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i need to replace the tubes in my Marshall DSL100 head. it's got 4 EL34's and 4 ECC83's in it. i play heavy rock with a good deal of distortion, but also like occasionally use a lighter, more 'vintage' sounding distortion as well as the occasional clean channel riff. i also have played in really heavy metal and grind bands with very saturated distortion sounds, so i'm looking for something that could accomodate that sound as well.

basically i'm looking for versatility, with a good bottom end response, lots of sustain, and broad frequency response.

any recommendations?

I heard jj tubes are pretty good.

maybe you could look into the JJ E34Ls power tubes and maybe either Highgain graded JJ ECC83S or Highgain graded EH12ax7s. Either one graded at 110mu perside should provide more then enough gain.

Also, in your case, if you need saturation in your tone, then your depending on preamp distortion, so maybe i'd say if you can, get your power tubes graded for more headroom/hardness. Basicly some tube shops use whats called with the quot;Groove Tubes Hardness ratequot;, which determines how much headroom there is in your power tubes before it distors. Somthing around 7 or 8 should be good. I use the JJ E34Ls in my tube poweramp and let me tell you, those offer more low end then quot;standardquot; EL34s but still have that crisp cutting mids/highs to it... and this tube sounds more aggressive, specially with highgain and high volumes.

Ofcourse this is my suggestion.. wait and see what other people have to say.

One last thing.. the JJ E34Ls need a higher resistance resistors in your poweramp's section. So you may need to upgrade the screen grid resistors in your Marshall before you stick those in there. Check around with some techs. E-mail Jerry at from : localhost/and see what he has to say.Hope that helps and good luck!

thanks. bump....

anyone else?

If you plan on using Groove Tubes, I wouldn't go as high as 7 for what you say you are looking for- more like a 4 or 5. I use 7 in my Marshall w/el34's and I really have to push them to get any saturation, but I use my pedalboard for most of my distortion sounds.

My recommendations, only because this is what I use and my amp has never sounded better....

EH 12AX7's
Svetlana EL34's

Bob at Eurotubes (has been an incredible bastion of information and helpfulness over the years.

I'd buy tubes from him without hesitation.


Originally Posted by SkarekroughBob at Eurotubes (has been an incredible bastion of information and helpfulness over the years.

I'd buy tubes from him without hesitation.

that dude recommends JJEL34's for the 2000 series.
thanks everyone. got a platform to do my own research. with me, i have to go by what my ears tell me... my knowledge of the tech. is limited. there's a really good guitar shop near me too, so i'm going to see what they think as well.

You should be all set on the Marshall for E34L's. The issue the Duke was talking about is generally attributed to Peavey's. It was good of him to bring the topic up though.

There was a big quot;fight/discussionquot; between Peavey and Bob at Eurotubes.

Without getting into the details, if you own a Peavey, you may need to have your screen resistors upgraded to run E34L's.

Marshall's are more tolerant of the tube.

Like Duke said, contact JerryP at fjamods. He has a handle on the issue and is a good man.

EDIT: The E34L is a more powerfull tube, in its simpliest description. If any questionin your mind exists, the JJ EL34 is darker sounding than most other EL34's and is a great choice.