Guiguang El-34's

[cbass]

Anyone tried these?Supposedly from a factory opened up a couple of years ago in china.

Tubsandmore is selling them under the golden gate label.

The hi-fi guys seem to like their 300b

[sharkboy]

I have used quite a number of Shuguang tubes, including their EL34s. I have been largely happy with all of their tubes I have tried. I use their EL84s quite successfully with my DC30 clone.

I would put their EL34 toward the top of the modern EL34s. I haven't sampled the new Gold Lion branded ones or the EL34M from GT (made in China).

[David Root]

Never heard of Guiguang. If you mean Shuguang they have been around for a long time. Their KT66s are very good tonally, but don't last as long as the originals. And don't run them above 450V or so either.

[XgamerGt03]

Never heard of Guiguang. If you mean Shuguang they have been around for a long time. Their KT66s are very good tonally, but don't last as long as the originals. And don't run them above 450V or so either.

Guiguang is a more recent factory that opened in China. Shuguang is somewhere in the Hunan province while Guiguang is near Guangzhou. They bought the equipment from another factory that closed a number of years back and moved it all to the current location.

While I've not used these particular tubes I've been told that there is a renewed interest in producing quality vacuum tubes in China. It seems that a large number of Chinese hot shots are starting to become audiophiles and want good tubes.

[Cantplay]

In general chinese tubes are lacking bass and midrange of the xf2's.

Sure, they copied the mechanical design, thats what they do well, but thats not what gives one brand of tube their signiture sound, its the alloy content of the metal.

China has a national obsession with cheating on formulation of anything, especially metal.

When they can make a decent saw or screwdriver I'll consider buying something more complicaed from there.

I've also seen chinese KT88's remind me who invented fireworks.

John

[Diablo1]

In general chinese tubes are lacking bass and midrange of the xf2's.
John

What is an xf2's? I'm using some Shugaung EL34s that sound very good to my non-golden ears. I know this is a different company from Shugaung because I googled them. I don't see EL34s listed on their website yet.

[John_P_WI]

What is an xf2's?

As an Example:

http://www.cathedralstone.net/Pages/Mul ... finalm.htm

[cbass]

If I could afford real Mullards I guess I wouldn't even consider chinese tubes.

Its a different company than shuguang.

Like it or not.Chinese manufacturing is getting better and better.

[Markusv]

I have a set of Shuguang EL 34B's

They sound really good but I had them in a pretty loud combo and they came back from a weekend of heavy gigging and they were a bit noisy.
If you hit a note and mute it the tube keeps sort of vibrating internally so you hear a bit of a humm that dies down slowly
Better for heads I think

Markus V

[cbass]

CE Has them but I don't think I can link to them.

Tubes and more has them under the golden gate brand.

http://www.tubesandmore.com/

[Gaz]

In general chinese tubes are lacking bass and midrange of the xf2's.

Sure, they copied the mechanical design, thats what they do well, but thats not what gives one brand of tube their signiture sound, its the alloy content of the metal.

China has a national obsession with cheating on formulation of anything, especially metal.

When they can make a decent saw or screwdriver I'll consider buying something more complicaed from there.

I've also seen chinese KT88's remind me who invented fireworks.

John

Leave your xenophobic comments out of this thread please. Generalizing about a country of 1.3 billion makes you sound a little ignorant. When a cheap Chinese tool breaks, don't blame "China," blame our cheap asses who moved manufacturing overseas and only pay them enough to make absolute crap. End rant.

[gldtp99]

I thought you were badly misspelling "Shuguang" at first---then i went to the CE site and looked------ There They Are !!!!!
I didn't even know they existed but i'll probably add a quad to my next order------i've used Valve Art EL34B's and GT EL34M's (not the same tube at all--but both from China)--- and i've been happy with them.
What other new EL34 really comes close to NOS Mullard xf2's ? None--- and probably none ever will.
I tried out some nice used pairs of xf2's and xf3's in a mostly Merto Plexi 50 i recently built (chassis, board, faceplates, PT left over from Metro)--- they all sounded very good but i went with a NOS pair of RFT EL34's---they have a certain something to them that won out--- they were NOS vs used Mullards.
But i run mostly new production output tubes because i have many amps and i'm always building more---i couldn't afford to run NOS Mullard xf2's or RCA Blackplate 6L6GC's in most amps i deal with.
So i'm definately interested in these new Chinese EL34's..................gldtp99

[Phil_S]

In general chinese tubes are lacking bass and midrange of the xf2's.

Sure, they copied the mechanical design, thats what they do well, but thats not what gives one brand of tube their signiture sound, its the alloy content of the metal.

China has a national obsession with cheating on formulation of anything, especially metal.

When they can make a decent saw or screwdriver I'll consider buying something more complicaed from there.

I've also seen chinese KT88's remind me who invented fireworks.

John

Leave your xenophobic comments out of this thread please. Generalizing about a country of 1.3 billion makes you sound a little ignorant. When a cheap Chinese tool breaks, don't blame "China," blame our cheap asses who moved manufacturing overseas and only pay them enough to make absolute crap. End rant.

Excuse me for butting in here...it's not my beef. I think "xenophobic" is a bit strong. I think you are both wrong and both right.

As I understand it, the Chinese have mastered quality control in ways we failed to understand and that is why they are eating everyone's lunch at factory production. If the client specs a cheap product, that's what they build for the client. If the client specs a quality product, that's what they build for the client. As I understand it, the Chinese will pretty much make anything you want to whatever quality standard you specify. Cheap goods is no longer their fault. I think this is a holdover from an era that is either passing quickly or is over.

[Structo]

I think most of us here are older "gentlemen" and can remember when the first Japanese products starting showing up here in the late 50's and 60's.

Not trying to be a bigot, but we called most of those products back then Jap Junk because it was poorly made.

The Japanese were good at copying things but not good at keeping the quality high.

But soon the Japanese got their act together and the quality went way up.
You can see this in their automobiles as well.
The early Datsun's were pretty lousy cars and pickups but soon they were a force to recon with as the Honda's and Toyota's cars were imported.

As Japan got better at making things and their quality went up and so did their prices.
Nowadays if you can find something that is made in Japan it is probably very high quality and very expensive.

Then along comes South Korea, same story.
At the beginning their quality was poor.
Remember the first Hyundai's?
But soon they did better.
Most all guitars that are not made in the USA are now made in S. Korea.
I have a Schecter C1-Classic that would rival any guitar made here that sells for $2,000 or less.

China is now where Japan was back then.
Making tons of products but the quality can be lacking on a lot of it.
The vacuum tube industry is a good place to look at to see how their quality continues to improve.
The first tubes were absolute junk and would fail early, sometimes spectacularly as someone alluded to with the fireworks metaphor.

But they are getting better at it and will continue to get better at it and soon the USA and others will have to look elsewhere for cheap products.

I have a quad of TAD 6L6 STR's that have performed flawlessly and haven't drifted any more than any NOS tube I have tried.
They are made at the Shugaung factory but to TAD's specifications.

I think China is still a sleeping giant but will soon awaken and be a real contender if they are not already.
We seem to borrow a lot of capital from them which I think is not wise but what are you gonna do?

We should be glad places like China are making vacuum tubes as in most countries where there are strict environmental laws, the ingredients in making tubes are toxic and heavily controlled.
Making it near impossible to manufacture them in any Western country.

Rawk on!

[Markusv]

China is now where Japan was back then.

IMHO
I think China is in fact beyond where the Japanese were back then and the change i even more rapid than then

I for one- am not overly sensitive to the racial stuff
I'm an immigrant to North America myself and I have seen some pretty hairy stuff. But we have to credit the Chinese folks for an unmatched willingness to out-perform others. They are quite impressive and they keep getting better.
I try to buy US or Canadian when I can though.

MArkus