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Post by Maddog on Jan 19, 2009 20:40:13 GMT -7
Hey all, I am in need of el84's for my newly acquired used Maz Jr NR and used StangRay. I have always been a 6v6 and 6l6 kinda guy and have always bought NOS for tone and longevity. I have read the el84's in these Dr. Z amps are short lived and to pay big $$$ is not smart, as average players burn 'em up almost yearly. Soooooo my Q's are: 1) Is this correct, and if so what to buy and where do I get the best bang for the buck each yr or so for a new set. 2) OR is this a bunch of bunk and I need to buy NOS stuff just like for my Fender amps....again what tubes and where to get 'em? ? Thanks, Lee
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Post by hdahs143 on Jan 19, 2009 22:36:51 GMT -7
JJ EL84S. You can get a quad shipped to your door in 2 days for less than $40.00, from tubedepot.com/
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Post by zdogma on Jan 20, 2009 6:41:47 GMT -7
EL84's last me about a year, before they start to lose highs and dynamics. Its pretty much the same in all my EL84 amps. NOS tubes can last longer, I had a set in my Ghia for 3 years and they still sounded good.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2009 7:49:43 GMT -7
EL84's last me about a year, before they start to lose highs and dynamics. Its pretty much the same in all my EL84 amps. NOS tubes can last longer, I had a set in my Ghia for 3 years and they still sounded good. How often do you play for your EL84 tubes to last a year?
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2009 8:53:36 GMT -7
Hey all, I am in need of el84's for my newly acquired used Maz Jr NR and used StangRay. I have always been a 6v6 and 6l6 kinda guy and have always bought NOS for tone and longevity. I have read the el84's in these Dr. Z amps are short lived and to pay big $$$ is not smart, as average players burn 'em up almost yearly. Soooooo my Q's are: 1) Is this correct, and if so what to buy and where do I get the best bang for the buck each yr or so for a new set. 2) OR is this a bunch of bunk and I need to buy NOS stuff just like for my Fender amps....again what tubes and where to get 'em? ? Thanks, Lee current prod. JJs are good. matched quad, medium rating: www.kcanostubes.com/products/181/JJ-EL84.htmmatched quad, average distortion: www.dougstubes.com/el84.htmlNOS Rectifier will last longer than you own the amp: www.kcanostubes.com/products/149/NOS-JAN-Philips-Sylvania-5AR4-mislabeled-5V4GA.htm
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Post by zdogma on Jan 20, 2009 9:46:43 GMT -7
EL84's last me about a year, before they start to lose highs and dynamics. Its pretty much the same in all my EL84 amps. NOS tubes can last longer, I had a set in my Ghia for 3 years and they still sounded good. How often do you play for your EL84 tubes to last a year? I'd say about 4 hours a week, mostly at high volume or high volume into an attenuator. So about 200 hours with the JJ EL84's. YMMV depending on the amp and how you play. Just to be clear they are usually fully functional when I change them, but it noticably livens up the amp when you change them. They last noticably longer in some amps, I had a Soldano Astroverb that was about 5 years old, i was the second owner and the original EL84's were fine. To contrast that, I had an old Bassman with NOS 6L6's that I used for 10 years, including a couple of years of pretty regular wintertime gigging, in and out of the back of my old truck, it always sounded fine.
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Post by brad737 on Jan 20, 2009 12:59:36 GMT -7
Hi Lee, Just want to clarify that it's not the Dr. Zs that burn up the EL84s. I have two other non-Z EL84 amps. They both burn through tubes fairly quickly too. It's just the nature of those little, skinny, cathode-biased 84s. For preamp tubes, and rectifier tubes, I think NOS is the way to go. They're so far above current production tubes in tone-quality and longevity, it's ridiculous. A nice 12AX7 or GZ34 can easily last decades. NOS EF-86s sound fantastic, but the 86 is another somewhat fragile tube. Still, they sound so much better than new ones, it's worth buying NOS. However, the power tubes are really the "consumable" tubes. For instance, I have two NOS quads of matched EL-84s. I don't use them because they're too expensive. (Well, I have played each set about 10 minutes...) They sound great, but they cost 5 or 6 times more than a nice set of JJs, which are my favorite current production EL84. Hope this helps, Brad I have read the el84's in these Dr. Z amps are short lived and to pay big $$$ is not smart, as average players burn 'em up almost yearly.
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Post by fastfrets (Bob) on Jan 22, 2009 0:48:48 GMT -7
I tried the NOS mislabeled 5AR4 and it did not sound as good as the stock JJ in my MAZ Jr. I was really disappointed with the gain and harmonic content. I would still like to get a NOS rectifier but I am gun shy. Any suggestions?
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