Tungsol EL34B and 12ax7s.. any experience?

Bash_Man

Well-known member
hey everyone,
anyone can give me some feedback on their experience with the Tungsol EL34B and 12ax7 that they've had in their amp.

i think some of my old Ruby 12ax7s have gone microphonic and I am looking for options for a highgain amp (Splawn Nitro).

thanks
 
hey everyone,
anyone can give me some feedback on their experience with the Tungsol EL34B and 12ax7 that they've had in their amp.

i think some of my old Ruby 12ax7s have gone microphonic and I am looking for options for a highgain amp (Splawn Nitro).

thanks
I had them in my Splawn Quickrod years ago before I sold it and thought they sounded great.
 
Ok here we go:
I've got a pair, When I got My SuperSport one of the Chinese tubes that came with it red plated so I swapped them out for a pair of JJ El-34's
that I had that were in the correct bias range. I had those in there for about 5 months and them decided to do some tube rolling, so over a 3 day period I left the chassis out of the head shell so i could re bias and rolled some El-34's. My finding's
JJ El-34'sall around not bad , I much prefer the JJ power tubes over the preamp tubes (although I do use them quire regularly because I have a ton of them.
JJ EL-34L, these are definitely better but too bassy for my rig.
JJEL-34 II this is what I have in my head now and really I like them. they are full , in your face loud a full range of highs lows and mid.
EH -34 not bad, supposedly very reliable, these are quite usable have good mids to them
Mullard El-34's (current stock) again not bad but un remarkable, pretty even tone response across the EQ spectrum.
Tung Sol el-34B again not bad , but the mids sound a bit scooped on these. You'd figure with a Splawn that wouldn't be a bad think but it made the head sound "flat" compared to the El-34 II's
Old Winged -C's these sounded pretty damn good but the quad I have , have a lot of hours on them so I keep these as "back ups"
old Svetlanas - pretty meh, again not terrible but not "wow these sound great" either.
Out of all of these options the El-34II's really are the ones that jumped out at me tonally. All of them are good and would all be acceptable to use , but when One tube jumps out at me in a good way I tend to gravitate towards it.
Sorry for the long winded post but I thought my 3 day fun fest might shed some light. I know the Nitro is voiced a bit differently from the Super sport.
12ax7's
I know a lot of people like the tung sol 12Ax7's but to me they are too clean , too sterile sounding. I originally swapped V1 to a high gain JJ
and left the rest stock Chinese that Scott ships these with when I first received my amp. the JJ made my clean channel sound very warm.
I rolled a Tungsol in V1 and V2, didn't love it . what I have in there now and I strongly recommend to any Splawn user is this:
a NOS Mullard in V1
RFT's in V2 ,V3
the Stock Chinese tube in V4
I've been going back and forth between the Chinese, a sovtek LPS and a NOS tungstram in V4 the PI.
the Jury is still out on V4 but all 3 sound great just different , but I tend to get break up a bit earlier with the Chinese tube.
The other 3 sound great. Mullards and RFTs are all pretty hot (especially the RFT's) and they have a nice thick lower mid tonality to them, they took the "honk" out of my head completely, Splawns can have a annoying upper mid "bite" to them, mine no longer has that, still plenty of bite but smoother and thicker sounding.
I get my NOS tubes from "rockon1" , Bob on the gear page , he thoroughly tests them and posts the levels so you know what you're buying
and his prices are quite reasonable.
NIck
 
Last edited:
Ok here we go:
I've got a pair, When I got My SuperSport one of the Chinese tubes that came with it red plated so I swapped them out for a pair of JJ El-34's
that I had that were in the correct bias range. I had those in there for about 5 months and them decided to do some tube rolling, so over a 3 day period I left the chassis out of the head shell so i could re bias and rolled some El-34's. My finding's
JJ El-34'sall around not bad , I much prefer the JJ power tubes over the preamp tubes (although I do use them quire regularly because I have a ton of them.
JJ EL-34L, these are definitely better but too bassy for my rig.
JJEL-34 II this is what I have in my head now and really I like them. they are full , in your face loud a full range of highs lows and mid.
EH -34 not bad, supposedly very reliable, these are quite usable have good mids to them
Mullard El-34's (current stock) again not bad but un remarkable, pretty even tone response across the EQ spectrum.
Tung Sol el-34B again not bad , but the mids sound a bit scooped on these. You'd figure with a Splawn that wouldn't be a bad think but it made the head sound "flat" compared to the El-34 II's
Old Winged -C's these sounded pretty damn good but the quad I have , have a lot of hours on them so I keep these as "back ups"
old Svetlanas - pretty meh, again not terrible but not "wow these sound great" either.
Out of all of these options the El-34II's really are the ones that jumped out at me tonally. All of them are good and would all be acceptable to use , but when One tube jumps out at me in a good way I tend to gravitate towards it.
Sorry for the long winded post but I thought my 3 day fun fest might shed some light. I know the Nitro is voiced a bit differently from the Super sport.
12ax7's
I know a lot of people like the tung sol 12Ax7's but to me they are too clean , too sterile sounding. I originally swapped V1 to a high gain JJ
and left the rest stock Chinese that Scott ships these with when I first received my amp. the JJ made my clean channel sound very warm.
I rolled a Tungsol in V1 and V2, didn't love it . what I have in there now and I strongly recommend to any Splawn user is this:
a NOS Mullard in V1
RFT's in V2 ,V2
the Stock Chinese tube in V4
I've been going back and forth between the Chinese, a sovtek LPS and a NOS tungstram in V4 the PI.
the Jury is still out on V4 but all 3 sound great just different , but I tend to get break up a bit earlier with the Chinese tube.
The other 3 sound great. Mullards and RFTs are all pretty hot (especially the RFT's) and they have a nice thick lower mid tonality to them, they took the "honk" out of my head completely, Splawns can have a annoying upper mid "bite" to them, mine no longer has that, still plenty of bite but smoother and thicker sounding.
I get my NOS tubes from "rockon1" , Bob on the gear page , he thoroughly tests them and posts the levels so you know what you're buying
and his prices are quite reasonable.
NIck
Thanks Nick. Appriciate the info very much.


Bash
 
Tried the 12AX7 years ago when rolling new production to taste test, didn’t pass my ridiculous corksniffery.

Same piercing Russian high end as the EHX, Sovtek and LPS variant. None of the Russian pres have ever really done it for me. Sits ok in a band mix to “cut,” but isolated they have an unmistakable treble bite that drives me up a tree. Same for the power tubes, including og SED/Svetlana.

Only Russian glass I love are 6n14n EL84’s.
 
Agree with everything said. I've found tubes can be, pre and pwr , amp specific. And everyone has different ears. All you can do is try different tubes and listen to other equipment. Enjoy the journey.
 
A lot of it has to do with the relationship between the tubes and the OPT, and how the EQ works, especially with bass management.

If I run my KT77's with my tranwreck transformer 1:1, the TMB tonestack I have must be run like a Tone Master: 7T, 2B, 3M, etc.

If I mismatch it by one, so it's about a 3K load give or take, I can dime that fucker (50K mid) and it's Van Halen time.

Tuning, string gauge and all come into play as well. Really have to take a comprehensive 40,000 ft. view of the chain and account for all the factors in balance.

Edit: Kudo's to master Dave @RACKSYSTEMS for that 50K mid mod elucidation with regard to taming "crashing highs." Tips of truth! Also Sir Pete T, love that guy. You two made the pandemic a hell of a lot more comfy here in TN. <3
 
For what it’s worth, I put Tungsol Pre and Power tubes in all my amps a little over a year ago. I really like them. It wasn’t scientific or anything, I just tried a set, thought they sounded good so said done, and did the rest of my amps.
 
For what it’s worth, I put Tungsol Pre and Power tubes in all my amps a little over a year ago. I really like them. It wasn’t scientific or anything, I just tried a set, thought they sounded good so said done, and did the rest of my amps.
Thanks for the reply. what did you replace withe Tungsol tubes?
 
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