any music. I'll have to revisit the EH tubes, and Stevecham, I too like the tube depot, thats where I have ordered the Tungsols from.

Dan
dwr OP
113 posts
 
Looks like I'll be ordering a set of the EH tubes as well. I agree with Rich here too, there is no way I am going to spend that kind of money on power tubes, they do not last a life time at all. Maybe if I had a mega buck system I would consider it but I don't and I won't. I have spent some coin on the driver tubes, they will last much longer than the power tubes, I am currently using Telefunken NOS 12ax7s there and real happy with the results. Sounds like the genelex KT-77 have a good following too.
dwr OP
113 posts
 
Hi Viridian, yes that is true of the 6P3S-E but depending on how high the impedance is in the circuitry of the amp they can be used, they actually draw less filament current than an EL-34 which should make them a little easier on the amp. I've been reading Michael Samra's findings with this tube in EL-34 amps over on AA. If the impedance is on the lower side the tubes may be a mismatch.
dwr OP
113 posts
 
I owned a Mesa Baron amp, it is the one piece of equipment that I regret ever selling. It had the tri tube factory upgrade. I had a set of those EL-34 tubes in it and wasn't very impressed with them at all, are you sure those are Siemens tubes? Now I have also heard that the Shuguang Treasure tubes sound real good.

Dan
dwr OP
113 posts
 
I stand corrected Phil it was not the NOS Siemens tubes I had in that amp, it was the otherEL-34 tubes from Mesa. That is actually a pretty good price on those NOS 34s on their site.

Dan
dwr OP
113 posts
 
Ok, I have the Tungsol EL-34s in the amp and they really do sound very good. Now for the crazy part, I moved up the Jolida chain to the Music Envoy 200 watt monoblocks, I couldn't pass up the deal I got on them. They use EL-34 tubes in the driver position so I invested in a quad of Gold Lion KT-77 tubes for the new amps and they sound superb. So now to sell the 1000P to offset the cost of the new amps a little. Thanks for all the comments guys.

Dan
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