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In Reply to: Fat Bottle Electro-Harmonix 6CA7 posted by Chris Spafford on August 11, 2002 at 17:50:22:
Hi,Good news :-)
If there is one thing that is scarse it is "beamie" EL34 - like KT77 or 6CA7 (fatties).
I think the old beamie had sort of a little bad rumour - what old russian tube didn't had that reputation - but I know next to noting about that. It was just some old "guitar amp" rumours (hearsays).
Given how nice the regular EH EL34 is, and that we haven't heard of a real lemon for quite some time, I think this "beamie" EL34 can be something to long for.
Sovteks site is next stop for me :-)
Follow Ups:
Par: So far Triode Electronics is the only site I've seen them listed; I keep hoping Ned will place a digipic so I can at least get a glimpse... for other fans of the beamie 6CA7, he also has old stock Sylvanias for about $180 a quad-- most reasonable considering that I saw a quad of Owensboro 1980s GE crimped plate 6CA7 fetch nearly $300 (why oh why?) on ebay-- the Sylvania's have about 100 hours on them-- no infant mortals! Under "specials" on his site he also has matched quads of GE 6550A for a most reasonable $180. Chris
Pär,As far as I know, the only "bad rep" which 6CA7 got was that they didn't have the "Marshall tone" when directly substitued for the EL34. Kevin O'Connor and Traynor amps pushed a modification to change EL34 to use 6CA7 via voicing and adding a safety fuse.
This was in the days when the very last Mullard EL34 and their replacements had rather poor reliability in guitar amps. Nowadays, even the JJ E34L is much better than the very first Tesla EL34 and E34L, in terms of reliability.
Tone wise the amps I've sub out old Hiwatts and Marshall (and their clones) and they don't sound all that bad with US made 6CA7's. More of a Fender tone. Not the crunch and overdrive of the classic 60's made Mullard EL34.
Kind of a Fender Pro tone or 6L6GC like tone. This amp can be shaped to sound a little browner & the 6CA7 do last longer. Albeit, you can never get the crunch of a good Mullard or today's JJ.
Some guitar nuts like to divide themselves into two camps. ONE: The Euro tone nuts who like EL34, EL84, and the KT's. AND TWO: The US camp who like 6L6GC, 5881, 6550, 6V6GT.
But, I've mixed power tubes in various amps---and very few folks have jumped up, after a short Italian tune-up, and said "Hey, you put 6550's into that KT-88 Marshall." Or "Why did you make a EL84 SET amp, instead of a 6V6GT?"
The advantage of guitar amps, is most hide & protect the tubes---so the player can't see what tube his amp has in it. I've had people tell me they love the tone of the Mullard EL34 in the old Marshall---when it really was loaded with MOV KT-66's.
By juggling trannies, coupling caps, bias settings, and speakers you can get most power tubes to voice to a pretty wide range. The thing I can't manipulate is bass. Only the biggies will do. BIG TRANNIES, oversized PS, and 6550, KT-88, 7581A, 7027A, etc will make thunderous bass coupled to good speakers.
I've kinda learn never say never & never say always----when it comes to tubes.
Hi,Oh... I meant the old russian "beamie" when I mentioned reputation.
American 6CA7 - of which I have far to few - are good as far as I know and use them.
I think someone wrote here a year or two ago that they didn't really coped well with 800V on the anode, but ...
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