power tube shock

[smolder]

so... money is tight, but a local guy had four old stock el84 mullards (the real thing) on CL for $40. He said they had about 80 hours in them in his DrZ (not sure which model). I took a gamble and made the deal figuring, "how hard could he have driven a four el84 amp?" (he was kind enough to mail them). 

I put two in the Ghia and holy smokes... such smooth top end and when over driven they sound really nice. The best my ghia has ever sounded. No idea how many hours I'll get out of them, but I'm pretty stoked.

I also put (the other pair) them in a marshall PA20 (2061x-ish) I built with very similar results. I know power tubes have less tonal impact than preamp tubes... but I was surprised at the difference. I ad pretty much been running the russian 6P14P-K's in all my el84 amps... they very strong, clean and bright... but don't overdrive like this.

[simpleton]

Good Tone and good vibe = Good Deal bro !

[drew]

That's a great deal on nice tubes. Glad to hear it worked out well for you. When I purchase my Ghia off of CL last year the owner kept the nos Mullard el84s in the amp. The amp sounds great, as expected, I'm sure the output tubes play their part.