QuickRod Power Tubes

SFW

SFW

Well-known member
Just wanted to see what power tubes you guys are using. I have been running Ruby EL34SRTs for the past several years, but I can't seem to find match quads right now. I have a set of Groove Tubes Mullard reissues, but they are no where near matched. (Funny how that works.) Wanted to see if anyone was running JJs and what you thought of them. Thanks in advance!
 
I went from Mullards to SED =C= to JJ EL34 IIs.
Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with JJs which is what is in my Recto.
I like the darker tone overall - I'm not into the piercing overly bright 'treble' tone
Those frequencies give me ear fatigue.
Going to try EL34Ls next

The EL34 II's I got from Eurotubes perfectly matched at 34ma
 
311splawndude said:
I went from Mullards to SED =C= to JJ EL34 IIs.
Gotta say, I'm pretty happy with JJs which is what is in my Recto.
I like the darker tone overall - I'm not into the piercing overly bright 'treble' tone
Those frequencies give me ear fatigue.
Going to try EL34Ls next

The EL34 II's I got from Eurotubes perfectly matched at 34ma
Click to expand...
I got a pair of these EL34II's being delivered today. How do they differ form the Mullards (which I also have as well as Winged C's and EH EL-34's).
I've got regular JJ El-34's in there now which I have no complaints with.
 
kmanick said:
I got a pair of these EL34II's being delivered today. How do they differ form the Mullards (which I also have as well as Winged C's and EH EL-34's).
I've got regular JJ El-34's in there now which I have no complaints with.
Click to expand...
Please do report back with your thoughts on the difference you hear :)..

thanks
 
Bash_Man said:
Please do report back with your thoughts on the difference you hear :)..

thanks
Click to expand...
I've got a rehearsal on Sunday then some down time for a couple of weeks , so sometime next week I think I 'l start a power Tube "roll" and see what I can hear between the tube types. I'm going to try the Mullards and the El34II's vs the JJ EL-34's I have in there now. I've got tons of preamp tube as well but I'll start with the Power Tubes first.. :)
I'll update this Post as I go along
 
I think I read somewhere that EL34 IIs just give more of all the greatness of EL34s. That is probably the best I could describe but it is so damn subjective. I mean just the fact of getting two brand new tubes perfectly matched may have been it. But I believe PDC said more lower mids and punchier etc etc. I would have to say they are my favorite so far and I've been swearing by these =C= I've had in there for years.

I should put them in my Rectoverb and see what differences I notice there as I often run EL34s in there.
 
Just install and biased a quad of JJ EL34s. The plain Jane regular EL34s. I purchased them from Eurotubes. I will have to say that these ae the closest match quad of tubes that I can remember getting. They are all within 0.5mA of each other. So far I am really digging them. I am now realizing that the preamp tubes that I've had in the amp for the past five years may need to be changed as well. I'm noticing that I'm not getting quite as much gain from them now.
 
I still haven't gotten around to doing this , been too busy :(
got lots of tubes waiting to be tried.
 
I have been using the medium Groove Tubes EL34 Mullurd copies for years now and they always sound great.
 
Finally!!! tomorrow I start the tube rolling , going with the JJ EL34II's first and swapping out the Chinese !2ax7's with the RFT I got earlier this week
I have all sorts of !2Ax7's so once I get the El34II's bias up I'm going to try a few variations. I have an old Tungstram, someone on one of these boards said that's a great PI tube. since it doesn't have to be balanced with the Splawn I'll give it a go, I have a couple of Sovtek LPS's which I know work well there as well. I also have new Mullards , EH, Tungsols, JJ's Fender, Sovtek, so many 12Ax7's, I should probably sell some many are about 20 years old and never used.
Anyway stay tuned I'll report something tomorrow, If I don't love the JJ's I also have tons of power tubes to roll, so we shall see. :)
 
ok EL-34II's are in I let them run for bout a 1/2 an hour settled in at 37.5 and 39
OrIUIl9.jpg

can't see the 39 but trust me it's there
WaP9x9y.jpg

the original JJ's I had in there were coming in at 30 and 29 ma, that's damn cold and this thing still sounded killer. I couldn't fire it up tonigh because the girls are home to morrow I 'm going to burn these in a bit and them try the RFT's , Tungstrams and NOS Mullard 12Ax7's I have and see what all the hype is all about
Bias pot on this thing doesn't really seem to do anything. Scott said if it clicks it's at it's max. thank god these tubes are graded hotter and come in right where I want them. Now I hope they don't fail on me Dave Friedman and Pete Thorn have been saying they are seeing lots of JJ failures. I never have so I'm hoping I don't start now.
Notice I still have both speaker outs and the Solo Boost.
I asked Scott for this specifically and he delivered. :)
 
awesome kmanick.. look forward to hearing your feedback about those tubes. Definitly considering the EL34 II for my Nitro retube.
 
So, so far, the EL-34 II's are more "in your face" the amp sounds and feels "more immediate" if that makes any sense.
I have had for preamp tubes since I got it
V1: JJ
V2-V4 the stock Chinese tubes it came with. I just put a NOS RFT in V2 and wow! warmer (not a ton but noticeable) but much more sustain,
then amp feels less 'stiff".
I have on hand : another RFT, new Mullards, EH, Tungsols and JJ's, plus a NOS Tungstram but i don't know how good it is and where to put it.
NExt up is V3 but what to put in?
 
also found these
the Mullard box is marked low gain on it though so I don't know if I want to use it or not.
hQfX5de.jpg

iumR8EA.jpg

Wp6wSes.jpg


man I've got tons of tubes LOL!
 
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kmanick said:
So, so far, the EL-34 II's are more "in your face" the amp sounds and feels "more immediate" if that makes any sense.
Click to expand...
If you were to compare them to the original JJ EL34s that were in there, how would you describe it? and did you have to change (reduce or increase) any of your tone controls (ie: Bass, mids, treble, presence, etc..)?
 
they are more in your face , the amp sounds "bigger" for lack of a better term, I turned the bass down just a tad but right now my controls are set like this (for testing as well)
Presc: 9:00
Bass: 11:00 (my 4X12 with the Scumbacks handle bass great with my 2X12 I have to turn it down a bit
Mids: 11:30
Treble: 11:30
gain 1:00
Gear 1/ OD1
the mids sound thicker but smoother with the "II's" I like them
I just put another RFT in V3 going to fire it up now and see how she sounds.
ok ten minutes later the RFT in V3 sounds great, thicker and warmer with a smoother top end and fatter warmer mids I'm going to stop here and play it like this for a couple of days make sure these tubes don't Sh*t the bed on me as I have gigs the next 3 weekends coming up.
so far I'm very pleased with these Tube changes. :)
 
kmanick said:
they are more in your face , the amp sounds "bigger" for lack of a better term, I turned the bass down just a tad but right now my controls are set like this (for testing as well)
Presc: 9:00
Bass: 11:00 (my 4X12 with the Scumbacks handle bass great with my 2X12 I have to turn it down a bit
Mids: 11:30
Treble: 11:30
gain 1:00
Gear 1/ OD1
the mids sound thicker but smoother with the "II's" I like them
I just put another RFT in V3 going to fire it up now and see how she sounds.
ok ten minutes later the RFT in V3 sounds great, thicker and warmer with a smoother top end and fatter warmer mids I'm going to stop here and play it like this for a couple of days make sure these tubes don't Sh*t the bed on me as I have gigs the next 3 weekends coming up.
so far I'm very pleased with these Tube changes. :)
Click to expand...
Awesome.. definitly will have to get some to try in my Nitro. Thanks again.
 
I tried them in a JVM but not in my Splawn. they add a lot of bottom end , which in the JVM was a good thing, not so sure it would be a good thing in a Splawn.
 
I've had the opportunity to play today for a couple of hours and I've got to say
I don't know if it's the EL-34II's , the hotter bias , the RFT's or all of the above, but this amp is so much more alive now.
the differences between Gear 1 and Gear 2 are much more pronounced now as is the difference between new/old
I haven't messed with the PI or V1 yet as I want to get the Mullard and Tungstrams tested
(The Axe Palace has a tube tester and one of my Charvels so as soon as it's all set I will test them there).
Much less "stiff" and fuller sounding.
so far, so excellent! :)
going from a bias setting of 29.5/30.5
to 37.5/39.0 seems to have really opened this thing up.
 
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