Elrog 300B vs Takatsuki 300B tubes

I have the Takasukis and like them a lot.

I paid for a pair of 'cosmetically challenged' EML 300B XLS tubes directly from Jac Music on Feb 15.--he failed to getting around to shipping the tubes for 11 days after that. He also refused to respond to multiple inquiries from me during this period asking what was going on (his invoice and emails stated tubes would be shipped immediately upon payment). One screw up and excuse after another from Jac; I'm now out the the $ I paid for the tubes plus the cost of shipping regular 300Bs back to him that he sent 'by mistake' and I have no tubes. He promised to send me a pair of non cosmetically challenged 300B XLS tubes at no additional cost if I paid return shipping. Per the shipper the returned tubes have cleared German customs are being held for him because Jac requested his own pickup (Jac claims the tubes haven't cleared customs, so either he or the shipper is not being truthful with me).

The tubes may be great but buyer beware.

I bought my EML from TubesUSA.com and the customer service is top notch. I am buying my Elrogs from them also.

I've bought tubes from George at TubesUSA before as well and always
received great service.

I foolishly decided to try and save a few bucks and buy a pair of
'cosmetically challenged' 300B XLS tubes directly from Jac Music; I wasn't
sure re the XLS tubes and so thought I'd dip my toes in the water with the
discounted tubes. Unfortunately, I didn't receive XLS tubes, returned the
regular 300Bs that were shipped to me, but still have no XLS tubes as were
promised.

So strongly urge USA buyers to purchase through TubesUSA; I am
confident George will take good care of you.

I should add a couple of technical points: The Elrog keeps to the original WE spec inasmuch as it draws a filament current of 1.2A at 5V (as does the Takatsuki). The eml XLS draws about 25% more current than this. Most 300B amps can handle this no problem, but they will run hotter as a result (recall that components such as chokes are sensitive to the square of the current that runs through them -- if the current is 25% higher, the square of the current will be 56% higher). Mine runs noticeably cooler with the Elrogs than with the XLS, adjusted for the same volume levels.

However, it's not the case that the Elrog is a WE clone. The fact that thoriated tungsten is used means the gain and transconductance are quite different from the classical WE. First of all, this means you have to turn the volume up on your amp a bit to generate the same sound pressure, but more than that: the frequency response is also different --- you should expect a different-sounding valve. The tone colours and the bass in particular are markedly different, in a way that's difficult to put into words. In fact some people have suggested it should not be called a 300B at all, even though it is a plug-and-play replacement.

As I see it, the Takatsuki is a finely-crafted 'homage' to the original WE (pre-1980s). It keeps to the WE specs and curves almost exactly. If you're looking for the vintage sound, this is the one to have (apart from a pre-1980s WE itself, of course). If you want to push the envelope of what's possible with modern valve technology married with old-skool German workmanship, then the ER is a great choice.

But I realise from reading over this thread that many (most?) of the contributors here are (North) American, and up to now there has been a limited production allotment of Erlogs to the US market.. most of the first three production runs over the past seven months run has gone into Germany, Spain, Denmark, Holland, and Italy. So I don't want to steal your thunder.. when you get the valves, please draw your own conclusions.

Teruterubozo, thanks for a good post. I read somewhere that the Elrog 300b produces 20% less power. Did you hear that effect ? Did you hear any kind of dynamic compression when you go as loud with the Elrog as you would go with Takatsuki ?