Took a chance on these EL34... Anyone else try them?

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Fret-Shredder
Fret-Shredder
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Hey guys... With all that's going on in the tube world I took a chance and grabbed 4 quads of these Bugera labeled EL34 tubes. A guy on ebay had a bunch and was selling them for $50 a quad. My buddy Splawner highly recommended I grab some as he loves them. Anyone else try these. There's not much info on them other than a few good reviews around the internet. They are Chinese EL34. Thanks in advance. Mike
 

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I ordered the 3-pack of quads for $150. Mine should be here either tomorrow or Monday. I figured, given the current climate and prices I would take a chance on 12 el34's for the price of four. What do I have to lose, right.. LOL
 
They are totally out of them now. The seller had kind of low feedback, so I checked out what they had sold and what they were currently selling. The seller looks to me like someone that buys Amazon return pallets, or possibly salvage pallets and then flips the stuff on Ebay. I'm betting they have zero knowledge of any kind of tube shortage, and were probably thinking to themselves "Man, these tube sure are going fast!!". LOL
 
even until a few months ago there were still brand new 1960s for $589, im kicking myself for not grabbing one. there is still a 1990 on reverb for $589 shipped that kind of seems silly not to get at that price.
 
I had a Tri-Rec there for a hot minute several years ago. Nice amp, but sounded more Marshall-y then it did Mesa-y. LOL Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I was expecting.
 
War_in_D said:
I had a Tri-Rec there for a hot minute several years ago. Nice amp, but sounded more Marshall-y then it did Mesa-y. LOL Not necessarily a bad thing, but not what I was expecting.
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i know a few here have said that 1960 hangs with their vintage marshalls, ive seen quite a few guys actually using them for bass in the studio as well. wasnt there a mark iv clone too??
 
RaceU4her said:
i know a few here have said that 1960 hangs with their vintage marshalls, ive seen quite a few guys actually using them for bass in the studio as well. wasnt there a mark iv clone too??
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I don't recall any Mark clones, but I wouldn't put it past them. They cloned just about everything else.. LOL
 
War_in_D said:
I don't recall any Mark clones, but I wouldn't put it past them. They cloned just about everything else.. LOL
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i thought i remember seeing or at least hearing talk about one but this is the only picture i can find, maybe they never came out with it

iu


edit: yeah they were a thing for a minute lol


 
RaceU4her said:
i thought i remember seeing or at least hearing talk about one but this is the only picture i can find, maybe they never came out with it

iu


edit: yeah they were a thing for a minute lol


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Amp sounds like poo. Hope the Bugera labeled tubes sound better. 😆 🤣 😂
 
Got my tubes in today. Everything looks good, but they are going on the tester before I commit to putting them in any amp. LOL
 
I tested the first quad, just to see what I came up with and this is it. Started off promising, but tailed off a bit at the end. LOL

Transconductance: 6000 = New Tube

Tube 1: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 6250
Tube 2: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 6000
Tube 3: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 6100
Tube 4: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 5500

If my math is correct (very well may not be), that's a 12% spread in GM between Tube 1 and Tube 4.

Since most amps utilizing quads would have two pairs working in tandem, you could match those pairs up as close as possible but still you'd have a pretty wide spread between one of the pairs and if I'm thinking right your bias would be jacked up too depending on which tubes you had your bias probe on:

Tubes 2 and 4, you'd have an 8.3% spread.
Tubes 1 and 3, you'd have a 2.4% spread.

I don't know what would be acceptable for a "matched" quad, but I'm thinking a 12% spread between all four ain't it. LOL I think I read somewhere that 3% or less variance is considered acceptable. I'm going to go through all of them, and also do some double checking as I have no idea when the last time my tester was calibrated so I'd like to see results duplicated before I place too much weight on all of this.

I'm lucky that I have a tester, and could just take all 12 tubes and match them up based on GM. But there are no markings on any of these tubes or boxes to indicate how, or even if they were matched. You just have to take it on faith that they are, and so far... I don't have much faith. LOL
 
War_in_D said:
I tested the first quad, just to see what I came up with and this is it. Started off promising, but tailed off a bit at the end. LOL

Transconductance: 6000 = New Tube

Tube 1: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 6250
Tube 2: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 6000
Tube 3: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 6100
Tube 4: Tested Good on pass/fail and GM @ 5500

If my math is correct (very well may not be), that's a 12% spread in GM between Tube 1 and Tube 4.

Since most amps utilizing quads would have two pairs working in tandem, you could match those pairs up as close as possible but still you'd have a pretty wide spread between one of the pairs and if I'm thinking right your bias would be jacked up too depending on which tubes you had your bias probe on:

Tubes 2 and 4, you'd have an 8.3% spread.
Tubes 1 and 3, you'd have a 2.4% spread.

I don't know what would be acceptable for a "matched" quad, but I'm thinking a 12% spread between all four ain't it. LOL I think I read somewhere that 3% or less variance is considered acceptable. I'm going to go through all of them, and also do some double checking as I have no idea when the last time my tester was calibrated so I'd like to see results duplicated before I place too much weight on all of this.

I'm lucky that I have a tester, and could just take all 12 tubes and match them up based on GM. But there are no markings on any of these tubes or boxes to indicate how, or even if they were matched. You just have to take it on faith that they are, and so far... I don't have much faith. LOL
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I’m thinking between the 12 you’d be able to get some decent matches
 
This is interesting. Thanks for taking the time to post your results. Everything I've been able to read about these tubes is they are excellent tubes. If you read their website they say how indepth their tesing/matching process is. Maybe someone who really understands the readings can elaborate because I don't know.
 
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For what it's worth, I feel that slightly unmatched pairs/quads sound better than matched. That's been a pattern for me for a few years. Experimented with this and it seems to be a thing, with my amps anyway. Like a quad of 34s that bias from 32-39 ma.
 
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