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In Reply to: RE: Update No. 1 on my EL34 recommendations post below posted by JoshT on February 21, 2023 at 07:19:19
thanks for the info. Added to the potential replacement list. I kinda feel like I "settled" for Electro-Harmonix EL34s because they were readily available and relatively cheap at the time I needed to replace a set of winged Cs. I just can't chase winged Cs anymore.
Follow Ups:
I think Tube Depot does have Winged C EL34s, but they're well over $120 each. I'd give the JJs a listen given how cheap they are and how good they sound.
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"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
Holy cow! When I got the AudioPrism Debut in 1998* or so, it came with Svetlana EL-34s, which were generally no more than $20 each. At the same time, lightly-used late-production Mullard EL-34s were going for $100 each.Thank you for letting us know that the Winged C EL-34 is now $120 (!) each.
* That was when we were singing along to Shania Twain's "Still The One." Can't believe that was a quarter century ago. Sigh, getting old...
Edits: 02/21/23
Yep. My understanding, and it's likely not correct in all the details, is the following:The original Reflektor company went bankrupt in the early 2000s and the St. Petersburg factory closed as a result. That left New Sensor working with the Saratov factory as the only show in town for Russian made tubes. There was subsequent litigation over New Sensor's use of the "Svetlana" names and trademarks, including "Svetalana" "Svetlana Electronics Division" "SED" and "=C=." I think New Sensor mostly won the law suit, but may not use "SED" or "=C=" in the United States because their U.S. rights were assigned to someone else (but may use "Svetlana" in the U.S. and all associated trade names and trademarks elsewhere).
Hey, lawyers need to pay their mortgages too, LOL!
In any event, as a result of all that, the SED =C= tubes from the St. Petersburg factory haven't been made since the early 2000s and NOS has dwindled to a few here and there, which makes them expensive. (I bought seven low hour 6550s about a year and a half ago for $50 each and am very happy with them. It was a very good deal even then. I use them in a CJ Premier 11A.)
The good news is that New Sensor seems to have improved its QC at the Saratov factory in the last 20 years and their Svetlana labeled tubes are now quite good, as are their Tungsol, EH, GL, Mullard, etc., etc., tubes. I am willing to bet that the SED winged C tubes are partly so beloved because they're now NOS only and not necessarily because they continue to outperform the new Saratov stuff.
Unfortunately, PooPoo's decision last year to end the world as we knew it by invading Ukraine has resulted not only in death, destruction and suffering unprecedented in Europe since the 1940s, but also in unpredictable deliveries of Saratov tubes. So even staples like the KT120 and Russian made KT88s, 6550s and some EL34s are far more expensive than they were a year ago. If you can even get a KT120, for example, it'll be around $120 each (no one but New Sensor makes them). The Gold Lion branded tubes are also crazy expensive, while the other brands from the same factory are generally a lot less, but still quite a bit more than they were pre-invasion.
For me, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made it very difficult to justify sending any money to any company that makes products in Russia. For tubes, that pretty much leaves JJ, China, or NOS.
The good news is that JJ makes some excellent tubes. I don't particularly like their 12AU7s, but I really like these EL34IIs, and I have been reading very good reviews on all of their power tubes, and they make KT90, KT88, 6550, KT77, EL34, 6C7A, KT66 and 6L6GC (and likely more). It seems that electric guitar players have loved JJ for quite some time and perhaps its reputation with audiophiles will go up now. We'll see.
But yes, crazy times and crazy prices.
P.S. I hope Western Electric finds a way to make some of these tubes, but that's a whole different kettle of wax.
P.P.S. I haven't tried Chinese tubes yet, for no reason in particular. I hear great things about the recent production PSVane tubes and will likely get some at some point soonish.
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"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
Edits: 02/22/23 02/22/23 02/22/23
The new Telefunken reissues are also made in the JJ plant, to their own specifications.
I have no experience with them.
Jack
.
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"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."
My friends also had a Conrad-Johnson MV-55, which, like the AudioPrism Debut, used four EL-34 power tubes.
The Debut had a built-in meter, so you could try various bias points. AudioPrism recommended, but did not insist upon, 45mA. If you biased above that, in general, the sound became warmer and sweeter. If you biased below that, in general, the sound became more transparent and detailed.
The MV-55 had a scheme, where, for each EL-34, you backed off the bias, until the red light extinguished.
In the early-2000s, I know I was confused about the whole intellectual property issue behind the name "Svetlana."
Also, it just seemed that there'd always be abundant supply of affordable new tubes. We may not have realized that the years would fly by, current-production could fluctuate, and those taken-for-granted tubes from the late-1990s and early-2000s would become "NOS," along with NOS prices.
I still recall the hot and sunny days of Spring 1986, when I was a high school freshman. Back then, my friends were guys, not girls. Some of the guys played electric guitar and bass. They had heard that GE and Sylvania/Phillips were going to stop making 6CA7s and 6550s. One of my classmates claimed that Van Halen's Michael Anthony used GE 6550s in bass amps. But anyway, those friends wanted to stock up, but as kids, we could not afford things like vacuum tubes.
Who would have known that tubes from the early-2000s would be held in the same high regard?
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