Any recommendations on el84 brands (NOS). I'm looking to get some NOS examples. Who stocks the most variations? thanks Adam Stark
Hi Adam, sorry to be off topic but did you get teh delay yet? ( My emails may not have been reaching you) Gary
Greg Levy at HiTest has a pretty extensive collection of NOS EL84's. I am not sure what Mike over at KCA has but he usually has some nice goodies all the time. Honestly, I thought Mullard EL84s were a bit bright sounding to my ears, though I am sure much of that has to do with the amp, and speaker setup as well. I heard that the Valvos are some of the very best NOS EL84's, and they apparently take a real pounding, though I haven't played them myself.
Ive got em all Here's a start Mullard- Good for the 18 watters- Focused mid chunk GE- even tempered clarity with moderate bass works great in all 84 amps and affordable Telefunken- Top end detail of the gods Valvo- definitive AC30 power plant covers all the bases tonally and works wonders with the filters and adds the sensitivity to the touch.
Sorry, I don't have much NOS EL84 experience. However, I noticed these Russian "EB" series EL84's from Tube Tramp (scroll down a bit) recently. The seller's claims make these sound like some interesting tubes, especially with the money back guarantee. Anyone try these these things?
Ghost, you nailed it. Not much else one can add. Cept maybe mixing a pair of Teles with Valvo's of the same value. A friend mentioned this as his favorite so I'm looking forward to trying it out. The Tele's top end just kills! One day in the near future I'm going to trying mixing tubes up. Why not. ps; HiTest is a little too expensive for me. There are other options.
I really like Mullards in my Blockhead First Born 18 and Matchless Lightning. The GE EL84's that came with my HC 30 sound very good also!
Mullards in my Lightning,GE's in the DC-30. Another you hear very little about that Greg over at Hi Test convinced to try and blew me away were the Valvo's,amazing.
Hipfan,I have bel preamp tubes and Ive got several sets of el 84s I have not tried the ebs yet but I have some,ive use the old telsa,funkwerks,and a tube called telams and they kill in my aiken invader.Ive got them from TT.He knows tone and tubes.Im sold.With my invader and an old melody maker with vintage p-90s installed its like leslie west on steroids.
Hummmm?Adam,are you gonna build an amp w/ the forementioned tube?Played the Fire and the x-ray .Great !!! Any more info on my buddy JK-just the Facs(if ya know what i mean)
I'm just enjoying this old Matchless SC30 I picked up and wanted to get a fresh set of tubes in it. Not much going on amp wise from me until I get my CD done. Nothing but respect for JK, I'm a fan. Adam Stark
Adam I really like the holland Amperex EL84's. Seem to have the best combination of chime, and also grit and crunch of anything. More articulate than the Mullards IMO. Check out KCANOS he usually has a decent supply it looks like. Bob
The NOS Tesla (NOT JJ) EL84s are great. Higher output than a lot of the others, stay focused at higher playing volumes, etc.
Telefunkens for my money. Try to find the industrial 7189's (a little more rare, though.) They can handle higher plate voltage for a little more headroom. NOS RCA's are great, GE's are a sleeper - you can find good NOS 6BQ5's (EL84) for under 20 bucks ea. Great sounding too.
The benchmark for NOS versus new production power tubes is about 5:1 lifespan. THis assumes that they're being run under normal operating conditions (which is rarely the case in amps like AC30s).
