Tube / Valve Question

[Subbu68]

My DIY valve amp can take variety of valves - 6L6GC, 6CA7, EL34, KTs up to 88 etc. being auto-bias. I run now a matched pair of EL34 TUNGSOL (new issue I believe).

Saw an offer for MESA BOOGIE EL-34 from a music store in Dubai

Buy Mesaboogie EL-34 STR 447 (Duet) - Online Best Price | Melody House Dubai

Mesaboogie EL-34 STR 447 (Duet) - Amp & Effect Accessories , Tubes | Musical Instruments - Shop best prices online at Melody House Dubai.

www.melodyhousemi.com

The description points to guitar amps. Has anyone used these MESA valves? If used, how do they fare compared to others? The same guys are also listing NOS Siemens EL34s - expensive though.

 

[coaltrain]

Mesa Boogie is a guitar amp manufacturer that outsources its tubes (most probably from New Sensor) and rebrands them.
The tubes in the link should work fine in your amp, and are dirt cheap to boot. If your amp needs four tubes, however, make sure you get a matched quad set.

 

[Subbu68]

Mesa Boogie is a guitar amp manufacturer that outsources its tubes (most probably from New Sensor) and rebrands them.
The tubes in the link should work fine in your amp, and are dirt cheap to boot. If your amp needs four tubes, however, make sure you get a matched quad set.

Yes, I found the same info on a blog probably quoting Mesa or by someone from Mesa. They claim their tubes are tested rigorously and perfectly matched.

My amp is a SE with one output valve. So a pair would do. Not sure if using these would have an improvement on my current ones due to their testing and filtering. Have a small stash of valves - 6L6GC, 6CA7, KT88 all Electro Harmonics and Tungsol EL34B.

The same dealer in the link sells NOS Siemens. Drooling over them.

 

[arj]

My DIY valve amp can take variety of valves - 6L6GC, 6CA7, EL34, KTs up to 88 etc. being auto-bias. I run now a matched pair of EL34 TUNGSOL (new issue I believe).

Saw an offer for MESA BOOGIE EL-34 from a music store in Dubai

Buy Mesaboogie EL-34 STR 447 (Duet) - Online Best Price | Melody House Dubai

Mesaboogie EL-34 STR 447 (Duet) - Amp & Effect Accessories , Tubes | Musical Instruments - Shop best prices online at Melody House Dubai.

www.melodyhousemi.com

The description points to guitar amps. Has anyone used these MESA valves? If used, how do they fare compared to others? The same guys are also listing NOS Siemens EL34s - expensive though.

Hi Subbu68, since you run Hereseys and have mentioned about being strident occasionally , new issues tend to be brighter in their attempt to be cleaner hence do prepare for that

But again, tube rolling is fun..put them in and let them rung for 5-10 hours and you will know

 

[coaltrain]

What preamp tubes are you running?
My guess is that a good set of NOS tubes in the preamp stage will have a bigger impact on the overall sound. And, since you have a variety of output tubes to play with, changing the preamp tubes will improve all of them.
More scope for experimentation and finding the right combo.

 

[Subbu68]

What preamp tubes are you running?
My guess is that a good set of NOS tubes in the preamp stage will have a bigger impact on the overall sound. And, since you have a variety of output tubes to play with, changing the preamp tubes will improve all of them.
More scope for experimentation and finding the right combo.

They are 12AU7 / ECC82 Genalex Gold Lion. No scope to change them to ECC81 or ECC83 as per the kit designer (Elekit).

More scope to splurge and wifey to get ( and hear "I could buy X many kurtis" )

Hi Subbu68, since you run Hereseys and have mentioned about being strident occasionally , new issues tend to be brighter in their attempt to be cleaner hence do prepare for that

But again, tube rolling is fun..put them in and let them rung for 5-10 hours and you will know

Even the Ahujas I found a bit strident at day and quite good at night and the reason - the curtains . We tie up the curtains during day - 4.5m full glass window and when the lights are on at dusk the curtains come down (due to sunfilm no one can see inside when daytime but with lights on it is all visible from outside). Still Ahuja a bit better than Heresy.

As you wrote the valves I have are all new issues nothing NOS and may be the reason plus the windows. They have run in for many hours though.

Still Heresy + amps is much sweeter than the clinical sounds I heard elsewhere and thought were the holy grail.

 

[coaltrain]

This page will offer you numerous ways to aggravate your better half

12AU7 Tubes in Stock

 

[drlowmu]

If your already-owned Electro Harmonix KT88 tubes are three years old, or less, we have had excellent experiences with them in our circuits, as far as their ultimate sonic capabilities.

In 2019, We had one amp with these E.H KT88s outperform a fairly similar circuited amp using AVVT ( VAIC ) DHT mesh plate 2A3's. VAIC mesh plate 2A3s were possibly the best 2A3 ever made. ( No longer available , but EML makes something close today. ).

Of course, SE amps will differ greatly, due their power supply design, and overall execution . But I would suggest to all that the EH KT88 is not a bottleneck in the high performance equation !!!

In my experiences, the best SE amp performance comes mainly through the careful design and implementation of the amp's power supply.
How good is it ???? In the end, we all listen to a music-modulated power supply. Tube swapping, while audible and certainly important, is only incidental to what is possible, performance - wise..

Jeff