RE: New Mullard 34s and TungSol 12ax7 preamp tube questions

[PinkStrat]

Hi Lord Valve,

I wanted to check in with you and get your opinion on the new Mullard EL-34s & the new TungSol 12AX7s? Are they still of the same quality that I heard from a set around the Winter NAMM show? We put the new Mullard 34s in Bjorn's Mad Professor CS-40 and they sounded really good! Keep in mind that the MP runs about 500 volts on the plates. What EL-84s are you recommending for Classic 30s these days? I want to try the Mullard 34s in my Komet 60 (runs around 475 volts) & the Tungsol 12AX7s in the C30. I need something that is more reliable than those first batch GT 12AX7-M tubes that went bad very soon after taking them for a trial spin.

Best,
Dean AKA Pinkstrat

[Lord Valve]

Hi Lord Valve,

I wanted to check in with you and get your opinion on the new Mullard EL-34s & the new TungSol 12AX7s? Are they still of the same quality that I heard from a set around the Winter NAMM show? We put the new Mullard 34s in Bjorn's Mad Professor CS-40 and they sounded really good! Keep in mind that the MP runs about 500 volts on the plates. What EL-84s are you recommending for Classic 30s these days? I want to try the Mullard 34s in my Komet 60 (runs around 475 volts) & the Tungsol 12AX7s in the C30. I need something that is more reliable than those first batch GT 12AX7-M tubes that went bad very soon after taking them for a trial spin.

Best,
Dean AKA Pinkstrat

Lord Valve Speaketh:

The Reflektor/Mullard is the EL34 I'm assuming you're asking about, yes?
Because GT also has a "Mullard" EL34, and I don't know anything about
that one yet. The Reflektor is excellent so far. When I say it's "excellent,"
I mean that I don't get many of them back. ;-) (Very few, in fact.) I put
reliability right at the top when I decide what I'm going to sell - it doesn't
matter how good something sounds if it craps out, right? (Sort of like
owning a Jaguar - Jaguars run great when they run, but they don't run
all that often. The Jaguar owns *you* - check your maintenance records
for details.) At any rate, most of the folks who buy the Reflektor/Mullard
EL34s become fanatically devoted to it. (Not all, of course; some folks
hate 'em.)

And of course we have the Eyeball Gurus...the dudes who are clever
enough to notice that the Reflektor/Mullard has the same plates as the
Electro-Harmonix and the Reflektor/Svetlana, so they puff up and post a
bunch of horse-shit about how all three are the same and Mike Matthews is
a ripoff artist and on and on and on. What these assholes don't know is that
the plate is the *least* important part of the tube - as long as it can operate
at 1100 degrees Kelvin without warping, it could be a goddamn tunafish can
and nobody would be able to hear the difference. The tonal mojo is the stuff
INSIDE the plate, the stuff the Eyeball Gurus can't see (and have no idea
about the technical aspect of, either) when they do their "tests." The grid
pitch (how the control and screen grids are wound and aligned) has way more
to do with how the tube sounds than the plate structure, as does the internal
spacing of the various elements, element-to-element capacitance, screen
radiator thickness and area, grid wire material and coating, cathode
temperature, cathode coating formula, etc. The fact of the matter is that
the Reflektor folks actually save us some money by not having to build new
tooling to stamp different plates with every time they bring out a different or
updated EL34, since the existing ones are just fine.

Which brings me to the Reflektor Tung-Sol 12AX7, my all-time favorite among
currently-manufactured (non-NOS) 12AX7s, which has exactly the same
plates in it as the Electro-Harmonix 12AX7EH. In fact, some twat over on
TGP who calls himself "Red Planet" was spewing bullshit about this tube,
saying that it was "exactly the same" as the 12AX7EH, only it was labeled
differently so Mike could charge more money for it. He didn't seem to be able
to explain why it sounds completely different, though, nor was he interested
in the reasons why. He's probably still rotting over there, stinking the joint up
with his "expertise." (Which is why *I'm* here on TGH, where the admins
care more about accurate info and less about posting style. Glass Snobs,
Eyeball Gurus, cork-sniffers and bedroom jammers can kiss my fat ass. They
*deserve* TGP. ;-)

At any rate, the Reflektor/Tung-Sol 12AX7 is a bitchin' fine tube, few reliability
problems (there was a bad batch awhile back, when the Russian Mafia
was ****ing with Mike and dirtied up his cleanroom) and a great deal of
customer satisfaction. I rarely make statements about what a tube sounds
like; there are so many factors which affect tube tone that it's entirely
possible for the same tube to sound dynamite in one amp and like utter
shit in another. These factors include (but are not limited to) what kind
of strings are on the guitar, what kind of pickups, control settings on the
amp, playing style, local line voltage, circuit topology, the voltages the
tube is being operated at, the loads it sees from the surrounding components,
the stage gain, inter-lead capacitances in the stage, etc. So, at best, I
can only tell you that nearly all of the people who try this particular 12AX7
like it quite a bit. How it sounds is up to you. I had them in Derek Trucks'
BFSR for the first two legs of the Clapton tour, and rumor has it EC thought
DT's tone was just fine.

Now, for all you folks who are going to point out that I'm a TUBE SALSEMAN
and I have a vested interest in giving "good" reports on the stuff I sell, I
invite you to request a set of my catalogs. In them, you'll find my reports
on the godawful reject rate on the stuff coming out of the Ei factory, notes
about how I can't stand the Sovtek 12AX7WA & WB (which I do, however,
keep in stock for people who won't listen to reason), application notes
for various tubes in various applications - which include what's WRONG with
a particular tube, and why you *shouldn't* buy it if you are using it for
certain applications (like using a 12AX7LPS as a PI or cathode follower -
don't do it...get the catalogs and see why) and so forth. So, for all you
wankers who think I'm here to get PAID, you are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. I
gotta eat, and I sell tubes. Just keep in mind that I can't lie about the
stuff I sell, because I can't make you like anything that craps out or
sounds like shit. Plenty of folks on the "A" circuit get their glass from
me. There *is* a reason. ;-)

Lord Valve
Businessman/spammer/glass hustler/expert/take your pick...

__________________________________________________ ____________

Check my site: http://www.nebsnow.com/lordvalve
Instructions for receiving e-mail catalogs are on the page.

[Pacomc79]

Bows, humbly.

That was freaking righteous LV.

[59Vampire]

Nice info on those new Tung sols. I will have to check them out in my 18 watt circuit. I would like to add my opinion, not expertise, on the request for EL84s though. When my amp was built, by a master builder at the 18 watt community center, he installed new JJs because they were able to with stand the plate voltages that this amp runs at( not sure if this is the right wording, but im just going by what he said.). I thought hey sounded good, they were inexpensive and rugged. However, I was exposed to NOS Tesla(not JJ) Rosnov EL 84s. about twice the price of the JJs at around 45 per pair. These things sounded so good, I had to compare them to some Mullards I had. I actually preffered the Teslas for their warm and rich break up and smoothness.Supposedly, the design of my amp eats tubes and these things have been taking a beating and have not failed. I think they are getting better sounding. I bet they would sound great in the Classic 30, which is a pretty cool amp in its own right. I also just picked up some Polams, which are getting good reviews as another Alternative NOS. Pricier than the Teslas, but supposedly a "magical sounding tube". Havent tried them yet though.

But a great way to get into NOS at a reasonable price and sound amazing is the Teslas. Just my 2 cents. Sorry for the editorial.

[PinkStrat]

Nice info on those new Tung sols. I will have to check them out in my 18 watt circuit. I would like to add my opinion, not expertise, on the request for EL84s though. When my amp was built, by a master builder at the 18 watt community center, he installed new JJs because they were able to with stand the plate voltages that this amp runs at( not sure if this is the right wording, but im just going by what he said.). I thought hey sounded good, they were inexpensive and rugged. However, I was exposed to NOS Tesla(not JJ) Rosnov EL 84s. about twice the price of the JJs at around 45 per pair. These things sounded so good, I had to compare them to some Mullards I had. I actually preffered the Teslas for their warm and rich break up and smoothness.Supposedly, the design of my amp eats tubes and these things have been taking a beating and have not failed. I think they are getting better sounding. I bet they would sound great in the Classic 30, which is a pretty cool amp in its own right. I also just picked up some Polams, which are getting good reviews as another Alternative NOS. Pricier than the Teslas, but supposedly a "magical sounding tube". Havent tried them yet though.

But a great way to get into NOS at a reasonable price and sound amazing is the Teslas. Just my 2 cents. Sorry for the editorial.

Hi 59Vampire,

Sorry for the editorial....why? You just may have turned me on to some cool tubes for my Classic 30! This is precisely what this board is for, to share information that may/will benefit those of us who read these type of editorials! Word of mouth is POWERFUL advertising my friend. I ought to know (as people got to know what I did [SOB strings] by the same means).

FYI I just placed an order with Lord Valve due to his response to my questions posed. His answers gave me more than enough reason to try the tubes in question. Keep up the great talk man...others learn from it!

[Grog]

thanks lv for the infonio!
i'm always looking for good new stuff to supplement the nos stash!


btw- brother dean and others the teslas are great and you must find some russian 6n14s too
crunch heavy with decent top, a sturdy valve

chears!

[59Vampire]

I have the Saratov 7189s too(6n1p) havent tried them yet. Yeah word of mouth is good. Thats how I got my Snake oils!

[PinkStrat]

I have the Saratov 7189s too(6n1p) havent tried them yet. Yeah word of mouth is good. Thats how I got my Snake oils!

The jury has been asked by the presiding judge, "What say you?" and their response was very simple..."Case closed!" :D

Best,
Dean

PS: Many thanks My Lord!

[Lord Valve]

I have the Saratov 7189s too(6n1p) havent tried them yet. Yeah word of mouth is good. Thats how I got my Snake oils!

Last time I checked, a 6N1P was fairly similar to a 6DJ8, which
damnsure ain't no 7189. Surely you mean the 6P14P-EV? I have
jillions of 'em on hand. They sound great, and you can't hardly
kill one. Most cathode-biased EL84 amps run the tubes way
beyond specs; the 6P14P-EV is rated for FIVE HUNDRED VOLTS!
(I have the original Russian specsheets.) The ones I have are
Cold War production, date codes from 1976 to 1984.

LV

[Lord Valve]

thanks lv for the infonio!
i'm always looking for good new stuff to supplement the nos stash!


btw- brother dean and others the teslas are great and you must find some russian 6n14s too
crunch heavy with decent top, a sturdy valve

chears!

You mean 6P14P-EV. Since most people don't speak Russian,
the Cyrillic alphabet the Russians use causes some misunderstandings
when people read tube numbers. If you look at the tube ID number
on a 6P14P-EV, what you'll see is something that looks a lot like
6n14n-EB. The "n"-looking things are the Russian symbols for "P".
(The Russians pronounce it "pay.") They're actually similar to the
Greek pi. "B" in Russian is the same as our "V". Their "C" is our
"S", and their "P" is our "R". And that backwards-looking capital
"R" you see lots of American illustrators use in place of American "Rs"
when they're trying to make something look Russian is actually called
a "ya", which doesn't mean "yes" like in German, but means "I" as
in "I think I'll shut up now."

Next time you're eyeballing Russian glass, check this:

http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/reference/cyrillic.html

My god, I just posted a link to PBS. Does anyone have a revolver handy?

Lord Valve
Cold Warrior/former Russian speaker

[59Vampire]

Last time I checked, a 6N1P was fairly similar to a 6DJ8, which
damnsure ain't no 7189. Surely you mean the 6P14P-EV? I have
jillions of 'em on hand. They sound great, and you can't hardly
kill one. Most cathode-biased EL84 amps run the tubes way
beyond specs; the 6P14P-EV is rated for FIVE HUNDRED VOLTS!
(I have the original Russian specsheets.) The ones I have are
Cold War production, date codes from 1976 to 1984.

LV

yes your Lordship you are correct. i was just going off memory on the Russian tubes. I would be interested in more of those 7189s as im a stockpiling tube whore.....

[swankmotee]

I bow before you as well because these days I would much prefer to be told the absolute lowdown on these things because I'm not rich and can't afford to buy NOS but am sure tempted because of short lifespans on modern tubes. Also wanted to thank you for your excellent diatribe on biasing over at the Duncan site, good job!Hopefully Western Electric can ressurect the EI plant and we can get some of the old designs back into the market, now that would be nice!!!!!