Well, certainly the type of construction within a tube type does have a great impact on the sound.nyazzip wrote:...is it the "tube's tone", or the impedance match-up between output tubes and output transformers and dampening with speaker cabs? i remain unconvinced that the tube alone is responsible for as much of the tone as it is given credit for.....at one time i was convinced that i knew what el34s "sounded like"...i proved myself wrong.
And some of the current Chinese EL34's sound very little like an EL34. Yes the tube alone can be responsible for huge differences, even within same types. Especially with pre-amp tubes. Try comparing Sylvanias, Mullards, RFT's, and say for arguments sake EH ECC83's in the first gain stage of any amp, and you'll get very different results.
Comparing say XF2 Mullard EL34's with say Shuguangs for instance yield differences that are just as huge IMO.
I hear some pretty big differences between brands of EL84's too. Even bigger differences between certain brands of 6V6's. RCA and Brimar are worlds apart, but both great. Modern JJ's sound a bit different altogether but do not conform to traditional 6V6 specs.
The point here is though, despite the differences, you still have tell-tale signs of tube type, except in the cases of where construction differs from the original specs, like as mentioned earlier, the JJ 6V6 (not that far removed from the 6V6 sound though) and the Shuguang EL34 (very far removed from your typical EL34 sound) which happens a lot with many modern tubes.
Current production tubes have the disadvantage of not being allowed to use some of the chemical processes used in the olden days, and the quality of raw materials being not as good. You also find that the construction tends to blur a bit (ie Pentodes with beam forming plates more in keeping with Beam Tetrodes)
To go back to your post though, it might just be that you were acquainted with what EL34 flavoured amps sounded like, rather than EL34's themselves. Changing between types of tubes can be quite subtle to some ears, but when you really start listening hard, the differences are there.