El-84 users please help me out.

Before I start I should say that I don't use new production tubes at all, anymore, by choice.

Now, JJ EL84's along with the JJ E34L and the 6L6GC are the only three JJ tubes that I could tolerate and even liked in some amps.

I won't go into a cork sniffing description of the JJ EL84 but all in all, they are decent tubes for new production in the tone area if you get a "good sounding pair or quad" and my experience is that they have what seems to be more output than any EL84 I have ever used. They are plain loud compared to other EL84's that I have experienced.

Now, all that aside, I have also experienced inconsistency in tone between one matched pair to the next and with JJ overall, I am approaching between 20% and 25% failure rate which includes microphonics, some only under hard vibration but still. I expect my out of the box unusable rate is around 5%.

All of this experience however, was sometime ago. Maybe 2 1/2 to 3 years ago before I decided to spend my money on good vintage tubes at all times.

 

are you running the Bruno full out? With a master volume? Attenuator?

The hotter/harder you run the tubes the faster they wear out. 25X10 is 250 hours if you’re running the tubes hard I would expect them to show some wear.

I was using nos ge’s in a bad cat cub with an attenuator, after a while I pulled them to save what was left and ran jj’s most of the time. I put the ge’s in when I wanted the max sound quality.

 

Check this link http://kcanostubes.com/content/estore_list.asp?category=32&catname=6BQ5/EL84/7189A

Generally, EL84 amps run their power tubes beyond the maximum power dissipation for the tubes. In these amps, ALL EL84s will have shorter life than if run within spec.

 

Sounds like new power tubes to me. I gig with el84 cathode-biased amps, and tubes last me nearly a year. However, I never have the amps much past 10:00 and I never use an attenuator.

When the amp sounds weak, flat, etc., new power tubes do the trick. I typically use JJ's from Bob at Eurotubes. No problems.

 

That sounds like about the lifespan of EL84s if you're pushing it even at all.

Reeek, thanks for the comments on the JJs. I DO find them to be louder than some others. I really need to replace mine with something else.

 

I am surprised that you got a solid six months from the tubes if you are gigging that much per week.

Interestingly, I have been using EL84-based TopHats for the past 7+ years solid. I always use current production tubes, and simply replace them every 3-4 months or so. That way, I know pretty much for certain that my amp won't crap out in the midst of a gig or band practice.

I have used JJ's, Ei's, EH's and Sovteks. The JJ's sound pretty girthy and punchy in the midrange area. Ei's are pretty glassy - but a bit lifeless sounding to me. The new EH's are not bad - pretty smooth sounding overall.

I have bought tubes from both Doug's Tubes and Bob at Eurotubes. Both have been good to deal with. At this point, i use Doug exclusively.

While I have not tried NOS Teslas, I simply decided that I dig the JJ's enough to use them. Due to the fact that these tubes tend to last for about 6 months at best, it just did not seem logical to put out $55 for a matched pair or $110 for a quad.

The JJ's, when matched with good preamp tubes, sound more-than fine. Plus, you'll save a bunch of dough over the course of a year if you swap out your power tubes 3-4 times.

 

I got an old console radio that was full of original Telefunken tubes, including two EL84s.

I took out those Telefunkens and tried them in an EL84 amp I had.

They sounded good, but no better than the JJs I had been running in that amp.

Shea

 

Get some NOS GE's, they are the best bang for the buck NOS EL-84 out there. Can be had for $50 a pair, works really well in my Top Hat.

 

The oval plates

I find them to have a slightly lower output than most EL84's I play with but they are super sweet. Something tells me a nice dual EL84 Class A amp with GE oval plates and a tube rectifier and a Celestion Blue comes to mind as an etheral mix

 

To me, JJ's sound good for maybe a few weeks, then they sound wrong, harsh...EH's I think sound better at first, last much longer and don't seem to thin out untill the last of their life...I have had a larger failure rate out of JJ (3 out of 8) than EH's (1 out of 8, and that one I am told is unusual)......
But I am also a old tube snob....my favs are GE's, and am in persuit of Polams (asked Santa for a quad) or Tungsrams...would also like to hear some Herleen Amperex's.............

 

Telams (same as Polams) are "in da house". Not many quads left though, so hurry.

 

Mike, I've been waiting to read your reveiw of the Telams since you mentioned you were getting/had them... $45 is a great price for a matched set.....

 

I actuallt took the plunge and got some NOS Mullard EL-84's for my Top Hat. Between those, the nos pre-tubes and a Heritage G12M that is one nice sounding amp. Perfect for small clubs.

 

They may be gone before I have time to review them. 8 quads sold within 2 hours of my testing them.

 

I've got some of the Mullard EL84s coming in January.