Bought matched quad of XF2. Not new but test strong NOS, I see no reason not to believe the seller. I bet they will sound significantly better than SEDs.
Mullard EL34 that sounds best
Will need a matched quad of EL34 for the VAC Avatar SE integrated at some point. Currently using Svetlana SEDs but I guess Mullard should be better.
What particular Mullard would you recommend and why ?
I use Mullard 12AX7 longplates in preamp and RCA blackplates as driver tubes.
- ...
- 38 posts total
atmasphere + 1 JJ tubes are built at former Tesla factory, which supplied tubes military/aviation etc.. in 80s Tesla EL34 were the best I’ve experienced, reliability performance etc. not surprised to see JJ tubes in Luxman designs, 3yr warranty is not easy to deliver! Typ I order tubes and ask seller to make sure serial numbers are close, ideally from the same lot.. I haven’t seen drive mismatch issues even after 1000hr run! Beware, in many cases like-new/new NOS "Mullard/Telefunken/etc" tubes are counterfeit-miss-labeled Chinese ones.. |
@atmasphere @oddiofyl , I’ll keep that in mind as sooner or later I am going to need a dozen of them. (I know someone who swears by the JJ 12ax7s, and I did put JJ 6sn7s in my preamp and I think they sound okay.) Anyway, any suggestions on who does a good job of matching them? On edit: I see that JJ has KT77s out, I wonder how they are? And as far as type I and type II, I see a set they are specifically calling EL34s type II and the rest are just EL34s, so are the ones that are called EL34s the type I?
|
@inna as best I can make out the difference is how much plate Voltage they can handle. I'd stick with the regular EL34 on that account. CE Distribution does matched pairs but the thing about matching if you want it done right is to use a curve tracer (i don't know if CE uses one or not). Most 'matched' tubes I've seen are matched on a tube tester which only gives you a static match. A curve tracer will give a match right up to full power. |
- 38 posts total