Power Tubes Recommendations

  • Thread starter Thread starter Junk Yard Dog
  • Start date Start date
cvogue said:
Well when my Street Rod blew up (spilled water apparently caused things to blow, important safety tip, NO drinks on top of your amp!) the tech put in JJ EL34B's. I noticed a lot more "oomph", really like them!

Good luck OP.
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JJ EL34B's ? :confused:
 
ericb said:
Yea? TungSol EL34b, or JJ el34, E34l, El34-II, or 6ca7. . Are JJ el34B's, the Blue Glass model, or the "Better" designation like in the old days, or ? Eric
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Interesting. 23 years later and you learn something new about these things. thanks for the info.
 
Bash_Man said:
Interesting. 23 years later and you learn something new about these things. thanks for the info.
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Seriously I've never seen any JJ el34b's. BUT I think JJ used the 'B" for "Blue glass" at some point of time.. Not sure if they even still sell them.. They're the same as JJ El34L I guess. Regardless JJ's aren't my preferred tubes but they're aren't many others made these days!

Erc
 
ericb said:
Seriously I've never seen any JJ el34b's. BUT I think JJ used the 'B" for "Blue glass" at some point of time.. Not sure if they even still sell them.. They're the same as JJ El34L I guess. Regardless JJ's aren't my preferred tubes but they're aren't many others made these days!

Erc
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Hmm.... now I'm not 100% sure they're EL34B's... coulda sworn the tech said they were EL34B but could be EL34L. I remember some letter designation on them. 🤷‍♂️
 
I think they are probably L's I don't think I've ever seen a JJ "B"
 
Got to try out my Mini Comp with JJ EL34 IIs. The amp is less bright compared to the EHX 6CA7s; I find myself turning up the highs quite a bit more. Somewhat disappointed by that. No idea where they biased it, and this is at lower volumes.

I might replace my preamp tubes, even though those are pretty new. I have Ruby AC5 HG+s in V1 & V2 and a Sovtek LPS in PI.
 
Bash_Man said:
I have Ruby EL34BSTRs in my Nitro, which I like but I dont believe are made anymore.. have ordered some JJ EL34IIs and waiting for delivery pending Early-Mid December... also wanted to try these based on the feedback I've seen from other Splawn owners such as 311splawndude and kmanick 🙃
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Got my "tubes shipped out" email earlier today. looking forward to trying them out.
 
So finally got the new JJ EL34II tubes installed in my Nitro. So far I am really liking them. They calmed down the low end but more in the sense of took the boominess out of it. its much more controlled. I was actually able to turn up the lowend a bit more.

I am finding the sound overall to be more open and "wider" sounding. So the current tube setup is:
V1 - JAN 12AT7WC
V2 - JJ E83CC
V3 - JJ E83CC
V4 - Sovtek 12ax7LPS (PI)
PTs - JJ EL34 II

Anyone compare these EL34 II to the JJ E34L?
 
yes I had the "L's in and regular JJ El34's in my SuperSport. the "L's" are definitely bassier than the II's, and the II's are bassier than regular El-34's but as you stated , I think they sound open /bigger and they have a good mid punch to them.
I am currently running
V1 - NOS Mullard
V-2 NOS RFT
V3- NOS RFT
V4 - (PI) stock Chinese tube that came with the head, I have a couple of Sovtek LPS's laying around but didn't hear anything better with them in there so I just left the stock PI tube in there.
Very Pleased with what I'm getting out of this thing :)
 
kmanick said:
yes I had the "L's in and regular JJ El34's in my SuperSport. the "L's" are definitely bassier than the II's, and the II's are bassier than regular El-34's but as you stated , I think they sound open /bigger and they have a good mid punch to them.
I am currently running
V1 - NOS Mullard
V-2 NOS RFT
V3- NOS RFT
V4 - (PI) stock Chinese tube that came with the head, I have a couple of Sovtek LPS's laying around but didn't hear anything better with them in there so I just left the stock PI tube in there.
Very Pleased with what I'm getting out of this thing :)
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with E34L, when you say bassier, are you refering to the sound being boomy on the low end? or just thicker/fatter low-mid tone?
 
A lil’ late to this thread. I have a pair of Splawn heads. A QR and a Nitro - both 50 watt variants (which Scott builds in dedicated Drop B+ Voltage) and both ‘Fully Loaded’ with Mid Cut/Boost Switch and Old/New Voicing Switch.

My QR Came biased much warmer than I typically Bias an EL34 amp - it showed 40 mA with the Chinese EL34s Scott Shipped with it. I have rolled tubes through the QR and nothing sounded as good as the Chinese EL34s that Scott shipped her with. I do use a Variac and roll wall voltage down very slightly from 120 at the wall down to 110 - so that 40 bias setting settles in around 37 at 110 volts from the Variac. Probably the best sounding amp I have ever owned.

The Nitro always sounded a but ‘tubby’ and undefined to me. I rolled several tubes through that head and found that it sounds best with JJ EL34-II. They really tame that undefined ‘tubbiness’ to the low end. The mids are full without being ‘boxy’ and the highs are nice and glassy without sounding ‘fizzy.’ This ampo flat LOVES JJ EL34-IIs !! I biased her at 36 which cools down to 33/34 if I run her through the variac at 110 volts. But this amp ‘almost’ sounds better at full 120 wall volts(?) The low end is maybe tighter and thumpier at 120 volts?? The Nitro throws SO MUCH low end and low-mid that you can’t be afraid to really throttle it back on the knob to get a workable tone - especially when playing through lower wattage, ‘softer’ speakers (both my 4x12s are loaded with 20 watt G12 EVH Speakers). I run Resonance and Bass at 9:00 each (maybe around 2-3 on a number dial??) and that’s PLENTY of low end punch. Mids at noon, highs and presence at 1:30 - 2:00. Amp sounds great.

I dig this sh*t. I love rolling tubes - fiddling with knobs - and playing with wall voltage.

P.S. I’m now wondering if my Nitro might tighten up a bit more with regular JJ EL34s as opposed to JJEL34-II variants?
 
So playing with the newly retubed Nitro last 2 nights and I felt there was a bit of a weird highend that these JJ EL34IIs introduced. Couldnt dial it out with the eq without making things sound muffled and dark. I was fooling around with premap tubes and decided to try a JAN-Philips 12AT7WC in the PI socket and i have to say, I am really liking what it did to the tone. It smoothed out that high end without making it sound dark or dull yet kept things nice and bright. Gave the tone a tad bit more crunch when palm muting. This replaced the Sovtek 12AX7LPS that was in there.
 
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