JJ's E34L's

[Phil Macino]

I just had a matched quad installed in my Uberschall. Holy Smokes! Holy $&*#!

If any one else has tried the e34l, I'd like to hear your thoughts on them too. For anyone not familiar with them, here is the description from the Eurotubes site:

"E34L

Factory description: Gold plated control grid for improved fidelity. Special plate alloy improves plate dissipation as compared to the standard EL34 resulting in stable performance at higher power levels. My observation: This tube has about 20% more head room than the standard EL34 and it also has a deeper, tighter low end. The E34L is also a bit punchier and more aggressive than the standard EL34 which makes it a Great tube for Matchless, Bogner, Carvin, Peavey and all Marshall amps. I have them in one of my old SUNN heads. Incredible sound! This is the only EL34 type tube that I have found that will stand up to the 700 plus plate volts found in the Musicman HD 130 amps."

Many of you know that I play what I call "power" rhythm for my band...a lot of heavy percussive riffs with single "lead work" notes interleaved (Think Sabbath/Soundgarden/Alice in Chains/Disturbed/Tool). I play tuned to Eb and frequently play "Drop D" D#/A#/F#/C#/G#/C#...The description above was pretty much right on.

In the Uberschall, they gave it a little more head room (like it needed it), a sweetness in the mids that is just outright creamy coming through the neck PuPs of my guitars, and a tighter punchier bass section. A lot of tone!

When I'm palm muting it is *very* percussive and you can feel the SPL rise in our practice space. Freaking awesome...I can't wait for our two gigs that we have scheduled in the next week and a half...Look out Seattle!

[FrankiePRS]

That's what I have in the modded MKIV, and I tried a LOT of different tubes b4 deciding - those things rawk.

[darial]

Originally Posted by Phil Macino

I just had a matched quad installed in my Uberschall. Holy Smokes! Holy $&*#!

If any one else has tried the e34l, I'd like to hear your thoughts on them too. For anyone not familiar with them, here is the description from the Eurotubes site:

"E34L

Factory description: Gold plated control grid for improved fidelity. Special plate alloy improves plate dissipation as compared to the standard EL34 resulting in stable performance at higher power levels. My observation: This tube has about 20% more head room than the standard EL34 and it also has a deeper, tighter low end. The E34L is also a bit punchier and more aggressive than the standard EL34 which makes it a Great tube for Matchless, Bogner, Carvin, Peavey and all Marshall amps. I have them in one of my old SUNN heads. Incredible sound! This is the only EL34 type tube that I have found that will stand up to the 700 plus plate volts found in the Musicman HD 130 amps."

Many of you know that I play what I call "power" rhythm for my band...a lot of heavy percussive riffs with single "lead work" notes interleaved (Think Sabbath/Soundgarden/Alice in Chains/Disturbed/Tool). I play tuned to Eb and frequently play "Drop D" D#/A#/F#/C#/G#/C#...The description above was pretty much right on.

In the Uberschall, they gave it a little more head room (like it needed it), a sweetness in the mids that is just outright creamy coming through the neck PuPs of my guitars, and a tighter punchier bass section. A lot of tone!

When I'm palm muting it is *very* percussive and you can feel the SPL rise in our practice space. Freaking awesome...I can't wait for our two gigs that we have scheduled in the next week and a half...Look out Seattle!

They are a very reliable, high power tube. I've never liked them in any amp I've owned though. I much prefer the more classic sound of Svetlana/SED el34s.

[Big Mike]

I liked them back when I had a Marshall DSL. Cleaned up the Fizz a bit.

I'll likely try them to do the same thing in my Rivera M60.

[Phil Macino]

Originally Posted by Big Mike Blues

I'll likely try them to do the same thing in my Rivera M60.

I wish I would have known about them when I had my KH-II. I bet they would have sounded great in it and removed the fizz. On second thought though, I couldn't imagine them being in a non-master KHII. That thing was a monster.

[aleclee]

In my Rake, I found them just okay. I find the EH EL34s to have a more "traditional" EL34 crunch than the JJs. If your looking for smoother tubes with more headroom, you might consider 6CA7s. I use the EH version and ScottP swears by the more pricey GT variant.

[Scott Peterson]

I have tried the JJ EL34's in the Rake, I liked them but found them a bit "hard" sounding. Once I heard the 6CA7GE's from GT in the Rake, it was game over for that amp.

Just another opinion.

[jbird]

I run EL34's in my Dual Rec, I've never tried another tube other than the stock offering. Funny they don't mention it being a great match for Mesa's? Whats up wit dat?

[Doug Lewis]

I'll be putting a set in my KHR tommorrow night, and will leave feedback.

[Phil Macino]

This is all good...

That's the thing that's cool about gear...it's like our own personalities.

In regards to tone, I don't think there is one thing that makes it our breaks it...it's the combination. I'm obviously not making a new point here. Based on the description I think e34l's do really well for high-gain stuff, and that's definately not everybody's first tone choice. I'm actually kind of surprised by the number of responses!

Bogner is *very* specific in which tubes they feel can run in the Uberschall reliably. The trick with the Uber is the balance between channel volume and the Global Master. When I was chatting with the guys at Bogner, they say the Uber under load really throws out about 145-160 watts to get the breakup in the power section. According to them, Svets just don't last in the Uber, unlike the Shiva or XTC.

When I opened it up yesterday, I noticed an obvious need to push the channel volume (not gain) a little harder to get the saturation where I like it. The rating of these tubes was right in the middle of Lord Valves ratings, so there definately is more headroom. I immediately likend it to a JCM800 with KT88s/6550's installed. Same type of sound/feel.

Hopefully I can get some decent clips from our gigs in the next couple of weeks to post.