EL34 or equivalent recommendations?

[eksiil]

hello

DPD willing, I'm about to take delivery of a Croft Series 5 MkII. the seller ran it with JJs & says they never tried the unbranded valves the amp came with when they bought it second hand & which it will come with now. this leads me to assume I might need to revalve the Series 5 soonish. I have never heard an EL34 amp before and am hoping to avoid a steep and expensive learning curve. so -- any suggestions? (I'd also appreciate information on whether EL34 variants such as K77, EL34L etc would really be interchangeable with garden variety EL34s in a Croft power amp).

many thanks in advance

ahto

[IHP]

Hi Ahto, first of all, wow, nice move. You'll get lots of suggestions I'm sure. Personally I now pass on NOS valves due to cost and trust of source. I tend to value the better current production and have tried various Gold Lion tubes, including EL34 and found them to be great.

The Brimar re-issue look interesting (great British valve project or something like it), rebranded Chinese I think but seemingly well tested. Good luck !

[Blackdog]

Never been keen on the Gold Lion KT77 (reliability issues), but I have a number of customers that really like the JJ KT77.

[mik_rik]

Russian 6p3-se ,very rugged and good sounding,used them for years in a Radford STA15.Have had them fitted at our NEBO meet ups so other members can vouch for their sound quality.After that RFT are good but pricier although can be cheaper if "rebranded".
Best ones are Soviet era gold grid types
Happy hunting

Mick

[MartinS]

I have just last Saturday taken delivery of an Evo300 power amp which has Shuguang EL34s as stock, it's early days yet but they sound pretty fair to me. Whilst I don't doubt different manufacturers valves to nominally the same spec produce different sounds I'm not wholly convinced the variables justify the potentially enormous expense of trying them all out. You may disagree of course.
I think that with 2ndhand valve equipment unless you know absolutely the condition of the valves it comes with then a budget for new ones are sensible.
Regards
Martin

[Lawrence001]

I don't mind Shuguang power valves as a rule, they seem to be good value for money, it's the smaller Chinese signal valves I've found to sound pretty poor, Russian valves tend to be the best value for money in that department.

Personally I'd get a matched quad of Shuguang or a low use s/h quad of JJ or similar if it was me. Svetlana are good too but they've gone up in price (the original winged C I mean).

Sent from my BKL-L09 using Tapatalk

[Blackdog]

I don't mind Shuguang power valves as a rule, they seem to be good value for money

The Shuggies are actually quite good and pretty reliable, especially if you can find Valve Art branded ones.

[Opti-cal]

Good suggestions so far and I have positive experience with the JJ's which are great value. I found the Gold Lion KT77's a bit too forward and lacking that creamy EL34 tone. As suggested Svetlana winged C are very good but unlikely to find as many as you need for a reasonable price. The 'cheap' chinese tubes are often good value too, I have actually always been surprised by the sound quality of the basic Psvane EL34 and EL-34b tubes which often come with cheapo amplifiers and kits from China etc.

There is a seller here selling matched quads for a reasonable price and he has a good seller rating.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EL34-PSVANE-HIFI-SERIES-matched-quad/324452351159?hash=item4b8addfcb7:g:f8cAAOSw8A5gSh0 I

If not you can always buy on Aliexpress but you may have to wait a couple of weeks.

If you want them soon and guarantee a decent level of sound quality the JJ's might be the sensible bet.

[eksiil]

many thanks for all your comments. I think I'll give NOS valves a miss for the time being. JJs seem easiest to get hold of -- however there seem to be options: are KT77s a drop-in replacement for EL34. are EL34Ls?

Russian S67N equivalents have proven themselves a revelation in my Croft pre so this is something I'll need to research further. 6p3-se seems electrically different to EL34, from what I read on the internet. Svetlana prices, on the other hand, would take me close to NOS country.

much obliged

ahto

[zanash]

the best sounding I've found are Psvane treasure series 6ca7 they are expensive and I told deliver slightly more power. But sonically second to none !

[Blackdog]

many thanks for all your comments. I think I'll give NOS valves a miss for the time being. JJs seem easiest to get hold of -- however there seem to be options: are KT77s a drop-in replacement for EL34. are EL34Ls?

Yes, the KT77 is a drop in replacement.

[eksiil]

many thanks again. sadly it's been an exercise in futility as the Croft takes EL84 rather than EL34 :doh:

[mik_rik]

Try Russian 6p14-p.

[eksiil]

thanks again. DPD delivered. the seller had included both a set of JJs & unbranded valves. the JJs sound superb, I'll give them time.

on a different note -- I'm stunned by the power the Series 5 MKII puts out. the 55-watt hybrid monos it replaces suddenly seem puny in comparison. *and* the Croft is noticeably the quieter amp.