EL34s in my radford,my impressions

[robin]

a good few wammers have pm,d me about my thoughts on this so i thought i would open this thread,but this is with my ears,in my room,with my kit,and a say tung-sol in a radford may sound differant when used in another amp

my radford came with mullards, the best you can get in a el34 some say,but the ones i got looked a bit well used,so sent them of to david for testing, they all work,but as i thought they were well past their best, so they went on eBay

i then got soom low hours kt77 gold lions ( after checking with radford that my amp could use these,always check with the amp builders that you can use kt77 in a amp built for el34s, not all can)

big differance,much brighter with more detail, good bass, but i found them just a touch harsh

got soom used tung-sols for a very nice £30, like these quite a lot, vocals are much better, but bass is a touch lose, but a great buy at this price, only got them last night so more time is needed.Today a quad of psvane el34s arrived, will add my thoughts on these next week

 

[meninblack]

I'm getting a nice sound with JJ Tesla E34L in the Air Tight - cheap too! :^

 

[robin]

I'm getting a nice sound with JJ Tesla E34L in the Air Tight - cheap too! :^

will add them to my list :^

 

[JANDL100]

.... i then got soom low hours kt77 gold lions.... big differance,much brighter with more detail, good bass, but i found them just a touch harsh

I've never got on well with EL34 toobs - in all the amps I've tried (quite a few) I find them a bit boring.

Well worth exploring more drop-in replacements like KT77 or 6CA7, imo. :^

 

[AlanB]

Agree there Jerry.

EH 6CA7's much better than any EL34 I've experienced.

Dare I say the cryo'ed ones subtly better too.

 

[JANDL100]

.... Dare I say the cryo'ed ones subtly better too.

Oops. :sofa:

 

[pgarrish]

What determines whether you can swap valve types as you suggest? My monos run EL34s but when I have to replace the valves I'd be interested in options other than more el34s

 

[RSand]

Agree there Jerry.EH 6CA7's much better than any EL34 I've experienced.

Dare I say the cryo'ed ones subtly better too.

Goes to show system/ear dependency - In my amp/system I prefer the winged C el34's over the 6CA7's which seem a touch harsh and lack bass. Interestend to hear more about the psvanes.

 

[S-Man]

my radford came with mullards, ...... they all work,but as i thought they were well past their best, so they went on eBay

 

[robin]

had friday and sat with the tung-sols, i like them. for me better than the kt77 gold lions, they will be for sale shortly, put the psvanes in today, stright from the box they sound ok, left them playing while i get on will redecorateing the kitchen, i think i need to get at least 20 hours on these before i make a judgement

 

[RSand]

Its a bit of pot luck with tubes isn't it? Has anyone tries masa boogie el34's?

 

[Chumpy]

Good valvey tubey bottley luck - so far haven't bought such audio electronics, but admit I should have had the joy of instant deterioration.

 

[bandit pilot]

Good valvey tubey bottley luck - so far haven't bought such audio electronics, but admit I should have had the joy of instant deterioration.

:rofl: Your going straight to hell for that one. Take some rep with you.

 

[Ian]

Did you ever get this rebuilt Robin ? I miss it ! So glad you had it though.

 

[robin]

Did you ever get this rebuilt Robin ? I miss it ! So glad you had it though.

yes ian, by our own bmtell, shame about the mullards though

 

[robin]

Me too. Does Yorkshire proud does our Robin!

what you trying to say :shock: , they sold to a chinese chap, as working with unknown hours on them and a pic showning the getting missing, the price he paid reflected that, :^

 

[robin]

:hug:

 

[RSand]

So after a week with these how are you finding them?

 

[robin]

So after a week with these how are you finding them?

hi rob, been away on hol, will report shortly