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My friend has asked me for my opinion on the "best" sounding EL-84, 6BQ5, 7189, 6N14P etc. This is a tube I haven't really explored using so if you wouldn't mind helping my friend and myself would you list the five best tubes you'd recommend using regardless of cost by manufacturer and model? Then would you list the five best tubes you'd recommend using with a top cost of $200pr by manufacturer and model?
Thanks for your help.
I'm listening to:
Thetubeguy1954 (Tom Scata)
Full-range/Wide-range Drivers --- Front & Back-Loaded Horns
Central Florida Audio Society -- SETriodes Group -- Space Coast Audio Society
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"The man that hath no music in himself, nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds, is fit for treasons, deceptions, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night and his affections dark as Hell. Let no such man be trusted."
William Shakespeare from The Merchant of Venice; Act V,i
Follow Ups:
Extensive listening tests resulted in- PP amp - GE SE amp - Sylvania black plate
~!
The Mind has No Firewall~ U.S. Army War College.
Have as well a look on the JJ Tesla. Compared to NOS they're very close and good sounding tubes.
Where did you come to believe that any of these tubes would cost you $200. per pair ? Only the rarest original very vintage Genalex Gold Lion or Mullard 10M would fetch such prices. Even Telefunken 7189s do not fetch $100 each; yet. Forget NOS vintage tubes. Buy them used and tested OK from trustworthy collecters.
Concerning anyone else's list of their top 5, this will always be someone else's list. Let us say you follow one of our suggested proritization of tubes, only to find you or your buddy hear things differently. Wouldn't that be a disappointment ? Truthfully, you and he must find out for yourselves. It may be a costly search, but the results will be worth the journey. Whichever tubes are "left over" and not desired simply get resold on the AA Trader or elsewhere.
My list of Top 3 would include Telefunken EL84 & 7189; Mullard EL84 & 7189; Amperex EL84 & 7189. There are some systems that the RCA or Sylvania or GE 6BQ5s sounded sweet; but the Euro or Gt. Britain tubes always sound better, IMHO and the opinion of most of the responders.
So, simply forget about finding NOS pairs or quads. Buy them used so you can save some $$$ and purchase more records..or tubes to try...Best Regards...
telefunken are not so great I think, so low prices, but I know nothing....perhaps great in your amp....
...
ok...so mullard from Japan (Matsushita)or India are great...
Only grey plates are good....the new Gold Lions are good...
that is all I know....
Have Fun
-3db
I forgot about BEL! It's a great sounding tube from India. As I understand Mullard tooling moved to India for the GB military in the 70's?
I have a few quad of this tube they used to be easy to find matched quads for not a lot of $$$.
I haven't tried the Russian made RI. Have you? All I know is the original Genalex may have only been selected Blackburn made Mullards, but boy the few sets which I've tried were very impressive tubes.
I have a pair loaded in my Matchless amp. And for 15 watts, the damn amp sounds like it has EL34's in it. Big sound, for an EL84.
Be interested in your opinion of the RI Genalex. Thanks!
Picked up a pair of the Psvane EL84-T when they were introduced by Grant Fidelity. They were, and still are, amazing! I also thought the price, now $99/pair, was reasonable.
At some point, I made the decision to forego the eternal hunt for elusive NOS since there are new offerings out there which are quite good in their own right. Rectifiers are still an issue but I have seen changes on the horizon with those, too!
They sound great in my Stingray II, so I quit looking.
Pretty hard to find an EL84 that doesn't sound good.
My 2 personal favorites:
1. I have some Japanese Channel Master brand that came out of a stereo integrated of the same brand. They look to me to be Matsushita, which are said to have been manufacted on ex-Amperex/Philips equipment.
2. Ei, manufactured after the Iron Curtain dropped, but before the shooting started. Internals look suspiciouly identical to the Japanese tubes mentioned above.
Others I have used and liked: RCA, Sylvania, Tesla, JJ, Sovtek. Not as crazy about GE. They are pretty good for hi-fi, but lacking "something" for guitar.
There is no 'best' tube...only the one that sounds best in a given system. The new GL's are quite good.
Tom,
I currently own and use three EL84 amps all of Asian production(Cayin, Luxman and Jolida). The good news is that with the possible exception of some early Chinese production (Beijing branded) it's hard to find a bad EL84. Of the currently manufactured EL84's even the JJ's have been good although not as long lived in my experience as the Russian tubes. Sound is primarily dependent on the voicing of your system and FenderLover's post pretty well describes the attributes of the various brands both NOS and current production. I would differ from his evaluations slightly and rate the Sovetek EL84m/6N14P-EV (really a 7189 and tough as nails) a bit higher right up there with the NOS brands It also is in my opinion the best value of the currently produced EL84's . The only currently produced EL84 I have not used is the Genalex/Gold Lion N709 perhaps some else could fill you in on this tube.
Mullards are the gold standard but the reissue GL is a very sweet sounding tube much like the vintage Mullards to my ears.
+ 1 on what Mossback wrote.
Sylvania EL84 Black plate
GE
Ols Stock Mullard 7189
Depends on the final tonal response and parameters of the amp being used, but:
You want midrange galore, with rich harmonics: The 1960's Mullard EL84 or Amperex BB.
Powerful, dark sound: The 1970-80's Tungsram EL84
Less compressed sound & your amp runs higher plate voltages: The 1960's Sylvania or RCA 7189A.
Powerful with a little less detail or response. But tough and relatively cheap: Reflector 6N14P-EV (Sovtek EL84M)
Those are some of my experiences with the EL84 and sub-types.
Never hear the RCA's but I agree with all the others... very well detailed!
Thanks, for your comment. If you ever get a chance to try the RCA 7189A you'll find it's like no other RCA EL84 or other output tube RCA made. Really not midrange based ("house tone"). Bright, clear with good headroom, for a EL84 derivative.
One caution, check your socket's pinout, if you are upgrading from the EL84 or 7189 to the 7189A. Slight difference in internal connections.
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