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Hello there,Can somebody give me some advise regarding EL34 valves. Are there “extreme” differences in quality with the brands. If I buy a $15 tube or $40 one? Or is it more a question of taste and are the $15 tubes more common and there by cheaper.
Any help is welcome because I have no experience with this material.
Thanks in advance,
Follow Ups:
I think that JJ's are hard to beat, especially for the price.
For my money it has most to do with application, the rest is taste. I think for many applications the Svetlana EL34 is excellent. Its smooth and rugged, new production and inexpensive.
Hi there,my favorites out of the whole lot is Svetlana (after 1997) for new production and Philips/Mullard Xf2/Xf3 for old production - the latter being too expensive for daily use - therefore I have a big stock of Svetlanas...
Regards,
SlovtekSvetlana
Seimins
Electro Harmonix
I like the EH's best but all these are not to bad.
Tazsmonn The Cat Herder.
W66th.St./Richfield/Minneapolis/MN/USA
Cats are good room treatments, you should have 2. Or is it too?
My detracters have never heard my system.
How is Slovtek holding up agains Svetlana?I was planning for the Svetlana, but the are to expencive here.
(Svetlana is more then double the price of Slovtek!)
Hello Charms,I live in NL also - and I never had a problem finding in finding Svetlana EL34s for reasonable money.
The Sovtek/EH costed around 11 Euro a shot at Rik Stoet's shop in
The Hague.Amplimo list the Svetlana around 16 Euro a piece.
Both sell via Internet and mail order.
Through local electronic supply I have bought large numbers of Svetlanas for round about 10 Euro a shot.
Regards,
---mb---
======
PS: My recommendation is: Do yourself a favour and do _not_ use the EHs for HiFi-Audio. The result to be expected is mediocre - the fact
that the Electro-Harmonix are build for instrument amps is audible -
they sound rather peculiar...
Hi mb!
Happy New Year! I also found the EH EL34 sounds horrible. What about JJ? What's your comment? I find it pretty musical.
Hi PPT,happy new year to you too. Had been inactive for some time - workload-related - still have to answer your email...
I cannot really comment on the JJ EL34 - I had a look at it once and found the samples shown a little brittle. I tried the JJ E34L instead, which is more sturdy in its build - not bad, but needs lots of bias curren. In my modified Copland CTA-401 (PP-Ultralinear), the Svetlanas become palatable at 35 mA bias, and really sing at 45 mA.
The JJ E34L sounds edgy below about 50..55 mA - and sounds smooth and refined at 60mA. This means I have to run the flat out to make them sing - do not like this too much, as the amp runs very hot that way - the Copland has a closed chassis with vents, and valve life is compromised.If running the valves hot is not an issue for you, then give them a try - they can be an alternative to the Svet - albeit the sound is quite different.
Regards,
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