Tubes Asylum

RE: Gold Lion KT77 vs EL34 (Svetlana or JJs)

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In Reply to: RE: Gold Lion KT77 vs EL34 (Svetlana or JJs) posted by audiophilewannabe on December 13, 2017 at 17:53:14

I've tried the current production Gold Lion KT77 in my amp, as well as JJ E34L, EH EL34, current Mullard EL34, Tung Sol EL34B, and briefly Winged =C= EL34.

For the current production Svetlana EL34, here's a link that might be of interest: review

My JJ E34L were from around 2003. I really liked these. Better than some other EL34s, these had a very palpable quality with rich tone color, and they imaged nicely. So, JJ now makes something like three or four varieties of EL34/6CA7. However, you never know how they might have changed over the years. Also, numerous forum reports of reliability issues have given me pause.

The Gold Lion KT77 is the all-around best of all the tubes I've tried in my amp, and not by a small margin. I say this begrudgingly, because IMO I don't think you should have to pay this much for a truly good-sounding tube.

I estimate that the only competition the GL KT77 has are the high end Chinese tubes or maybe specialty offerings from a place like Sophia Electric. But, with Chinese tubes from Chinese sellers, things get difficult if they arrive damaged or if they fail prematurely. I think they typically expect you to pay shipping to have the damaged or failed tube returned to them in China, so there goes the ballgame. Don't know what the story is with Sophia Electric or any similar places that might be out there.

One word of caution about octal base tubes made in China (whoever sells them)... Every Chinese octal base tube I have owned, and many I have seen images of online, have pins that to my eyes appear splayed. This makes for a situation that I experienced, where you kind of have to force the tubes into the sockets, which then deforms or loosens the socket contacts. If you later remove the tubes and replace them with different tubes having straight pins, you can run into problems.

So, short of spending the big $ on GL KT77 or their pricey competition, I think a JJ EL34 variant is a fine sonic alternative to sojourn with to see how it strikes your fancy. Question is where to buy them; who screens them properly?

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