|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
64.61.217.2
In Reply to: Mullard EL34 reissues-Are there counterfeits? posted by yeastguy@yahoo.com on August 19, 2005 at 10:59:37:
You might want to ask yourself what anyone would have to gain by going to the work of "counterfeiting" a reissue "fake" Mullard in the first place?
For that kind of effort, why not just try to relabel it as the real thing?
Mark D.
Follow Ups:
My point and question is....IS a newly reissued Mullard EL34 nothing more than a current production EH EL34 EH with a Mullard label(IE, the same tube) ?
"My point and question is....IS a newly reissued Mullard EL34 nothing more than a current production EH EL34 EH with a Mullard label(IE, the same tube) ?".......Sorry. I had taken it that you wanted to know if they were counterfeit's. Since New Sensor owns the rights to the Mullard name these days, they can put that name on anything they want to. In that sense, they are NOT counterfeits.
However, they also are nothing at all like the REAL Mullards.
However, they also will play music out of your hi fi.
My understanding is, and I could be wrong on this because things do change, that the new Mullard branded tubes are made in Saratov, Russia. That would be the same plant as such great high quality brands as Sovtek, the NOT winged C Svetlana, etc.
Some people swear by these tubes.
My own personal opinion is that I use either NOS or SED and don't worry about the rest. But that wasn't part of your question.
I hope some of what I wrote is close enough to being correct that it helps some.
Mark D.
I appreciate your comments...I had ordered some SED's from Tube depot so I've already taken that step.....I remain curious however that many on this forum are giving raves about the new Mullards and not giving high marks on the EH's....very strange.I was disappointed when I examined the mullard reissues that I just purchased and they appear to be Identical to the tubes they were meant to replace. I'm sure the SED's will be nice, I love their 6550Cs and KT88's as well.
I think you will really like the SED tubes.
I think you might want to avoid their 12AX7, though, should that issue arise. They may have fixed their problem with that tube by now, but I don't know that.
The EH line also comes from New Sensor. Being New Sensor, and being that New Sensor obtains most of their tubes from Saratov, Russia because as I understand it they own either all of, or a controlling interest in, the big tube plant there.
When many different brands of tubes come from the same factory, it really makes one suspicious that most or all tubes from that plant of the same style might have a lot of similarities.
I will not go so far as to say they are all identical, however, because that would take more reasearch than I've done. A lot more.
I can say with authority that the "new" "Mullard" is not at all in any way like the original Mullard EL34. Well, it is in a glass envelope, and it does fit an octal socket and is shaped like a vacuum tube. And, so far as I can tell without opening one up it is also a pentode. But it's Mullard in name only. Certainly more closely related to EH than to Mullard.
My own opinion, not based on known facts? It's this: A Sovtek by any other name is still a Sovtek. And a Shuguang by any other name is still a Shuguang. Or however that's spelled. Never could write in Mandarin.
Mark D.
that did a fairly in-depth comparrison between the construction characteristics between the New Sensor Mullard and, I believe, the EH.
(posted maybe by Steve O.?)
I remember the conclusion being that there were several different, uh,
differences. I've only briefly (100 hours?) tried the EH.Didn't do much for me The New Sensor Mullard are GREAT! Give 'em some to break-in, initailly they are a bit harsh...
There are two types of music- good and bad. Life is too short to bother much with one and hopefully long enough to fully appreciate the other...
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: