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Time to retube both my amps. Both Are EL34 based high gain. Should the phase inverter tube be balanced?

Well just straight up tell me what you guys like.

I know GJ did a whole shootout a while back of these.

Also, I'm interested in what the big deal is with those JJ E34L's.


Originally Posted by XeromusAlso, I'm interested in what the big deal is with those JJ E34L's.

The JJ EL34L's have 20% more headroom according to Doug's tubes He's a real cool guy and will tell you anything you need to know about tubes. I believe he recomends a balanced tube in the PI slot. The way I understand it is the Phase Inverter circuit use's both sides of the tube While it performs it's see-saw like operation.

Shoot an email out the bob at eurotubes for the e34L question.

I had a set of the E34L's in my old marshall JCM800, seemed to have made the amp a bit louder, nice tight bass, highs were stil a little shrill but thats due to the fact that it was a late model 2203. Overall some pretty good tubes, liked em a bit more than the svetlana EL34's i had in there before.

I've been usin the JJ/tesla ECC83S tubes for a while now too, and they're pretty nice. Though, i have to admit that the only other preamp tubes I've had experience with are the sovtek 12AX7's, which sounded like pure piss to me. Those were in a friend's JCM800 2204 that i retubed.

His originally had a set of svetlana EL34's as well, and those sovteks. I retubed it with the E34L's and the ECC83s tubes, and that thing killed. Best sounding JCM800 I've ever heard.

Any other suggestions? This is for my Carvin Legacy and Crate vfx5112

The bias point is different for E34L's and EL-34's, so on a fixed bias amp, you may be better off using regular EL-34's. On adjustable bias amps, it's just a small tweak and it's no problem. I like E-34L's on 50W amps, and EL-34's on 100W.

The best current production pre's I've tried are
GT12AX7C
Sovtek 12AX7LPS
JJ ECC83S
Tungsol

As long as you use any of those, you'll be happy when you retube.

I used GT 12AX7C in my 12 year old Carvin X100B. They were good but recently I tried the GT12AX7M and it made my amp sound a bit better than before. But I really only ever use the clean channel on the Carvin. The tone was a bit more focused with the M's. (I use GT E34L's as well....hardness 7) Tons of clean headroom with this set-up. When the power tubes start to distort it's just scary loud and the cops can't be more than 15 minutes away.

I really need a less powerful amp!


Originally Posted by GearjoneserThe bias point is different for E34L's and EL-34's, so on a fixed bias amp, you may be better off using regular EL-34's. On adjustable bias amps, it's just a small tweak and it's no problem.

Just to avoid confusion, it's probably better to avoid the use of the term quot;fixedquot; when discussing adjustable bias. The textbook definition of quot;fixed biasquot; is not that it is unadjustable but that it does not vary under load the way, say, cathode biasing does.
Back to the original question, I'm a big fan of EH 6CA7s, esp. when better cleans are desired. I'm not much of a believer in balanced PIs. Guitar amps clip assymetically so I don't much see the point of worrying about the PI adding to that assymetry.