EL34's: Mullard, Svetlana or EH?

[tobytheplatypus]

so, ive decided to retube my Triple Rec with El34's.
My local store has Mullard, Svetlana and Electro-Harmonix (not sure of exact models)
Which do you all reccommend? I like balls-to-the-wall distortion, and tones like Metallica and Lamb of God, etc etc.

 

[recto-robbie]

Ill give it a go since no one seems to want to,,, currently I own a stiletto deuce but used to own a Rectoverb combo. I have found that some of these tubes seemed to perform better in one or an other.
Im sure you know this already but I will mention just in case that you will need to make sure you get tubes that work correctly in your boogie amp.
There is no bias adjustment so this is imperative. Make sure your local dealer knows exactly what hes doing. If your unsure of this go with dougs tubes or Eurotubes,,, they will set you up right.

First off I have never tried the EH el34's although they are the cheapest.
Ill say right off the bat the svetlana or SED c winged el34's are a very good tube thats been put through the test of time. These tubes seemed to sound the best through my ROV. They also make c winged 6l6 which are also known to be excellent.
The mullards you are talking about most likely are the reissues otherwise these would be very expensive if they were NOS. I never tried them in my ROV but do currently own them and swap them in and out of my deuce. They are a nice tube but to me nothing very special.
I will make mention of one other tube worth mentioning that I currently use with my deuce and used with my ROV. These are the JJ kt77's which are a direct replacement for the el34's. These tubes sounded just as good as the SED's with my ROV but are the best sounding tubes I currently own that I use with my deuce. Both Eurotubes and dougs tubes carry these.
Honestly the only way of actually coming to any conclusion for yourself would be to try all of them out. Ive done this with many tubes already and my opinion for you would be to go with the SED c winged right off the bat,, I think you would enjoy these for sure.

 

[KhaosMonster]

First of all i think youll tighten up your sound abit with EL-34's over the 6l6's IMO, I tried groove tube gold EL-34's and EH and i got a great tone from the GT's which im sure ill get lit up about haha.
I only had my TR for a little over a year so thats as far as i got with experimenting with power tubes as i got.
Good luck !

 

[Russ]

I wasn't very fond of the EH EL-34. I had some in the last retube of my last Marshall. They worked and sounded ok at best but were nothing to really write home about.

I haven't heard the new Svetlana offerings but their older stuff was great ( I am talking over a decade ago ). I have heard that the current winged C's are pretty good though.

The new Mullard isn't an old Mullard and in fact is is made in Russia? of all places. I have heard that they may have finally gotten pretty close to the old ones and that they sound pretty decent.

 

[domct203]

The new Mullard isn't an old Mullard and in fact is is made in Russia? of all places. I have heard that they may have finally gotten pretty close to the old ones and that they sound pretty decent.

I believe that New Sensor Corp. (Russia) has bought the names Mullard & Tung-Sol are making re-issue tubes especially for those names, but I am not sure what country they are made in. New Sensor also markets the Sovtek name here in the US.

Dom