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Post by Paul (TRANE) on May 5, 2006 14:44:10 GMT -7
Myles,
I am intrigued by the new Groove Tube EL34M (Mullard Re-Issue). I am currently using GT-E34LS (H:6) in my 6545 head and was wondering how the EL34M would sound in comparison to the E34LS. Any thoughts or comparisons on this new tube in a 6545 would be greatly appreciated.
Is anyone here in the forum using this new tube?
Paul
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Post by prowler on May 6, 2006 3:13:59 GMT -7
I'd like to give these new tubes a try in my SRZ. I'm not sure how much effect they will have on the tone of my amp though. I *think* you would have to turn up your amp pretty loud to really hear the difference but I could be wrong.
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Post by myles on May 8, 2006 9:48:21 GMT -7
The EL34M is a classic 25 watt EL-34. All EL-34 tubes are 25 watters with the exception of the E34LS which is a 30 watter. The EL34M is a smoother tube, like an EL-34 Siemens as an example. I prefer the M or other 25 watters like the Svetlana (EL-34R2) in amps like non-master volume Marshalls as an example. The LS is much stronger and more agressive. That is the tube (LS) used by folks like Slash, Billy Gibbons, Joe Perry, Joe Walsh, Steve Stevens, Slayer, etc. An LS in a typical 100 watt amp such as an Ubershall or '100 watt' Marshall will bench 140 watts and more pretty easily.
The M is smoother and the LS is more agressive in a nut shell.
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Post by myles on May 8, 2006 9:57:04 GMT -7
I'd like to give these new tubes a try in my SRZ. I'm not sure how much effect they will have on the tone of my amp though. I *think* you would have to turn up your amp pretty loud to really hear the difference but I could be wrong. Prowler, You are really quite correct. Not to toss business away from folks that sell tubes and output sets being the most pricy but ... Most amps run pretty darn far away from output tube breakdown and distortion coming into the picture. You will get much more change from a different first gain stage tube (v1) in most amps. I used to have these little kits I carried with three preamp tubes ... a 12AX7C, ECC83S, and 7025. Depending on what was needed at the moment or the acoustics of the venue, we'd just pop in one of the three to alter the amp in a few seconds with no tools or adjustments needed. So many of my own GAB folks were using these "kits" that GT actually release the kit as a product which they call their triple tone kit. You will also see much more difference in changing your phase inverter than you will in changing output tubes. Long plate vs short plate ... high current output vs low current output ... high gain vs low gain etc. On Brad Paisley's amps I even have Chad set up where we have different rise times on phase inverters so when Brad wants the amp a little looser or tighter Chad can do that in a few seconds. So again .... one single phase inverter vs a pricy output set or one single preamp tube vs a pricy output set ... in either case it is a lot more bang for the $$$$. Now if it is time to change output tubes then that has to be done and properly biasing a class A/B amp is not just for proper tube life but it is also a tuning aspect for tone and response. If you run your amps near the top of the scale and keep your front end gain down in the lower regions so you can have that great touch sensitive aspect of output tube distortion then we need to look at how the various output tubes distort at the limit of their range.
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