EL-34s New issue Mullards vs. Teslas

Well, like I said earlier, I haven't actually heard the reissues myself, but I have heard the original Mullards, the original Svetlana's and their Winged C offspring. If you want to give them a try, I don't believe there's anything wrong with the new Mullards.

You might want to try the new Mullards. You'll save some money, and you may find that you love them. If you don't like them and decide to sell, you can probably get a good chunk of your money back.

Here's the current price list from thetubestore.com (I have never used them, but they had a convenient list of current production tubes with their prices). Each price listed is in USD and for a matched pair:
27.95 Shuguang EL34-B
33.95 JJ E34L
35.95 Electro-Harmonix EL34
35.95 JJ 6CA7
37.95 JJ KT77
39.95 Svetlana
43.95 Electro-Harmonix 6CA7EH
45.95 Mullard EL34
49.95 Tung-Sol EL34B
69.95 Winged "C" (SED)
89.95 Genalex - Gold Lion KT77
169.95 Shuguang Treasure 6CA7-Z

For all I know, the Tung-Sol sits at the top of the "bang-for-the-buck" curve. To a certain extent I do believe that you get what you pay for with the new production tubes, but I think the =C= sit at a good point in the value curve.

To me, the Teslas sound best in the Mini-Mites, but they are not reliable in my experience (1 sparked and imploded in a blaze of blue and orange glory, and I've had 2 arc)...never again. Also, the JJE34Ls are crap FYI/no QC.

Dave and Bojack Thank-you for your input. Maybe I will take the leap on the Mullard re-issues as I already have the 12AX7's and they sound really nice.

Cheers,

Jim