Which EL34's are you all using?

  • Thread starter Thread starter skullfxr
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psychodave said:
I can hear power tube differences in most amps… my Mesa’s killed with the Sylvania’s, Cameron’s and Marshall’s with Winged C’s…. Etc. I’ve got a massive tube stash because I can hear the differences. Wish I didn’t. 😂
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"Sensitivity, in its highest form, is intelligence." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
 
Had no issues with JJ's and EH. Not much of difference unless you're recording clips and quickly switching between... and then the difference is noticeable but small.
 
Winged C in my THD Plexi.
Going to be putting in some GT EL34LS.

I have Mesa STR 447 currently in my Heartbreaker. I believe they are Sovtek.

I got the GT and Mesa tubes very inexpensive from a local shop going out of business.

Have a pair of RFT/Siemens El34.

I have two quad of Mullard xf2 I have had about 40 years. I rarely use them.

A bunch of random EL34 that I have had 30-40 years.... mostly single tubes.

If I buy more I would get EH....they sound about as good to me as any of my vintage tubes. The hype around NOS for power tubes is kind of crazy if you ask me.
Preamp tubes I can hear the difference. But fine with the new stuff.
 
GT EL-34LS is a regular JJ tube w/a fancy title.

GT designation :
R - Russian
C- China
S- Slovak {JJ}
 
stephen sawall said:
Yes I know....I paid less than $20 a tube.
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Nope. This was talked about here long ago. The older GT version. It is similar to the JJ EL34L...but the older GT version has a different heat wing design. They sound different than the JJ version. The LS has heat wings that are double the size of the JJ.
Different tube, although similar.
 
I would submit that you never really know wtf you're getting with Groove Tubes.
In the 80's GT was solid, nowdays its the same stuff the rest of the planet gets.
Aston Pittman is dead & gone and sold the company years ago/RIP.
 
It's the older ones with the large heat wings.

The THD Plexi is 31 years old. I'm replacing the capacitors. General maintenance and decided to put in fresh power tubes at the same time. The amp sounds great as is. I'm trying to get all my gear at 100% before I move back to Las Vegas. All my amps are getting maintenance and fresh power tubes.
 
Nigel said:
?

Individual bias knobs means you can match a hotter and colder tube.

Most of the great sounds we all know and love were made before the tube matching dogma was marketed to the guitar community.
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Bias trimmer means you set the "idle" of the tubes. Whether the tubes are in range depends on several things including the transconductance/Z or tube impedance & bias range resistors among other things.
Just because an amp has a bias trimmer does not guarantee every tube you stick in the amp will bias in range.
 
braintheory said:
I’ve not tried any pre-tube rolling in it, but have tried various 6L6’s and found little to no difference (Winged C’s, Sovtek’s and Sylvania’s), so seems impervious to that too. I’ve also been curious to try EL34’s in it, but since mine is an older version it would need a mod to the sockets to be able to take EL34’s
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Sounds to me like you need to order a new 100 watt! :poke:
 
What tonal advantage is achieved with matching other than lower noise and firmer bass?
 
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