best current production EL34

[stan]

are the Sovtek's still the champ?
These will be going into a Marshall JCM 800 combo.

[zombiwoof]

Check the EL34 shootout on the Tubestore website.  Sovteks are way down the list.  There are a bunch of good ones, JJ, SED, Tungsol EL34B is getting good reviews, even the new Chinese has its followers.  Was Sovtek ever the best?  Maybe when they were the only new manufacture available.

Al

[Norjef]

Gerald Weber blind tested a bunch for his handmade amp - JJ E34L came out on top, pretty economical too.  Ive had good luck with JJ KT77 and ok luck with true Svets/Winged C

[kerlkoenig]

Do JJs still have those weird pins? I've got a GZ34 I picked up about a year ago that has them. That might not work so great in a combo where the tubes have to hang upside down. Definitely get some of those finger-lacerating spring loaded tube retainers if the amp doesn't already have them.

[billybythelake]

As I understand it JJ fixed the pin problem a while back....however there are still some of the bad pin tubes out there on the market , it isn't like they recalled all the tubes in the bad run/runs and some are most likely still kicking around in stock batches.
Tube retainers of some sort are always a good idea for hanging tubes that could potentially fall out. sockets don't often get retensioned as a routine and even those sockets that are good can loose their grip on tubes in some situations. someone mentioned a tube or tubes falling out during routine transport of an amp not long ago.
That being said those JJs had undersized tube pins which was the problem and the subsequent runs since they discovered that appear to have used properly sized pins , so it's a crap shoot if you can't check them but probably ok from a reputable seller.

Sure would be nice if someone designed a better retainer for some of those hanging tube situations that could be put in place without damaging a vintage amp....... 

b

[ferdi from Germany]

I tried almost everything... my favorite is the RI Mullard EL34, second comes the very loud SED (not as full soundning though) and third the super clean, super tight and super present JJE34L (not to be confused with the JJEL34) that lacks the desired crunch and compression -  if you are looking for that.

The Mullard RI has it all - full cleans, breakup at just the right point and the crunch, punch and compression you expect from a super EL34 power tube.

[Monroe]

I guess it depends on the amp. I found that in my Fargen Bordeaux, I prefer the SEDs (St. Petersburg Winged C) over the Mullard Reissues, which seemed to turn my articulation to mush. The amp is from early 04 and shipped with JJs which also sound better (to me) than the Mullard RIs I tried. The Mullard Ris just seemed too much like everything else from the Reflector plant. YMMV

[joey_truelove]

Depends on your amp and your preferences, really. You could go anywhere from a 6CA7, a KT77, E34L, the TS EL34 to the straight up EL34. The first two have a sharper edge to them, since they are infact tetrodes. The 3 and 4 are more of tetrode wannabes in that they are strong and have a bit of an edge to them as well.

My preference of EL34s are the vintage type and I'm particularly keen on the latest from Shuguang, whether it's Ruby, TAD... Very smooth and full sounding, yet with that middy focus.