So which production EL34s actually sound good enough to buy?

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phil b

Well-known member
Like the title says... Had a tube blow in my Monomyth and now it seems one tube in my other Monomyth just took a shit. Not a power issue as this happened at home and in the studio. One tube set was from an old set of Teslas from the 70's and the other one is from an Amperex Bugle boy set. I put a zillion hours on these tubes so they dont owe me anything, but trying to find a NOS thats not stupid money is ridiculous. I have a set of the original Winged Cs coming in and I really dont want to spend the cash for another set unless I absolutely have to.

Anybody using new production tubes that actually sound good? I guess I would go NOS if I could be sure they actually were NOS but there are so many people selling garbage and the legit guys just want too much $$$ Any recommendations would be appreciated. Has anyone swapped out KT77s in their Marshall? I love them in my Diezels but those amps are pretty far away from a Modded Marshall soundwise. Anyways... Thanks again!
 
Unfortunately the best I know of are the EH EL34 but they are made in Russia so prices have been higher than before that stupid war. And the likely second and third best (Tung Sol and Mullard reissue) also made in Russia.

If you look you can find them for a decent price but usually not as well tested/matched.

And one of the JJ EL34 offerings sounds like shit to me but I’m not sure what the part number is. Also Friedman stopped using JJ because of catastrophic failures so I’ve just steered clear of them for EL34s.
 
I’ve used lots of JJs over the years in Marshall’s, Mesas, Splawns, and Bogners. Never had one failure. Ever. Doesn’t mean there wasn’t a bad run somewhere along the way, but I’ve had enough different variants of JJ’s in enough different amps over a long enough period of time that I think I would have been bitten by now if it was a pervasive issue across all variants and all production runs.

I agree with Zado - the E34L does add more low end and tighter ‘thump’. I’ve got a quad in my Abramian Rockstah and they really added some nice bottom end without getting too dark or boomy. I also really like the EL34-II in any amp I’ve tried them in. It’s like they bring a bit more of everything without adding too much of anything to the tonal spectrum - lows/mids/highs. I’ve got a pair in my 73 50 watt Marshall and they give the amp sort of a 3D or Hi-Fi quality for lack of a better term: more sparkle without being harsh or strident; more mids without being boxy; and more low end without being flubby or boomy.
 
Separate thought - I went through a period where I was looking for all the NOS Brown Base Dual Halo Getter Teslas I could get my hands on. Groove Tube ran a big run of these in the late 80s / early 90s labeled as their EL34-B series. I’ve also seen these with Marshall script logo silkscreened on them. All my buddies swore by these back in the day. They do offer a noticeable amount of warmth and softness in an amp that otherwise sounds a bit bright and harsh. But I have found that even pairs and quads labeled as ‘matching’ can drift pretty wide apart once up to operating temp. I’ve got one of those TAD 4-probe testers that allows me to compare 4 tubes at a time after plenty of idling and I did have to re-sort a few of them to get them more closely matched.
 
I’ve only been an at home player for quite a while now so don’t go through power tubes a lot. When I was last gigging (mid 2000’s) I used JJE34L’s and have kept using them in what EL34 amps I have. Never had a problem. Pre tubes, I haven’t had problems but was using mostly as experimental choices in V1 of some amps and if not a winner they got moved to other positions not as important.
I will milk power tubes until they truly are crapping out in tone or function. In the past when playing out I would changes Power tubes when I “thought” I should and it was a waste as there would almost zero tonal difference.
I had a MKV for about 14 years with the same Mesa EL34’s I put in it when I got it. I played with an attenuator at home so it was set very healthy on the Master Volume all the time. It sounded the same from day 1, right up until I sold it. One caveat being it didn’t nearly get played as much as when I was in a band.
 
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Siemens are my alltime fav 34’s.
Original Teslas would be my second fav.
I have enough quads of each to last me.

Anyone have experience with the Gold Lion KT77’s? I keep hearing incredible things but I’ve never tried ‘em. 🤔
 
For more compressed, modern sounding amps like the Monomyth my favorite EL34’s are typically pre-WC Svetlana’s and East German RFT’s (some can be labelled as Siemens)

Not sure what to recommend for current production, but I know I hate the JJ KT77’s in every amp I’ve had except for the Gjika that was designed around them. The vintage GEC/Mullard KT77’s are really good, but still prefer their EL34 counterparts

Holland made Bugle Boy’s have the richest, most complex, chewy quality I’ve heard in EL34’s, but I’ve read they don’t handle as high plate voltage as other EL34’s and in more modern sounding high gainers like Monomyth’s didn’t shine as well IME vs NMV amps like the ‘60’s Marshall’s and Alessandro’s I’ve had where they really sounded great in
 
Thanks for the recommendations guys. This Monomyth is a 71 SB, not the Skeleton Key. Its actually Sheas prototype for his "Pale Rider" circuit hes working on. I had a set of NOS Gold Lion kt77s that I completely forgot I had. I was curious how the 77's would sound cause I am familiar with them in my Deizels. Surprisingly they are definitely keepers! I like tight bottom end and a good punch in the mids over say a piercing top end (I get enough top end from my speakers) so these really sound great with the amount of gain in this amp. I do have a quad of NOS Winged Cs coming and I will A/B them with my other Monomyth which is a Metro 12k series. Then I'll be able to determine which set sounds best in which amp.

I dont have any experience with the E34Ls but they sound like they are definitely worth giving them a shot as well. Since I'm using a set I already have I might replace them with the E34L. I'm actually surprised though how close the Gold Lion kts sound to the Teslas that I had in there.
Anyways, thanks again for chiming in!!
 
phil b said:
Thanks for the recommendations guys. This Monomyth is a 71 SB, not the Skeleton Key. Its actually Sheas prototype for his "Pale Rider" circuit hes working on. I had a set of NOS Gold Lion kt77s that I completely forgot I had. I was curious how the 77's would sound cause I am familiar with them in my Deizels. Surprisingly they are definitely keepers! I like tight bottom end and a good punch in the mids over say a piercing top end (I get enough top end from my speakers) so these really sound great with the amount of gain in this amp. I do have a quad of NOS Winged Cs coming and I will A/B them with my other Monomyth which is a Metro 12k series. Then I'll be able to determine which set sounds best in which amp.

I dont have any experience with the E34Ls but they sound like they are definitely worth giving them a shot as well. Since I'm using a set I already have I might replace them with the E34L. I'm actually surprised though how close the Gold Lion kts sound to the Teslas that I had in there.
Anyways, thanks again for chiming in!!
Click to expand...
NOS Gold Lion KT77’s?

Man of wealth and taste. 🎩 off to you, good sir.
 
I've got Tung Sol EL34's in a Rivera S-120 and they sound really good. Prior to that were Winged C's which lasted forever and were killer.

I think I've got JJ's in my Friedman BE50 Deluxe and they sound good too.

As far as new production, JJ's seem to be the most cost effective.
 
I recently rolled a few different new production EL34 types in my JVM410H. It came (used) with NOS Svetlana EL34s. I found it was lacking in the lows and needed tightening up as well. Some may prefer this, but I do not.

So, take this all with a grain of salt, as this is my experience with my (mod'd) amp with certain settings, my cabs, my speakers and my ears. All very subjective.


I first tried EH EL34s. They were ok. Maybe a little tamer in the mids (smoother, if you will) compared to the Svet's but overall, a very good sounding tube. I actually preferred these over the Svet's. Buuut, they were still lacking in the tight low end I was looking for.

Next up were the JJ EL34 II tubes. These had a wow factor. As someone mentioned before, (to paraphrase) these just have a little more of everything, without being harsh or flubby. They have a tight percussive low end and definitely more low end than the Svet's or the EH tubes. This tube seems to be exactly what I am after.
But just to confirm, I needed to try at least one more set...lol. I am a habitual tinkerer!

The latest set I tried were the JJ 6CA7 tubes. These are a different animal altogether. They seem overly "Fendery" to me. They do have a tight low end and more lows than the Svet's or EH, but there is just something not right about them, to my ears...for this amp. They just don't have that EL34 grind. I don't know how else to describe them. They got pulled quickly and the JJ EL34 IIs went back in.

I will be trying the JJ E34Ls at some point too, purely out of curiosity. But as of now, I am LOVING the EL34IIs, they check all the boxes for me.

There is a lot of JJ hate around, and although I am not a fan of some of their offerings, I do like their power tubes, and have not personally encountered any reliability issues with them. Ymmv.
 
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