What powertubes are you using?

[leadfootdriver]

I was using JJ EL34L's for a long time, but I now think they are a bit aggressive and bloated for my Express. I put in some China EL34's and things tightened up a bit and not as bright so I could add EQ on the amp.

JJ has the regular EL34 that Eurotubes advertises as the closest thing the the Mullard EL34 which is supposed to be the king. I assume Ken used these (Mullard) or others in the ballpark.

Thoughts?

[Reeltarded]

Seriously consider EH 6CA7s. They compare to orignal Backburn manufactured tubes in my Marshalls.

[leadfootdriver]

I have a set of JJ 6CA7's but I didn't think they worked that well. You can drive yourself crazy splitting hairs on every change..

Really tho, I think the Express is so picky that it has a real narrow window of what works and what doesn't; everything has to be just right.

[leadfootdriver]

Welp, since you mentioned it, I put the JJ 6CA7's back in there, and they actually sound pretty good. It's taken me a long time to realize you find tone with your ears and not what you think the knobs should be set at.. I think I'll mess with these for a bit because they're supposed to be the least bright out of the JJ EL34 type lineup. I also have some new preamp tubes in there. I think that helped.

Have a quick listen.

https://soundcloud.com/midnightlaundry-1/6ca7/s-gTjcD

[Reeltarded]

We think the JJ 6CA7s are 6l6s of some sort. They cound glassy highend and boomy.

EH 6CA7s are growling monstery with the highs a little mute. Very low mid forward, like the GEs.

(off to sound your cloud)

[leadfootdriver]

Now that you mention it, I think I remember reading that they were more like a 6L6 but can't remember where.. EVH used Sylvania 6CA7's in his Marshall.

[harleytech]

TAD EL-34's... So Far I like them...

[geetarpicker]

Most of the time I run RFT EL34s in my original TWs. Lately though I love a set of XF1 Miullars EL34s in my ‘85 Express but I got lucky and found those tubes in an abandoned Dynaco ST70. On my clones I’ve found some nice tone with Groove Tubes EL34Ms, though they don’t last as long as the NOS RFTs. Since the RFTs aren’t that overpriced yet, and they last a long time they are sill viable IMHO. For what it’s worth my ‘89 came from Ken w/RFTs originally.

[Reeltarded]

Now that you mention it, I think I remember reading that they were more like a 6L6 but can't remember where.. EVH used Sylvania 6CA7's in his Marshall.

Yeah. I have Sylys and GE prefer the big GEs!

RFTs are throaty like Siemans and they do work well.

Tube porn!

[rooster]

Mullard XF2s, single getter. I used to run KT77s (Eurotubes) and some RFT (Seimens) El34s. BTW, my favorite power tube in the Marshall JCM800 was the GE6550. This was a great tube in that amp.

[ER]

I use the JJ 6ca7 in my 100 watt D/hiwatt style amp and I like them a lot for that, lots of omph and somewhere between American and British. Haven't tried them in a wreck or marshall type amp. Mullards are great, that was the straw that broke the camel's back to make me learn to tech and build my own amps when somebody serviced my HIWATT 100 back in the 90's and stole all the Mullards out of it! I'll have to check out the EH's next. Before he passed KF said he was interested in working with 7591's, they swing up real quick kind of like el84 but without as much of the small bottle sound and with a bit more power, EH makes some nice ones now. Might fall in some happy medium somewhere between an express and a two hole liverpool.

[Stevem]

The sound stage made by the JJ tubes is more representative of what the rest of the amp is feeding them !
If it where me I would be addressing the issue where it comes from in the amp!
Those China made tubes will provide about a 50% shorter life then the JJ tubes , but go really dull sounding way before that from what I have seen/ heard!

[rooster]

ER, you've reminded me of a time when a cat wanted to bring me a metal panel 100W MarkII to 'tune up'. I just didn't have time and he was - for lack of a better word - pompous. He told me the amp had Mullards in it and basically - he slept with it. He got very mad at me and said he would take it to another guy if I didn't want the opportunity to work on the love of his life. (I paraphrased that 'sleep and love' bit.. )

So that should have been it. But then a month later he calls me up to tell that he got the amp back from the other guy and after a few days of playing it, two of his Mullards blew up. He was actually calling me to see if I would support him with his idea that the other repair guy had done something hurtful to his Mullards. I asked him what the date codes on the tubes were and he said the were marked XF1 but he couldn't make out the other numbers except for the 'B'. These tubes then were made between '58 and '61, and I'm quite sure -after as few more back and forths - that they were quite used when he acquired them.

Anyway, I said the tubes were 50+ years old and they had a lot of miles on them (there was no label printing on either tube) so it's likely they just had an end of life moment. I think this made him even more mad at me. ....But all I could think was, THANK GOD I took as pass on working on this guy's amp (!!!) because it would be me he would be talking about to some other amp repair guy right now!

And BTW, I've heard the EVH brought in two cases of Mullards (48 tubes) to the studio to record the first album. They cost $10 a pair (XF4s) and they biased things so hot they didn't last very long. In the end, Eddie got what he needed - and if it makes anyone feel better - it wasn't a tube that made it happen.

[Winder]

We think the JJ 6CA7s are 6l6s of some sort. They cound glassy highend and boomy.

EH 6CA7s are growling monstery with the highs a little mute. Very low mid forward, like the GEs.

(off to sound your cloud)

Like the fat boys. Currently runnig 1 GE and 1 Sylvania that I managed to find within about 1mA of each other. They are tasty indeed. Do you think the EH tubes are comparable? Harder to find the real deal these days.

[Reeltarded]

Like the fat boys. Currently runnig 1 GE and 1 Sylvania that I managed to find within about 1mA of each other. They are tasty indeed. Do you think the EH tubes are comparable? Harder to find the real deal these days.

Yep. I have a pair of GEs and a pair of EH that bias close. The EH tubes are not faking it. They sound pretty much the same.. no idea how long they will go but it's said that they can take a lot of pain. I almost feel tempted to try their KT88s.

I normally replace everyone else's tubes with the EH 34s and I have a feeling the quality is there. Maybe 10 sets, very little drift..