Any Opinions on The Mullard EL34 Reissues

[thebes]

My original FX2's are getting a bit long in the tooth, so I was contemplating a quad of these for my Marantz 8b.

 

Anybody tried them?  Cost seems very reasonable, which is not what I cna say aobut some of the other EL 34 offerings out there.

[Wolfbane]

My original FX2's are getting a bit long in the tooth, so I was contemplating a quad of these for my Marantz 8b.

 

Anybody tried them?  Cost seems very reasonable, which is not what I cna say aobut some of the other EL 34 offerings out there.

 

On the new 'reissue' output tubes where you get them from and how they're tested and matched is a really big factor.

[ToolShedAmps]

Haven't had very good luck with them. Real Svetlana "Winged C" EL34's should still be available at a good price. 

 

TS Matt.

[mkane]

  New Tung-Sol's are good, bought from Jim McShane

[NOSValves]

Better look again at the current prices for Wing C's best darn modern EL34 made. But good old new sensor ran them out of business..

[thebes]

I've got some Winged C here from Craig's recommendation of several years ago. I think, two or three of the four are still working. My impression was not very sturdy and prone to failure after short hours.  Why should I pay $50 a pop for guitar amp tubes?

 

Quite frankly I really can't fathom why a particular vendor should make that much of a difference in ordering new, not NOS,  tubes.  That implies that the factories are just shoving wildly varying junk out the door.  Modern production methods make superb quality control more of a given than a surprise. 

[NOSValves]

Not with hand made devices...and much of the production of a vacuum tube is still hand made...hand soldered..so on...

[NOSValves]

I have a set of original Svetlana EL34's which are what the Wing C tubes were called before the New Sensor company caused the legal action that forced a name change. Those tubes were produced in 1998 and I could not count the hours I have used them and they still work great.

[Wolfbane]

I've got some Winged C here from Craig's recommendation of several years ago. I think, two or three of the four are still working. My impression was not very sturdy and prone to failure after short hours.  Why should I pay $50 a pop for guitar amp tubes?

 

Quite frankly I really can't fathom why a particular vendor should make that much of a difference in ordering new, not NOS,  tubes.  That implies that the factories are just shoving wildly varying junk out the door.  Modern production methods make superb quality control more of a given than a surprise. 

 

Have you ever tested and matched tubes? I've done thousands and the accuracy of test equipment is all over the map. Some tube sellers have pretty low standards on what they consider and sell 'matched quads'. 

[NOSValves]

Ain't that the gospel truth! You'd be shocked at some of the major internet store front tube sellers that do little or no testing or preburn-in before testing. With output tubes preburn-in is an absolute must...another absolute clue that the testing is subpar if if the retailer only lists a single score pure tube...

Back in the hay day factory matched quad meant something but not today. You have to depend on the reliability of your tube seller to weed out the culls..

[NOSValves]

Ain't that the gospel truth! You'd be shocked at some of the major internet store front tube sellers that do little or no testing or preburn-in before testing. With output tubes preburn-in is an absolute must...another absolute clue that the testing is subpar if if the retailer only lists a single score per tube...

Back in the hay day factory matched quad meant something but not today. You have to depend on the reliability of your tube seller to weed out the culls..

[SteevG]

I've used two different sets of matched quads to power my Dynaco ST70/Klipsch Quartets .  I must say they hold their own against some RFT EL34's and much better than some generic EL34 Chinese tubes I have.

 

The sound is clear with plenty of power and excellent balance and tube 3D sound. 

 

You can get a matched quad for under $25 per tube.  I use them and really like them.

[Lemon string]

I've used two different sets of matched quads to power my Dynaco ST70/Klipsch Quartets .  I must say they hold their own against some RFT EL34's and much better than some generic EL34 Chinese tubes I have.

 

The sound is clear with plenty of power and excellent balance and tube 3D sound. 

 

You can get a matched quad for under $25 per tube.  I use them and really like them.

What tube are you talking about? Winged C for $25 a tube?!? If you know where to find this deal please let me know where.

[Dr Morbius]

$25 a tube - I believe that's below cost. I'd love to get 4 for $100, best I could find is a quad for $220.

[ToolShedAmps]

$25 a tube - I believe that's below cost. I'd love to get 4 for $100, best I could find is a quad for $220.

This is close, IMHO it's a great starting bid for a decent set of "real" ones......

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Matched-quad-SED-Winged-C-EL34s-/322043511932?hash=item4afb4a047c:g:gCcAAOSwoydWr2Km

 

TS Matt.

[thebes]

Boy I dunno, those tubes look toasted to me.  The getter (or do they call it the silver mica, apologize for my lack of technical chops on this) is way, way gone, with the one on the far left almost completly gone. My original Mullards have more getter then those.

Edited March 18, 2016 by thebes

[ToolShedAmps]

Boy I dunno, those tubes look toasted to me.  The getter (or do they call it the silver mica, apologize for my lack of technical chops on this) is way, way gone, with the one on the far left almost completly gone. My original Mullards have more getter then those.

If I were to bid, I'd ask the seller for some better pics, however, not all mfg.'s applied the same amount of flashed barium to the same tube types. A fairly good indicator would be if the getter material that IS there has started to kind of turn brownish and translucent. 

[thebes]

Cool. Never knew that one.  Thanks for the tip. 

 

 

Boy I dunno, those tubes look toasted to me.  The getter (or do they call it the silver mica, apologize for my lack of technical chops on this) is way, way gone, with the one on the far left almost completly gone. My original Mullards have more getter then those.

If I were to bid, I'd ask the seller for some better pics, however, not all mfg.'s applied the same amount of flashed barium to the same tube types. A fairly good indicator would be if the getter material that IS there has started to kind of turn brownish and translucent. 

 

Cool. Never knew that. Great tip.  Yet another reason why I love this place.

[tube fanatic]

 

Boy I dunno, those tubes look toasted to me.  The getter (or do they call it the silver mica, apologize for my lack of technical chops on this) is way, way gone, with the one on the far left almost completly gone. My original Mullards have more getter then those.

If I were to bid, I'd ask the seller for some better pics, however, not all mfg.'s applied the same amount of flashed barium to the same tube types. A fairly good indicator would be if the getter material that IS there has started to kind of turn brownish and translucent. 

 

Matt raised a very good point.  Looking at the getter flashing as an indicator of in-circuit high voltage exposure can be extremely misleading.  I've had many new power and rectifier tubes with brownish flashing right out of the box (and these were tubes hand-picked by me at the wholesaler's warehouse).  A better way to draw a conclusion might be to use a lowly emissions tester and see if the tube's output remains fairly steady if the filament voltage is reduced by 20%.  That will provide some indication of the "health" of the cathode (or filament in directly heated types).

 

Maynard

[juniper]

I would look into TCtubes, he has tung sols for 24 a piece and elctro harmonixs for 20. I don't know if these are good tubes, but I do know he burns all his new tubes in, and then matches them on some insanely expensive equipment....