Help me pick out tubes from GuitarCenter.com Wathen tubes?

I know. I know.

Why would anyone want to buy tubes from Guitar Center? Well, I have $500 worth of GC gift cards and I really need some new EL34s for my Splawn. My plan was to try KT77s or EL34Ls next but wondering if the below are any good? I can always use 6L6s too but the Rectoverb takes EL34s.

For now, I'm mainly interested in your thoughts on these:


https://www.guitarcenter.com/Tubes-for- ... cyCode=USD


Mesa Rectoverb 6L6s (or EL34s)

Sovtek 5881WXT Matched Power Tubes (interested in these 6L6 variants - what do you think?)

(and suggestions on these - I'm having trouble finding the differences)
Groove Tubes Gold Series GT-6L6-GE
Groove Tubes Gold Series GT-6L6-S
Groove Tubes Gold Series GT-6L6-R
Groove Tubes Gold Series GT-6L6-CHP


Splawn Quick Rod EL34s

I'm pretty up on the JJs and the Mullards but have no experience with the others for EL34s. There is no information on G.C. web site about what these might be matched to mA wise so I may be taking some chances here. Splawn plate voltage is 495 on my amp. Wondering about these Wathen CryoTones

JJ EL34

Mullard EL34

Groove Tube EL34-R or M

Electro Harmonix EL34

Wondering about these Wathen CryoTones. Anyone ever heard of these? I can't find much on the web and I've never heard of them.

Wathen CryoTone
https://www.guitarcenter.com/Wathen-Cry ... er-Tube.gc


For preamp tubes I'm pretty up on these but interested in the Sovtek 12AX7WA, anyone have experience?

Sovtek 12AX7WA Preamp Tube

The rest, JJs, Grove Tubes, EH, Tung-Sol, etc I think I know what I'm getting.

Mullard EL34's for the Splawn.

Only problem is, you get what you get. Can't get them hand-picked to know if they're in range. The Splawn has kind of a small sweep in adjustment.

I do like the Mullards, though.

I just recently 2 months ago retubed my Splawn Nitro with some Ruby EL34BSTR tubes matched quad, 2 Ruby 12ax7AC5 HG+, 1 Ruby 12ax7AC5 HG and a Mullard RI 12ax7 in the PI socket.

I always found the JJ Tubes to be a tad darker sounding. out of those tubes, I'd go for the Mullards EL34s. I had those in the Nitro for years and they sounded great. but the EL34BSTR's have a bigger and tighter low end. the Mullards were night and tight but not a huge lowend. Neither will give you 6L6 type low end but the BSTRs are real good tbh.

Good luck and hope that helps.

napalmdeath":1g8s05ny said:

Mullard EL34's for the Splawn.

Only problem is, you get what you get. Can't get them hand-picked to know if they're in range. The Splawn has kind of a small sweep in adjustment.

I do like the Mullards, though.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. That's what I had before the SED winged Cs. Decent enough for sure. But yeah, not being able to order something that I'm more confident in (mA wise) is the thing. Thinking I'll get some KT77 somewhere else and then some EL34s from GC as either back up, something else to try and/or try in the Recto.

Duke of Metal":1g8s05ny said:

I just recently 2 months ago retubed my Splawn Nitro with some Ruby EL34BSTR tubes matched quad, 2 Ruby 12ax7AC5 HG+, 1 Ruby 12ax7AC5 HG and a Mullard RI 12ax7 in the PI socket.

I always found the JJ Tubes to be a tad darker sounding. out of those tubes, I'd go for the Mullards EL34s. I had those in the Nitro for years and they sounded great. but the EL34BSTR's have a bigger and tighter low end. the Mullards were night and tight but not a huge lowend. Neither will give you 6L6 type low end but the BSTRs are real good tbh.

Good luck and hope that helps.

Click to expand...

Always here good things on Ruby STRs. Unfortunately, I don't see those on GC. Thank you for your opinion for sure.

Anyone know anything about those Sovtek 5881s? For the Recto?

Anyone ever hear of these Wathen CryoTones tubes?

311splawndude":2su6nevc said:

Always here good things on Ruby STRs. Unfortunately, I don't see those on GC. Thank you for your opinion for sure.

Anyone know anything about those Sovtek 5881s? For the Recto?

Anyone ever here of these Wathen CryoTones tubes?

Click to expand...

are you stuck to ordering tubes from GC? or would you be open to ordering from an online store? If so, I highly recommend you reach out to Doug at Dougs Tubes and chat with him about your tone needs and see what he recommends.

http://www.dougstubes.com/

The GT EL34M is my choice. I look forward to putting them in my Marshall 2555x as they sounded great in my friends original Jubilee 2553. His were rated 3.

The new Mullard EL34s sounded good too in a Splawn Street Rod I had. A little more mid focused than stock Chinese EL34bs.

EL34s in a recto kick ass. Tighter low end. I had them ( Mesa El34s) in a Roadster.

Can't you use GC gift cards with Musician's Friend? Otherwise, I'd sell the cards for a cash discount and buy what you want/need elsewhere.

Duke of Metal":1bwyl39w said:

311splawndude":1bwyl39w said:

Always here good things on Ruby STRs. Unfortunately, I don't see those on GC. Thank you for your opinion for sure.

Anyone know anything about those Sovtek 5881s? For the Recto?

Anyone ever here of these Wathen CryoTones tubes?

Click to expand...

are you stuck to ordering tubes from GC? or would you be open to ordering from an online store? If so, I highly recommend you reach out to Doug at Dougs Tubes and chat with him about your tone needs and see what he recommends.

http://www.dougstubes.com/

Click to expand...

Disregard my post.. sorry, I didnt see that you had a GC gift card.

^no problem bro

Duke of Metal":3o2goqm2 said:

are you stuck to ordering tubes from GC? or would you be open to ordering from an online store? If so, I highly recommend you reach out to Doug at Dougs Tubes and chat with him about your tone needs and see what he recommends.

http://www.dougstubes.com/

Click to expand...

I've ordered tubes from Doug before. Great service. Immediate confirmation, text message updates, ships fast, nice selection. I may get some KT77s or EL34Ls that route.

Frehley12":3o2goqm2 said:

The GT EL34M is my choice. I look forward to putting them in my Marshall 2555x as they sounded great in my friends original Jubilee 2553. His were rated 3.

The new Mullard EL34s sounded good too in a Splawn Street Rod I had. A little more mid focused than stock Chinese EL34bs.

EL34s in a recto kick ass. Tighter low end. I had them ( Mesa El34s) in a Roadster.

Click to expand...

Yes they do. Tried my Mullards and SED =C= in there. Smokin'

I should have no trouble with KT77s either right? Anyone know if I would leave the bias switch on EL34? Thinking yes.

Rick Lee":3o2goqm2 said:

Can't you use GC gift cards with Musician's Friend? Otherwise, I'd sell the cards for a cash discount and buy what you want/need elsewhere.

Click to expand...

That is a great idea I will check on that.

So no experience with Wathen tubes huh?

Do you guys want me to take one for the team

I'm having a hard time finding information about Wathen. They were introduced at NAMM 2004 and supposedly made in America. Wathen also makes speakers and maybe amps too. I see all the major online disti's carry them.

I assumed they were rebranded but maybe not. I'd be interested in a US made tube but the marketing just seems so fake. Crystal lattice stuff.

This is what The Tube Store has to say about it:

https://www.thetubestore.com/cryogenic- ... -for-tubes


"You’ve probably seen other tube venders selling cryogenically treated vacuum tubes under brands such as Black Sable, Cryoset, Pearl and Kuhl-Tube.

We fully understand the uses of cryo treatments and none of this makes any sense to us in vacuum tubes. A tube is not just steel, it contains various alloys, cathode and anode coatings all contained in a sealed vacuumed glass container.

We’ve seen the marketing, understand the science, completed our own research and fully tested the cryo “treatment” of vacuum tubes. As such we do not retail this service to our customers. It would have been nice if this worked and was a way for us to generate more revenue but we love our customers too much to jump on this bandwagon.

We expand on this more fully in our blog here. We also republished a great article (Cryogenic Treatment of Tubes: An Engineer’s Perspective) written by Phil Taylor of Effectrode.

However for those of you who still wish to purchase cryogenically treated tubes, we found the folks at Wathen Audiophile are great to deal with and we recommend you speak with them."

GT tubes and Ruby tubes are often re-branded so you might check into that.

I like the EH EL34 and the Mullard. The Mullard isn't very bright and would prob work in the one QR I had.

That QR had KT77 when I got it and I was not a fan. But that's just one amp and one set of tubes...and one listener.

311splawndude":3dgsico0 said:

So no experience with Wathen tubes huh?

Do you guys want me to take one for the team

I'm having a hard time finding information about Wathen. They were introduced at NAMM 2004 and supposedly made in America. Wathen also makes speakers and maybe amps too. I see all the major online disti's carry them.

I assumed they were rebranded but maybe not. I'd be interested in a US made tube but the marketing just seems so fake. Crystal lattice stuff.

Click to expand...

Voodoo Snake Oil

SpiderWars":2nf6ouxg said:

GT tubes and Ruby tubes are often re-branded so you might check into that.

I like the EH EL34 and the Mullard. The Mullard isn't very bright and would prob work in the one QR I had.

That QR had KT77 when I got it and I was not a fan. But that's just one amp and one set of tubes...and one listener.

Click to expand...

Thanks.
I hear ya on the rebranding thing.
Got Mullards now.
I wanted to try KT77s after hearing Webb's Splawn Competition clip.