New Sensor EL34 Mullard reissue rewievs??

[Roe]

one of my new sensor mullard RI went bad right away

[Roe]

have anyone else bought siemens from mesa?

[Allynmey]

The GT ones I bought went bad in less than 1 minute. Started off matched and within 60 seconds they were separated by 12mA! I have a pair of the NS ones and use them for startup. Funny thing is, they sound great and I don't want to get rid of them for fear I'll never get a good set again!

[dartanion]

I've used the NS Mullard RI EL34s and actually kind of like them. They are different than the SEDs tonally, but not bad. If you get a good set (read thoroughly tested), they should be fine. I do prefer the SEDs though.

Has anyone tried the NS Tung Sol EL34s yet?

[argonaut]

I've tried the NS Mullards in quite a few higher-gain amps and ended pulling them out everytime. I really tried to like them, but they have a weird mid-range congestion to my ears. They're kept as backups now.

I really like SED =C='s for current production tubes. Siemens are an excellent old stock choice.

[billyz]

Here is one to look out for. Back around 96' I bought a case of EL34's from Mike Matthews. SOVTEK EL34, they have H3B3 on them as well. Large fat bottle , like a 6CA7. I tucked them away because all my customers wanted the slim bottle el34's. Which were not impressive. Anyway, I put them in a recent build while testing it out etc. as I did not want to hurt a good set of Siemans that I planned to use in it. The amp sounded really good , voltages stable etc. I broke it in that way, Then I put in the Siemans and was disappointed it did not sound any better. Swapped them back and forth a few more times. Various levels, guitars , speakers, Cranked clean. Damn, if those Fat bottle Sovtek did not sound Good! And they matched up very well, first two I pulled out of the case.

I don't see them listed on the web anymore, so maybe they don't make them now. Or they may have changed the designation to 6CA7. But if you find them they are good. BTW, They have a double saucer getter on top, 2 round holes and 1 square hole in the plate.

[84k]

I usually prefer the JJ E34L's from ARS and second would be SED Winged "C's". The JJ's are great in Marshall with the bias run a tad cold and the SED's are GOD in my hiwatts.

[raiken]

I'd be interested in hearing a review of these new mullards
after a known break in period....

I never got any of the supposedly matched and tested pairs of fake Mullard EL34s I got from New Sensor to last long enough to see what they sounded like after break-in. They were either DOA, intermittent, or redplated in minutes, all in amps that run very low plate voltages, so they weren't being stressed at all.

These things are absolute rubbish, in my opinion. Stick with the SEDs.

Randall Aiken

[Andy Le Blanc]

thats too bad.....
it was nice to see an attempt to re'establish the mullard brand
havent had the chance to try'em
I have had good experiences with the SED's in general too
hopefully its a production issue that will be resolved.....
the name still holds a value....

[gearhead]

Wow, so both the GT XF2 and New Sensor XF4 reissues go poof.

Randall and Allyn, just as a data point, when did you try them out? Did you get some of the first lot, or later production?

For others, for Trainwrecks, I'd go with SEDs over JJs. The JJs hava more headroom and you might not get them into distortion before the PI.

[Roe]

I got a quad of the mullard RIs. one went bad right away. another has drifted 15ma.

[Tubetwang]

I've had a joly good time with SED's in my hi-fi rig and Express...

[dukeamps]

Hi, Everyone Just thought i would throw in my 2 cents. I have put a couple of clips from different el34s on my homepage. Maybe this can be of some help. The clips are from my jmp 50 i will try get some of my trainwreck express soon. http://www.dukeamps.de/soundsamplesinenglish.htm

dukeamps

[JD0x0]

Hi, Everyone Just thought i would throw in my 2 cents. I have put a couple of clips from different el34s on my homepage. Maybe this can be of some help. The clips are from my jmp 50 i will try get some of my trainwreck express soon. http://www.dukeamps.de/soundsamplesinenglish.htm

dukeamps

hated the mullards. sounded loose and saggy. i liked the seimens the best, but the clip with the SED's had chinese preamp tubes so that couldve affected it

[selloutrr]

The Mullard reissue's have had a lot of trouble some batches are not musical others fail premature. It was a nice thought but not true to the name. A while back just before groove tubes was bought by fender I was looking into becoming a dealer just for the mullard but it fell threw cause of supply issues and product mark up, cost for relabel vrs direct from the manufacture.

IMHO. The best tube for the money is the JJ/telsa
the svetlana sound very smooth and rich
if your pockets are small you can't go wrong with a sovtek it's a solid work horse. Not a fan of china tubes for quality control reasons and shortened life. But unless you are a studio or studio musician vintage tubes are a waste of $. For what a matched pair of power tubes sell for now.