Tubes for Budda SuperDrive 30 II

I'd recommend getting a new quad of matched JJs, tossing the one bad Sovtek EL84 and keep the rest for spares as long as they are not noisy. THen see if the amp sounds better. The rectifier is probably OK (unless it's Chinese, in which case it's worth the $10 to replace it with a Sovtek), and I wouldn't bother with the preamp tubes either unless there's a noisy one or the amp still doesn't sound good after changing out the EL84s or if you want to experiment with tailoring the sound of the amp via trying different preamp tubes. The EL84 tubes in those kinds of amps get run pretty hard, and current production EL84s are not particularly long-lived, so it's a good idea to keep some spares around.

 

If the rectifier has a brown base, it's quite possibly Chinese. Otherwise it's probably Sovtek, and sometimes the writing can be very faint. WIth the GZ34/5AR4 rectifier, for a while, Sovtek stopped making htem, so the only ones around were either Chinese (not to bash the Chinese stuff because some of their preamp tubes are great, but the rectifiers and 6L6s that came out of that plant were terrible) or NOS, Sovtek now makes all 3 popular rectifiers now: 5Y3, 5U4 and the 5AR4/GZ34. You may want to contact Budda to see if you can run a 5AR4/GZ34 in there. You might dig the added responsiveness, tighter low end and increase in headroom.

As far as the "hardness rating," it sounds to me like a rating/measurement of "38" might refer to the amount of current draw in ma at a particular bias and plate voltage. From what I've recently found out, even 38 is still pretty soft. To really get things tight, you need to get up ~45 - 50+ ma. Keep in mind, I'm just speculating. You may want to check with eurotubes to be sure. THe JJs are a nice tube -- sound good in my Alessandro English, and the Eis work really well in my Top Hat Club Royale, but I don't like them vice versa. I'm in the process of rounding up some NOS EL84s for my English. I'll have to see if they're worth the extra $$.

 

I can't tell for sure, but it's definitely not an American or WEstern European rectifier. Looks like a Chinese rectifier. A lot of octal Chinese tubes have those brown bases. Even in the pictures, it looks kind of flimsy. It would be worth the few extra $$ to get a Sovtek or NOS. Some say the rectifier doesn't affect the sound and that it either works or it doesn't. I beg to differ. I have a custom built 4X6V6 amp that came with a Chinese rectifier because at the time that was the only current prod GZ34 available. When Sovtek started producing them again, the amp tech who built the amp contacted me to swap in the Sovtek, and it made a big difference. Significantly better sustain, detail and clarity. Not to mention the reliabilty issues... That isn't to say, a rectifier is going to make the dramatic difference in tone that different power or preamp tubes will, and you probably won't hear much difference going from brand to brand of similar quality, but I think there's an audible difference between the lower quality Chinese rectifiers and the Sovteks or NOS. My amp guy is definitely an engineer first, and he'd be the first to say that there is no difference if there wasn't. Once again, if you can find a nice NOS GE or Phillips or RCA for a good price, that would be your best bet, but the Sovtek rectifiers are really quite good. We'll have to see how they hold up over time. As always, your mileage may vary.

 

Steven, FWIW, I'm pretty much in agreement with the other guys here on the JJs. They seem to be consistently pretty good and have a decent amount of EL84 jangle. I've been really disappointed by the NOS tubes I've bought by and large. They're quite unpredictable for the most part and usualy cost 5 to 10 times as much!!!

I'm not denying that you can't stumble on something that is more to your liking from time to time. But there have been so many cases in which someone told me, "You've just got to try a _____ !!!!" and when I did, I really honestly couldn't say it was significantly better than the newish tube that I was replacing. Yes there have been a few cases where I did find something that sounded better but, it's just too damn expensive/unpredictable.

No wonder guys like Doug Roccaforte and Fred Taccone have been saying for years that there's no point in buying NOS. I think the rest of us suffer from a case of "the Emperor's new clothes" a bit more than we'd care to admit...

 

I think part of the thing with NOS tubes is that a lot of the current prod tubes are coming up to speed in terms of tone, but still have a ways to go in terms of reliability and longevity. I run both NOS and current prod tubes in different amps, and in some cases (6V6s in particular), NOS is really the only reliable way to go. However, for my EL34 amps, the current EHs and JJs sound great and are pretty rugged. I don't expect them to last like a Mullard, but they're not run as hard as many of these cathode biased, class A EL84 amps are today. I'm starting to think that NOS might be the way to go with those, too, mostly for reliablity.

 

Depends on how much the GE is. If it's only $5 - $10 more, definitely. Gregg Levy at Hi Test has RCA 5U4GBs for $15. That's a steal.

 

Bumping old thread-my 5u4 in my SD30 rattles so what current one should I replace it with. Does Sovtek still make one? Didn't see one on eBay. Might try a tube tamer.
Currently a Ruby Tubes GC in there but I see on Budda's site they put an Electro Harmonix there. The only EH I find is a GB which has straight sides. Is that what comes in them? Will I notice a difference? The Ruby is a coke bottle type.