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KT88's v EL34's


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46 minutes ago, MattyW said:

@JPete9 The EL34 has a lovely midrange though rolls off on bass and treble. I'd call it the vintage tube sound.

 

Not with the EL34's I heard...bass was tight & with just the whack a bass pedal has....

Treble was do die for...mind you the only thing "stock" on the amp was the chassis & transformers...

And the tubes...beautiful Russian vintage...

Edited by Rob181
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Guest Muon N'

In my experience EL34's can sound lots of different ways, depending on type of EL34 and the circuit It's used in.

 

They can do detailed ethereal highs and deep textured bass, all depends on those above variables.

 

Edited by Muon N'
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6 hours ago, JPete9 said:

Its the Weston EL34. 6L6GC, KT77, EL34 and 6CA7. Plus $500 or so and you get KT88/KT100/KT120

 

Just a thought, but if it's a Weston Acoustics amp that you have then why not ask the maker for his tube model recommendations. He out of everybody would know what works best with his gear.

 

@ehtcom

 

cheers Terry

Edited by TerryO
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I would just like to comment on the "Cryoed Tubes". I brought some 6p3 SE 's for my Leben CS 600 from that Store that was mentioned. They lasted as a quad set for about 2 months when one became faulty.  So I dropped in a plain jane 6p3se I had here and they all work just fine. Being 'Cryoed' didn't do much I thought,as others have noted.

 

Never tried EL34s, but would like to, but haven't yet.  KT120s are just brute force and are really only good if you want really good bass and power.Have some KT77s which weren't bad, KT88s are a good valve and I think better than the KT120s soundwise. but the best of all 'IN MY AMP '  soundwise are the 6n3ce/6p3se - using large speakers so really don't need a lot of power.

 

Haven't tried KT150s as I don't think they would work in my Amp.... Dunno,  however they do look stunning.

 

I may have to get rid of my KT120s and a few others, have a few too many here I don't really use.

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54 minutes ago, HUMBUG89 said:

I would just like to comment on the "Cryoed Tubes". I brought some 6p3 SE 's for my Leben CS 600 from that Store that was mentioned. They lasted as a quad set for about 2 months when one became faulty.  So I dropped in a plain jane 6p3se I had here and they all work just fine. Being 'Cryoed' didn't do much I thought,as others have noted.

 

Never tried EL34s, but would like to, but haven't yet.  KT120s are just brute force and are really only good if you want really good bass and power.Have some KT77s which weren't bad, KT88s are a good valve and I think better than the KT120s soundwise. but the best of all 'IN MY AMP '  soundwise are the 6n3ce/6p3se - using large speakers so really don't need a lot of power.

 

Haven't tried KT150s as I don't think they would work in my Amp.... Dunno,  however they do look stunning.

 

I may have to get rid of my KT120s and a few others, have a few too many here I don't really use.

 In my play with different tubes I have found the difference between the 120's & 150's were not a great deal. If anything notable to me it was that the 150's come across as slightly more effortless. If you have the 120's I wouldn't be too concerned with 150's as i think you already have 90% of the total in the 120's

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 In my play with different tubes I have found the difference between the 120's & 150's were not a great deal. If anything notable to me it was that the 150's come across as slightly more effortless. If you have the 120's I wouldn't be too concerned with 150's as i think you already have 90% of the total in the 120's
That makes me rather happy :)

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

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Hi All

 

After a bit of a search at home, I found a box I had stored after moving seven years ago with a quad of JJ EL34's and a quad of JJ 6CA7's.

 

I have been listening to the EL34's so far today and will swap out to the 6CA7's tomorrow , this should give them about 15 hours of running before trying to compare later in the week.

 

In the box were also several dozen pre amp tubes, 6922's, 12ax7's, 12AT7WC's, 12AU7's / ECC82's, 5751's. So will do a bit of rolling after deciding which power tube I prefer.

 

JJ

Edited by Janjuc
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Had a big session last night with a mate who is also into hifi and red wine, during the evening we tried several combinations of sources, amplifiers and speakers and also did some tube rolling and I have to admit when it came to tube rolling the kt150's came out on top by a easy margin, even with the standard Primaluna 12au7's fitted after finding out that my NOS Mullards are done and dusted and are now heading for the rubbish bin. 

 

I know most find that the el34's are a much nicer valve but for us the kt150's just work so extremely well in our system.

 

So the el34's are back in their boxes for now. 

 

cheers Terry

Edited by TerryO
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Terry, so glad to hear that you like that sound. Once I came across the same sound in my past PL integrated I stopped swapping tubes & just let them bloom. It really was a holy shite time for me when I thought about how much money I had spent on audio components & just how much of a difference a few tubes can make. very enjoyable memories @Ancientflatulence

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  • 1 month later...

Hi @Gremrock yes I have a brand new unused octet of Psvane el34's that I intend to move on.

Odyssey (Matt) contacted me several days ago about them and I have undertaken to get back to him with a price once I am back home in a couple of days, so right now he is first in line for them. If that changes I will contact you.

 

cheers Terry

Edited by TerryO
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