Best New EL84

[ny_racer_xxx]

That's what I heard....

CR

[drake]

I believe most of the TAD tubes are well tested and selected Chinese and seem to be of very good quality.

Chinese, they are, good quality, they are not, never will be.

TAD (tube amp doctor), is a company here in Germany, run by Stefan Meyer & his conglomorates. They used to be largely supported by Ruby Tubes/Magic Parts; and used their buying power for some time, until they decided to drop Ruby Tubes like a stone, and go it their own way; sort of like the "we don´t need you anymore" attitude. They are the sort of company that sell 89 cent chinese ceramic tube sockets for $5 bucks a piece! Or orange drops for $4 bucks each!

They are the biggest "vintage amp parts" rip-off company here in Germany, and only exist through the stupidity and non-knowledgement of musicians and amp enthusiasts.
They invested a lot of money in one of China´s tube makers, so they hype their tubes no end, to sell them.

I´ve used them many times before, with mostly negative results; I´m wiser now.

I recommend avoiding them; go with what you know.

drake

[malt]

I recommend avoiding them; go with what you know.

drake

+1

[mrfoo]

I recommend avoiding them; go with what you know.

drake

+1

+1

[MadDitch]

Any one try these yet? Reissue Genalex Gold Lion

http://www.hotroxuk.com/genalex-gold-li ... 733-0.html

[sandmannn69]

Just got a matched pair of JJ/Tesla EL84s this afternoon from TubeDepot for the Baby Will. After a 15 min. warmup, cranked it up and Holy S---!, the creamy, crunchy blues were oozing out of that V30. Wow, I thought it sounded good with the old pair I initially put in it. Now I see why Marshall can get $2000+ for this amp. I was running it thru a mini-mass attenuator, too, which does suck tone a bit. I used a JJ/Tesla in my SE Valve Junior, too, huge improvement over stock Sovtek (of course). JJ/Tesla EL84s seem to be the best for decent gain and low noise.

[drake]

JJ/Tesla EL84s seem to be the best for decent gain and low noise.

Yes, they came stock in my 1974X too, and I like them.
However I do urge you to try a pair of the new EH EL84´s; they´re different to the normal Sovteks, and sound even better than old Tesla roundplate/hexplates that I´ve had in the past, and last much longer; get a hot set and you may be in for a surprise; more bass and more crunchy mids, and the highs aren´t so "bitey" anymore and the sustain......

Take Care
drake[/i]

[kleuck]

[grndluxe]

i'm a little late on this topic, but just to add my 2 cents about EL84s.
i had a pair of JJs in a dockery TMB and thought they were a bit harsh at the time. i sold them on ebay and bought a pair of NOS General Rohrens. the JJs were much better. the Generals were very STERILE. no 'personality' at all.

[supah]

i had a pair of JJs in a dockery TMB and thought they were a bit harsh at the time.

I have the exact same amp + same tubes (JJ EL84s) and had the exact same experience. I don't know if they were too gainy or what, but the sound when the amp was cranked was much too grainy and brittle for my liking. Put the 6v6s in and it was much better.

However, I thought that this could also have been contributed to the way the amp is set up... if you solder in the proper resistor for the EL84s, you can't just swap them out for 6v6s, but if you use the proper resistor for the 6v6s, you CAN swap them out for EL84s... but if you do the EL84s will be biased cold I THINK.

grndluxe - when you used the JJ EL's did you use the right resistor and still come to the same solution?

[zaphod_phil]

I have the exact same amp + same tubes (JJ EL84s) and had the exact same experience. I don't know if they were too gainy or what, but the sound when the amp was cranked was much too grainy and brittle for my liking. Put the 6v6s in and it was much better.

I do urge you to try a pair of the new EH EL84´s; they´re different to the normal Sovteks, and sound even better than old Tesla roundplate/hexplates that I´ve had in the past, and last much longer; get a hot set and you may be in for a surprise; more bass and more crunchy mids, and the highs aren´t so "bitey" anymore and the sustain......

So Pato, maybe you need to try the EH EL84s to get the kind of tone you like from EL84s.

However, I thought that this could also have been contributed to the way the amp is set up... if you solder in the proper resistor for the EL84s, you can't just swap them out for 6v6s, but if you use the proper resistor for the 6v6s, you CAN swap them out for EL84s... but if you do the EL84s will be biased cold I THINK.

Yes, that's right, and it probably won't sound too good. So if you have two sets of power tube sockets, you need to put a different cathode resistor and cap on each. But you really also need a different resistor in the phase invertor for each type of tube - ie 22k or 47k.

[leslie]

i'm a little late on this topic, but just to add my 2 cents about EL84s.
i had a pair of JJs in a dockery TMB and thought they were a bit harsh at the time. i sold them on ebay and bought a pair of NOS General Rohrens. the JJs were much better. the Generals were very STERILE. no 'personality' at all.

general rohre are actually russian tubes which have nothing in common with german tubes of yesteryear( rohre = tube).
Simillar story with Zaerix tubes on ebay.
If you need good comparison with JJ try Tungsram or GE (you can still get them at good price NOS)

Not connected but general:
Also please notice that military tubes sometimes can sound sterile but have prolonged lifetime and whitstand higher plates voltages.

Regards

[supah]

drake/phil -

by EH do you mean Electro-Harmonix?

phil -

so before start playing with ELs I should definitely put together an amp specifically for them... biased correctly and whatnot.

[drake]

drake/phil -

by EH do you mean Electro-Harmonix?

Yes, Electro Harmonix.

Got some old Russian 6P14P´s from the late 70´s recently; they seem very robust, you can rap yer knuckles on the glass, and nothing rattles!

Not sure how they´ll sound, I´ve read elsewhere that they take time to burn in... I´ll try ´em next tube-change.

The EL84EH´s do last a long time though, and sound GREAT!

Happy New Year
drake

[rjgtr]

phil -

so before start playing with ELs I should definitely put together an amp specifically for them... biased correctly and whatnot.

You can make a new amp (an 18watt Lite IIb is a perfect start) or as phil says modify your existing amp to switch between the two types of tubes.

If the amp has both 8 and 9 pin sockets installed for the power tubes, you can share everything except for the cathode resistor/cap. You would have a different value for each type. Then you should also switch between a 47k and 22k on the PI. You can do this by having the 47k as your soldered in value and then paralleling in another 47k with a swtich (two 47k in parallel equals 23.5k - close enough).