E34L from JJ

  • Thread starter Thread starter Peter Diezel
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Peter Diezel

Peter Diezel

Well-known member
What´s Your opinion about this tube ?
Sound ? Reliability ?

Thanks
 
I heard they were good and consistent/reliable, sound-wise supposed to be good alrounders but a bit sensitive for mechanical noise so not so good for combos.

However I haven't tried them myself.
 
Peter Diezel":93d45 said:
What´s Your opinion about this tube ?
Sound ? Reliability ?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I had them on a VHT 2/50/2 power amp. They were very clear with plenty of mid bite.
Their preamp 12AX7 are a bit dark sounding
 
E34L.jpg


Hi Peter,

I have those right now in my VH4. Very pleased. When pushed hard, the grain of the distortion is soooo thick and the amp just barks!

I've had other types from JJ (EL34 and 6L6) in 3 different Recto's, 2 Mesa Mark IV and 1 Mesa Mark III. Never had any problems.

So for me they are keepers. :yes:
 
From my experience

sound = :rock:

reliability = :aww:

Maybe I'm just unlucky but I've used JJ e34l's twice in different amplifiers and had problems both times. I've used JJ 6L6s and their pre-amp tubes without a problem.
 
I know the guys at Matamp find them to be very consistent and reliable.

I find they are a bit brighter than rubys and slightly more 'musical' - I'll put some in my Herbert tomorrow and let you know how I get on.
 
Cleans-EHH

OD's- :thumbsup:

Reliability- ehh ehh, not bad though, a friend of mine had the same ones in his Uber for two years, swapped them out for new tubes and the old ones still sounded just as good/quiet. About the same as most other tubes now a days, you get really good ones and you get alot of stinkers.
 
If you like the JJ- EL-34, check out the JJ- KT-77. I like this one even more.
 
I don' t believe they have the tone that you are looking for....
They don't have any color to them.
I have played many nos tubes,I love the old german made siemens tubes.
I would love to hear the siemens in a herbert or VH4.
The JJ's didn't have a great tone nor a aptitude for presence.
 
So I installed JJ EL34s in my Herbert, checked the bias and they came out at 66 with no adjustment.

Soundwise? Hmmmmm not sure they sound so different to the Rubys. They were definately brighter has I had to turn the presence down and they did sound a little thicker when the amp was cranked past 12 oclock on the master.

Overall I'd say that most people would be pushed to tell any significant difference. I've always found JJs to be reliable but I have had no long term experience with Rubys.

Sorry there's not much to report but to my ears they are readily interchangeable with little variation to the tone.
 
Thanks guys for Your statements.
It´s not bad for the Diezels to have a bit more presence.
I will order 200 pieces to check out how reliable they are.

Peter :thumbsup:
 
they sound great! my experience with them on the last 3 amps i retubed them with is that they start to go south almost exactly at a year which might not be a bad thing, but i like to have some give. i play about 3-4 times a week for 1-2 hours long at stage levels and here is my experience.in my bogner at 11 months into the tubes i started blowing fuses.it was the tubes. with my old park 1207 i started having some noise issues and volume loss(drastic) at around 1 year. and just recently my mojo that i built was loaded with jj's. its been about 1 year since i completed it . i got bored the other day and decided to check my bias because it was not sounding up to par and i'll be damned!! one of the damned tubes was dead!!! i know people love jj's and they sound good, but i'll stick to the old winged c's. they just keep going and going and going. they have yet to let me down. call me crazy.....maybe it's just my luck? who knows? hope this helps in your decision. good luck!!!
 
Peter Diezel":42df2 said:
Thanks guys for Your statements.
It´s not bad for the Diezels to have a bit more presence.
I will order 200 pieces to check out how reliable they are.

Peter :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Peter, do you use a tube tester to check them out? I've run into a few problems with tubes and it would be nice to be able to identify which tube has an issue before it is installed in the amp. :confused:
 
We will build our own tube tester now. I will tell
You the most issue on the tubes.

I heard the 6L6 JJ yesterday, it delivers a better clean.
Not sure about the distortion channels.

I will check out the KT77 next week. Any comments ?
 
I used and liked the JJ KT77s in my 2006 model VH4. Very powerful and rather deep sounding. However I found them to be somewhat dark and muddy sounding at least on 7 and 8-string guitars (especially when compared to KT88 type of tubes).

At least the quarted of JJ KT77s I had, gave me a feeling that these tubes should be reliable, but I do not have enough experience i.e. in consistency of the production, in order to be able to state are they reliable or not.


Kind regards,

Ilkka
 
I like the 6L6 for cleans and lead. I like the KT-77 better than any other tube for this kind of sound[EL-34] other than my old Mullard-EL34-xf2/old 6CA7. The KT-77 sounds bigger to me than most EL-34 types. I have four JJ-KT-77 tubes { I was at Bobs shop (Eurotubes) the day after they came in and have some of the first ones} no problems so far. I have JJ-6L6/EL-34L/KT-88 and this would be a matter of vocing/taste. There are not to many tubes that well keep up with a KT-88 for de-tune playing. My favorite tubes are KT-66/KT-88. I do not de-tune much any more other than drop the low E to D. I have not tried any of these tubes in a Diezel yet. But have used them in many other amps.
 
Peter- I love JJ EL34's/E34L's... I run them hard too. Marshall NMV's on ten with a hotplate gigged/rehearsed numerous hours a week. Last set lasted 2 years+.

Great tube. Please tell me your thoughts as I almost put them in my herbie when I changed tubes last.

Later!
 
I've only bought one set since I resumed playing guitar after a 15 year hiatus. They sounded nice, and the build quality seemed quite good, but I must have gotten a bad set because they died after an hour. :confused: :cry: --I'll definately try them again before passing judgement on them.

The Svetlana/Winged 'C' , =C= tubes, and not the tubes branded 'Svetlana' in the US ( Sovtek/ElectroHarmonix owns the US rights to the name) seem to get consistently good reviews, as do the recent 2006-2007 production Shuguang EL34B's.
 
Thanks for Your comment, but I cannot agree with
the EL34B. We have used about 7000 to 8000 pieces
during the last years and had too much troubles.

SED would be a great choice. Also all 6L6 types have
an overall better mechanical construction.

I will check out the KT77 JJ this week and will tell
my experience.

Peter :thumbsup:
 
Diezel should make its own tubes. An old street for manufacturing say RFTs or Telefunkens would be nice, no? ;) :thumbsup:
 
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