Best current issue EL-34 for Conrad-Johnson?

I have purchased a Conrad-Johnson amp and made the jump from 6550 to EL-34.

I have seen great praise for the JJ E34L, especially regarding use in Conrad-Johnson amps. Supposedly, the JJ E34L (which is somehow different than the JJ EL-34) is produced on original Philips tooling utilized for the original Philips and Mullard EL-34's from the 50's.

I have also seen the E34L slammed as unreliable, but these reviews are decidedly in the minority.

I am not willing to spend the massive amount of green required for NOS EL-34's. What are your feelings about the JJ E34L and any other recommended current production EL-34's?

Thanks!

 

Although they run a little higher price-wise than current prodcution tubes, Siemens made a nice EL-34 in East Germany in the 80's. I have some in my Dynaco MK IV amps and they do the job very nicely.

 

Thanks! I've heard of these. I believe they were manufactured by RFT in East Germany and rebranded by Siemens. Although not crazy expensive, they are still high in my book (ie, $300 for a quad).

I already have a quad of JJ E34L (blue glass), but I am looking forward to doing some tube rolling. Right now, I'm thinking about getting some SED EL-34's to try out. Any other recommendations?

 

Try Ebay for the RFT/Siemens - they show up in matched pairs and quads and you should be able to get them for under $150 for a matched set of four (not as cheap as current production tubes, but they are well built and they'll have a reasonable lifespan). They were also rebranded for a bunch of other companies - once you recognize them, you'll find there's a lot of them out there. I'm curious about the new production Mullard type EL-34's made in Russia - anyone gotten brave and tried those?

 

A friend of mine use these with excellent results:

http://www.thetubestore.com/mullardel34.html

 

What model of Conrad-Johnson Amp are you now using? I ask this because several models came from the factory with 6CA7 Fatbottles for output Tubes.

~Maxx~

 

CAV-50. The OEM tubes are Electro-Harmonix EL-34's. In general, I don't trust anything coming out of the Reflektor factory, and that includes the EH's. Thanks . . .

 

Nice integrated amp. I've heard that the CAV 50 sounds a lot like the PV-12 and MV-55 combined.

My MV-52 had a set of EI output Tubes in it when I got it and it sounded cold and glassy. When I replaced them with some Old Stock Sylvania 6CA7 Fatboy Tubes the Amp started sounding more like the reputation it has for being sweet, lush and musical.

Another advantage to running vintage 6CA7 output Tubes is that they have a 5,000 hour life expectancy compared to the 2,000 hour lifespan of the EL-34. At least that's what Richard Kern told me when we were discussing the subject.

~Maxx~

 

I have a set of Marantz Model 9s that I run with Electro-Harmonix EL-34's and they sound quite nice to my ears. I like them better then the Svetlana EL34s that were in it when I bought it.

 

Thanks for all the advice! I may, at some point, experiment with 6CA7's. Tube life has never been a problem for me. I never push my equipment too hard--small listening room and usually low volume levels. I bought a matched quad of Svetlana 6550C's in 1998 and they are still going strong in my Jolida 502A--seven years!

I might add that the Svetlana (now branded S.E.D. / "winged C") 6550C's are really nice sounding tubes, with exceptional build and material quality. Really thick glass and high quality phenolic at the base. So, they really have me thinking about S.E.D. EL-34's. Does anyone have experience with those?

As for the EH tubes, I have seen too many examples of bad QC of tubes coming from the Reflektor plant. I have heard that since it has come under US ownership quality has gotten better, but I don't know from experience.

 

I was running EH EL-34's in the Tube Amp I used to have and it was a marked improvement when I replaced them with the Sylvania 6CA7 Fatboys. So far I seem to be keeping these Tubes longer than I do the Power Amps that they are in.

~Maxx~

 

Those are some mighty fine amplifiers. Do you have a vintage pair, or a 1990's reissue (manufactured by VAC for Marantz)?