Your Favorite Big, thick, powerful EL34, if you please.

[Neiloler]

I'm looking for some ideas of new EL34s to use in my R30. I think my tubes need replacing, they sounded thiner than I remember today (and it could have also been the fact I've not played with the amp in a few months, so I'm taking the into consider too)

[Neiloler]

How about the Tung-Sol offering? People seem to dig it on the interwebaz:

http://tubedepot.com/ts-el34b.html

[Brutalitarian Supremacy]

I've heard good things about these babies...been wanting to give em a test run, but alas i'm too freakin broke to even think about it...from what i've read they can take serious punishment and still keep coming back for more...some folks have complained that they lack low end BUT I guess it takes approx. 100 hrs to break em in...and then it's on
http://www.tubedepot.com/gl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BrianGT]

Svetlana Winged C's.....really, really good valves.
I use both 34's and 6L6's and they last too.

[_Craig_]

Im using Harma Retro EL84's with Tung Sol's in the preamp in my AD30. Personally i think they're a great sounding combination, maybe worth trying out in your Rocker.

Craig

[Le Chat Noir]

Svetlana Winged C's.....really, really good valves.
I use both 34's and 6L6's and they last too.

+1 - I'd suggest some Winged C too, Harma are great but do not represent value for money if you're not UK-based.

Be sure to buy proper winged C Svetlanas, not the ones from the other factory bearing the same brand name!

The real deal have a winged c logo on them, like so:



The 'other' Svetlanas look like this:

[Neiloler]

Cool, thanks guys. I've got some Winged Cs sitting around, I tried 'em out last time and they sounded slightly less output than the EHX tubes in there now, but I think I'm a bit older and wise, and so are the EHX tubes, so I'll try 'em out.

Thanks guys.

[wrath]

Your Favorite Big, thick, ****, if you please.

[AJS19]

I'd say Winged C's. Or JJ's maybe.

[yossarian83]

I recently replaced Winged C's with GT EL34M's in my OD80 and the GT's have a much bigger, fuller sound. Nowhere near as scooped as the Winged C's. I highly recommend them.

[nguideau]

Neil, do let us know how the Winged C's sound!

[Fuzzfarmer]

I've heard good things about these babies...been wanting to give em a test run, but alas i'm too freakin broke to even think about it...from what i've read they can take serious punishment and still keep coming back for more...some folks have complained that they lack low end BUT I guess it takes approx. 100 hrs to break em in...and then it's on
http://www.tubedepot.com/gl.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have these Gold Lion KT77's in my '74 OR120. Sounds massive.

[MaxProphet]

i recently got a el34 amp, haven't tried anything new in it yet (has EHX i think) but have shopped around. From what i hear/read the extra bass of an EL34L (longer plates?) variant is good for open combos, as well is having welded plates for durability against the combo "war-zone"

[TheOrangeJuicer]

I agree that the Winged C tubes are a rather warm sounding EL34 and their 6550 is as well, but not for this amp. The GT EL34M is indeed a very good tube. I am not sure about a KT77 in the combo. I don't recall if I tried them or not. There is very little room in there due to the tubes proximity to the loudspeaker magnet. KT77 have deeper bass (if you'd ever hear it with guitar frequencies...) and has extended highs as well. So if anything, it may just sound more dynamic and clean. It'll give the amp some more headroom. You just need to be comfortable that they'll fit and not expect a warmer and softer sound than an EL34.

[Neiloler]

I tried out JJ KT77s a while back, and I dug the tone, but more as a tool in the studio, not a solo amp tone (as in, when I'm gigging with one amp, that wouldn't be what I'd want).

I tried out the Wing Cs, sounded a bit fuller. I also noticed that most of the time with the Wing C, one of the power tubes wasn't lighting up AT ALL. Yeah. Maybe a socket trouble, maybe that I need to do some investigation inside. So it's cooling down now, then I'll drain the caps (DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!!!) and check out the connections. Now I'm wondering if the slightly wimpier tone wasn't just a power tube not working...

...but I'm pretty sure the R30 can't run on just one tube...right?

Do we have a schematic anywhere?