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Sovtek El34s to blame for Jolida 302 problem!

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Posted on March 27, 1999 at 14:37:52
Bill


 
There appears to be serious Sovtek quality control problems that have recently hit the market. Out of two brand new quads that I have bought in the last two weeks I've had four bad tubes that wouldn't bias past 30 millivolts without glowing orange. The last batch had three bad tubes. There is a new run that actually has different printing, design, and definitely different performance. The printing is wider and a little more blurry without the numbers "98" below "made in Russia". On the inside of the tube, at the very top connecting the two copper rodes , Sovtek has replaced the durable ring with cheap looking saucers that are pressed together. As far as I can tell these tubes are useless. I just bought a quartet of Groove Tubes that are nothing more than thoroughly tested Sovtek El34s and they are running cool and sound great. Beware of Sovtek El 34s!

 

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Re: Sovtek El34s to blame for Jolida 302 problem!, posted on March 27, 1999 at 16:18:12
TAZSMONN


 
THANKS FOR THE INFO BILL !

 

Re: Sovtek El34s to blame for Jolida 302 problem!, posted on March 27, 1999 at 16:51:48
dex


 
That's why I'm using Svetlana on my Jolida. I found the same problem on Sovtek!

 

Thanks for the "heads up". One question......, posted on March 27, 1999 at 19:26:38
Tom S.


 
How did the included chinese EL34 tubes perform for you?

Hopefully the Groovetube Sovtek will bring consistent musical enjoyment as compared to the peformance of the "Sovtek" Sovtek. :-@

Have fun,
Tom S.

 

Re: Thanks for the "heads up". One question......, posted on March 27, 1999 at 20:54:49
Bill


 

The amp came with a sovtek upgrade so unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) I did not have the chinese EL34 experience.. The groove tube sovteks sound noticeably better than the previous sovteks I've had in my amp but one out of the four is running a little hot. With the lights off you can see a dim orange glow on the side of the plate. The bias looks good however. What happened to Sovtek? Maybe if we cranked up the Cold War again tube quality would improve but then you risk nuclear anihilation. Anyway, what output tube are you using?

 

What?, posted on March 28, 1999 at 09:20:38
Bryan F.


 
>>>Hopefully the Groovetube Sovtek will bring consistent musical enjoyment as compared to the peformance of the "Sovtek"
Sovtek.<<<

The GrooveTube is just that a Sovtek. No difference except that they are labeled "GT" and cost a lot more. Oh, the claimed difference is how they are tested and burned in....oh, boy....still a Sovtek.


 

I was aware of that when I posted., posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:20:16
Tom S.


 
It certainly seems that the durability and build quality (neglecting sound quality, mind you) of Sovtek EL34's has deteriorated rapidly within the last year or so (bill is not the only person to report this). Apparently the seemingly more reliable, groovetube-tested (I should have clarified that in my original post) Sovtek EL34's are of higher build quality. The groovetubes could be from a production run at Sovtek where build quality was better than the the tubes bill got directly fom Sovtek. *Or* the groovetube testing weeded out the "infant mortals" of the production lot.
Personally, I have gone with the groovetube-tested Teslovak E34L's. I have found that when compared to the original chinese tubes, the E34L's offer a bit more dynamics but less smoothness.

Have fun,
Tom S.

 

I was aware of that when I posted., posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:21:38
Tom S.


 
Notice that I put a slightly confused and tongue-tied face after the message. >>:-@<<

It certainly seems that the durability and build quality (neglecting sound quality, mind you) of Sovtek EL34's has deteriorated rapidly within the last year or so (bill is not the only person to report this). Apparently the seemingly more reliable, groovetube-tested (I should have clarified that in my original post) Sovtek EL34's are of higher build quality. The groovetubes could be from a production run at Sovtek where build quality was better than the the tubes bill got directly fom Sovtek. *Or* the groovetube testing weeded out the "infant mortals" of the production lot.
Personally, I have gone with the groovetube-tested Teslovak E34L's. I have found that when compared to the original chinese tubes, the E34L's offer a bit more dynamics but less smoothness.

Have fun,
Tom S.

 

Re: What?, posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:22:19
Bill


 
One plus about this whole experience is the discovery of the importance of careful tube matching and testing. For whatever it's worth, the jolida 302 sounds better than ever. The sound stage is deeper, bass is a little more articulate, there is a more detailed, cleaner, and more controled sound. There seems to be quite a bit of variance in some tubes even within the same line of tubes. It seems that Sovtek fits this category. Some are better than others. If the tubes are carefully tested you get the good ones. If they are not you get what you get. That's been my experience.

 

Please pardon the double posting. Please delete the extra.(nt), posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:23:58
Tom S.


 
nt=negative-texting

 

Sovtek EL34's..., posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:31:13
Bryan F.


 
Which Sovtek EL34's are you talking about? As their "premium" EL34 is the EL34WXT. Which is a good EL34 and rugged. On the other hand Sovtek made (or maybe still makes/haven't heard of anyone using this one in quite some time) the EL34G. These were/are notorious for sounding thin with no midrange bloom at all. Sounding very dry. They weren't as cheap as the even cheaper, worse sounding, not so long lasting Chinese EL34's. I won't even talk about the Chinese. However if memory serves me right the WXT definetly uses the halo getter. I am unsure of if the G's getter is a halo or a saucer. I though it was a halo though.

Though I know of no reliability problems with the Sovtek EL34G either. My guess is that you either got a bad run of the tube or first production tubes. Where did you buy them? As maybe your source has some of the older ones laying around. I know when I was hunting for KT88's a while back that the first KT88's to hit the streets were flawed. They also looked cheap with their big old Coke bottles(real big in comparison to the newer ones) and huge base. The newer Tesla KT88's however are fine. Though the Sventlana 6550C was better balanced to my ear. I don't understand the fascination with the Yugo El90. Maybe current......thats about it? The point is I was buying KT88's after the newer ones came out and still ran and I have still run across the older/first production KT88's.

The Sovtek EL34WXT is like I said a "good tube". As many like it. However if I were picking EL34's I would choose in this order. First I would buy some Sventalana's. Very expensive at $14 each. The best new production EL34 to my ear and many. Second and in a close second the Tesla EL34. Much less expensive at $12. Also available in red or blue glass(for almost twice the price though $19/red $24/blue ). Third the Sovtek EL34WXT. A "good tube" but a bit different from the Sventlana and Tesla El34's. Oh, and you can save money if you buy this tube as it comes in at the cheapest price of $10. Oh, the savings.

I haven't played with the El Yugo 6CA7/EL34. It will cost you about $10 and is suppose to increase bass in some EL34 amps. Don't know this one I'm afraid. Also like the EL90 isn't a direct replacement in all KT88/6550 amplifiers I don't know if the 6CA7/El small bottle 34 is a direct substitute.

Happy Listening!

Oh, and remember that there is nothing special about GrooveTubes. They don't make tubes. They simply re-label other tubes like Sovek's and Tesla's. Well, except you pay a premium for burning in and testing. A premium that often costs way too much if not double the price in most cases.

 

If Sovtek is...., posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:38:11
Bryan F.


 
....having reliability problems then I would stay away from them even if re-labeled. As the only reason "GT's" would be more durable is because of the burn in. Many tube dealers will do this for you for an extra charge. A charge that will be far less than "GT's" charge. However again if Sovtek is having reliability problem I would stay away from them. As even if burned in and tested they can go bad. Like I stated above Tesla had the same problem with their KT88 a few years back. Many failed within moments or a few hours. If you bought them burned in they seemed fine but even then over time they still had a high failure rate in months to come.

 

Chinese...., posted on March 28, 1999 at 10:43:27
Bryan F.


 
....I am waiting to find a Chinese tube that I like yet alone is rugged when compaired to other tubes period. Again which Sovtek EL34's are you talking about? The EL34G or EL34WXT? Also which production year? As the WXT hasn't been on the market for too long. First hitting the market late summer/early fall of 98' I believe.

 

Re: If Sovtek is...., posted on March 28, 1999 at 13:06:13
Tom S.


 
>>Again which Sovtek EL34's are you talking about?<<

The bad Sovteks that I heard about were not the EL34WXT's. You will have to ask bill which type of Sovtek went bad in his amp as Bizzy Bee sells their Jolida's with Sovtek EL34WXT's installed.

>>....having reliability problems then I would stay away from them even if re-labeled<<

I have no intention to purchase Sovteks at this time. Nor will I ever.

>>As even if burned in and tested they can go bad.<<

As I stated earlier, I wished bill good luck in the hopes that his GT tested tubes will work longer than the non-tested tubes. I also stated that they were "seemingly" more reliable. Never stated it as fact that they were more reliable. Obviously, I need to edit my posts for ambiguous statements whenever I post in the future.

Have fun,
Tom S.

 

Re: If Sovtek is...., posted on March 28, 1999 at 13:10:44
Bryan F.


 
I apologize if I seem to be knit-picking. I just wanted to point out that the Groovetubes in question are still Sovteks.

 

Re: If Sovtek is...., posted on March 28, 1999 at 13:37:05
bill


 
The tubes in question are the El34wxt

 

Re: Sovtek EL34's...good post Bryan., posted on March 28, 1999 at 16:28:55
Tazsmonn


 
Loved the bit about groove tubes, pay the price for the "pretty glass".

 

Re: If Sovtek is...., posted on March 29, 1999 at 05:42:21
Jack G


 
Good points. FWIW, not only d id the early Tesla KT-88s have problems with reliability, they had an extra pin in the #6 position, which some amps just did NOT like.
Jack

 

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