MASSIVE EL34 TUBE SHOOTOUT! NOS, NEW PRODUCTION, HEAR THEM!
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- EL34's, we love em! New, old, they're all here, you listen and be the judge:
CHAPTERS:
0:00 INTRO
8:45 TUBE AUDIO EXAMPLES, MID GAIN: Original Mullard
9:29 Siemens/RFT
10:14 Sylvania 6CA7
10:58 EH EL34
11:33 (New) Mullard EL34
12:18 JJ EL34
13:02 (New) Tung Sol EL34
13:47 EH 6CA7
14:22 SED "Winged C" EL34
15:06 (New) Svetlana EL34
19:20 HIGH GAIN (ALL KNOBS ON "10") Original Mullard
19:48 Siemens/RFT
20:16 Sylvania 6CA7
20:45 EH EL34
21:14 (New) Mullard EL34
21:43 JJ EL34
22:10 (New) Tung Sol EL34
22:39 EH 6CA7
23:07 SED "Winged C" EL34
23:34 (New) Svetlana EL34
24:02 Relaxing Suntory Times with Dave Friedman
NEED TUBES? GET EM AT SWEETWATER: imp.i114863.net/LeVEj
Got GAS? Check out all the cool gear and sweet deals from my pals at Sweetwater (Affiliate): imp.i114863.net/Zg0RQ
BRAND NEW PETE THORN MERCH! T-shirts, hoodies etc: teespring.com/stores/pete-thorn
PETE THORN II NEW ALBUM OUT EVERYWHERE NOW, CLICK TO BUY/LISTEN HERE: smarturl.it/petethornII
Get Pete's 'Space Charged" jam track in E on iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/album/spa...
Check out "A Rush To The Head": by Pete Thorn itunes.apple.com/us/album/rus...
Check out "Clean To Scream" by Pete Thorn: itunes.apple.com/us/album/cle...
Check out "To Live And Die In Nashville" by Pete Thorn: itunes.apple.com/us/album/to-...
]Check out "The Groomed Noodler", new single by Pete Thorn here:
itunes.apple.com/us/album/the... 
Видеоклипы
This is what the internet is supposed to be used for. Thanks guys!
Totally agree.
The only thing that would have made it better is cats
This is one hell of a great video.
Maybe it’s RUclips compression, my ears or my headphones but they all sounded almost exactly the same. I noticed a little more breakup with a few of them. What I did learn is that any of them would be just fine for almost all of us.
I do not hear any difference that would make me go certain tube... All the same...
In a well designed circuit with good clean components that's supposed to be the case, some tubes break up sooner than others but if they are biased correctly they are supposed to sound similar, amps sound different because of different circuits and not different power tubes, preamp tubes are another story
Some of them seemed to have more clarity than others but, ya they are all very similar
@@ivanrohal7489 I like the Russian tubes :)
Some tubes have a more consistant output over their entire lifespan
Some tubes will outlast others by a substantail margin
Some tubes were built to go in guided missles and were so overengineered
That they still outperform brand new tubes
Some tubes were built for medical equipment and are far quieter than a new chinese/russian tube
Tone is a knob
but ill never have to replace my Bendix Redbank 6V6s
And they are dead quiet
Wow, thanks for all the work it took to make this video Pete & Dave!
Pete! This is the most excellent, to the point, informative video. Thank you for doing the work and posting
Thanks Dave and Pete for taking the time to do this video. Really helpful!
Honestly, I can't tell a difference. They all sound great.
The reason you can’t hear the difference is two fold
1. We are listing to it on a RUclips video, not the real room sound.
2. There’s so much distortion in the preamp that we can’t hear the nuances of power tube overdrive between brands.
2 1/2- power tubes Dont break up unless the amp is cranked between 7-10, obviously with 10 yielding the most overdrive.
I didn’t see what the volume level was on, did you?
I might sound super smug saying this because I’d think that if someone said this too, but I feel it should be said: some people are tone deaf more than others. There’s definitely a degree of tone deafness. Regarding power tubes, between the EL34s, there isn’t a crazy amount of difference; the 6CA7s have a smoother, 6L6 meets EL34 tone. The previous comment on the comment I’m commenting on ( I feel like I’m saying “comment” too much) regarding the break up of tubes is super important regarding power tubes. I find that it gets super hard to tell the difference between tubes on clean sounds. The more driven a tube, the easier the differences are to tell. However, when using distortion pedal, you’re at square one again. Distortion pedals have their own flavor of tone. A tube screamer, on the other hand, is okay as long as it’s not pushed too far. I guess there’s a sweet zone for tonal differences regarding overdriven tubes. When using a variac down to 65-75 volts, WITHOUT BIASING (since that’s the point of a variac to get that cold, uneven, crazy cold bias), you can hear some differences in tone there too.
@@VanHalenIsolatedI retubed my Mesa Tremoverb with NOS USA made 12AX7s and TAD 6L6s, and I couldn't belive how much better the amp sounded. I went from "I might sell this" to "I will never sell this amp"
@@VanHalenIsolated 99.999% of the population is "tone deaf" in the matter of differences that guitar tube amp "gurus" talk about. People can't hear the differences because for all intents and purposes, there aren't any. If you can't tell in a blind test, then it might as well not exist.
Thanks Pete and Dave!!! Appreciate the massive amount of time and effort to create the video so we could hear for ourselves.
Thank you Pete, this is exactly what I've been hoping someone would do and is an amazing resource. You are the Man!
Thanks again guys for this video! I liked the Siemens/ rtf el34 in the demo and found and bought a quad . Sounds awesome!
Cheers!
Man, those JJs surprised me in the high gain test-great stuff! The Siemens were probably my favorite overall, but I'd be happy with any of them. You and Dave are total rockstars for making this happen!
Pete! I'm new to your channel. Love your videos, truly insightful! Thank you so much for the time, love and effort you put in.
Thanks, welcome to the channel!
Damn Dude! This took a lot of effort on your'e part. Thank you!
Wow you guys geeked out big time!!! Thanks for all that valuable info!
I couldn't really hear too much of a difference sound-wise between the el34 tubes but hearing you and Dave talk about the sound differences helped to educate me a lot for when I purchase some spares for my dsl40cr amp. Thanks so much!
This video is great. Same deep dive as the EVH tone video. Outstanding quality content.
I was pumped for this video and it totally didn’t disappoint! The ultimate video for all tube nerds everywhere! I love these sorts of comparisons.
It’s mind blowing to hear the subtle differences between tubes. None of them sounded bad, just different shades of the same colour really. If you don’t care about the subtleties then any EL34 will do fine but if you do care, then down the rabbit hole you go 😂
The amount of effort that must have gone into the making of this must have been unreal!
Thank you Pete and Dave!
Thanks for doing this Pete! I put it all up on the studio monitors and had a good listen. The Siemens/RFT for AC/DC and the (New) Mullard EL34 for EVH. The best all rounder was the (New) Mullard EL34.
What I learned from this: Power Tubes are the last thing I need to consider in my tone chasing. Speakers and pre-amp tubes are way more important. And also, by watching all of this video, that I may be overthinking tone. LOL
New reliable power tube and thats all , i dont even want to know what is difference in sound between them , as long is fair price and new thats it. Maybe couple of preamps for tone " chassing " but again i dont forget that my amp has eq to shape tone so... and yes new strings have best sound. And i dont know if this can help others but i run amp neither clean on or dimmed, just on a verge of breakup so fairly unmatched and cold biased serves me the best.
They may be the last thing you need to consider. Fine. Over the internet the differences might seem subtle, but I can tell you from experience that the power tubes matter. More than speakers, pre-amp, pickups, strings or other stuff? Perhaps not. But don't relegate the power tubes to the forgotten items drawer. When you're standing in front of your amp, especially at stage volume, you can absolutely hear significant differences.
@@ivansindicic5960 No! that doesn't help anyone who is here to learn the difference between tubes. In fact it is disruptive. Why would you even wast your time here?
@@qua7771 there is no difference between two healthy tubes , no matter what brand they are, they are piece of electronics made in one factory for whole world, diference is in amp taht you put them...
@@ivansindicic5960 That's the end of our conversation. Bye.
Thank you Pete and Dave for your tremendous effort and sharing this knowledge! I learned a lot! And while we can all disagree on what we hear, the one thing that has been reaffirmed, and without question, is that Pete is a killer guitarist. I loved it!
Fantastic video Pete !!! Thanks 👍🏻
Great video guys interesting stuff! brilliant format with you both! 🤟
Looks like a lot of work went into this one :)
Looking forward to it!
The EH EL34's have quite a pink/white noise characteristic on the top end. The new Mullard EL34 has a very nice mid tone to my ears.
(Before I watched conclusion) :D
Everything else was quite similair
I love this! It's a good comparison of those tubes under those conditions and at that moment.
What could be really cool is to be able to download the soundfiles, to hear them without YT compression.
Great video! Thanks to Pete and Dave!! I'm an EL34 guy, in my life I've tried in my amps JJE34L, JJ EL34 and Svetlana EL34 (2007 production); I remember the Svetlana was the most glassy top end and maybe scoopy but I liked them in the amp they were mounted.
Great stuff!! We’re ready for the 6L6 shootout.
Thanks for the shootout Pete! Loved hearing Beating Around The Bush!
The tone he got in that is fantastic
Thanks guys, lots of effort put into this, but great service for guitar community! Gonna try the eh el34 if my favourite store gets them.
This needs to be a new series! Tube rolling 6L6, 6V6, 12AX7 V1, 12AX7 V2, 12AX7 PI, etc. Really enjoyed the video. BTW, I put a matched quad of EH6CA7s in a Mesa Stiletto Deuce Stage II last year, put in a adjustable bias mod, and they really sound better to me than the Mesa EL34s. Thanks for sharing!
Great idea for a video and well done! That amp sounds great.
Amazing video guy's. Seriously, thanks.
Superb job and thx for investing the time and effort.
When I hear amps and Smorgasbord in the same sentence, I'M THERE!! Thanks, Pete.
Thank you. I appreciate you. I can only imagine the amount of fcking around it took to make this video come together. Excellent content, likeable, relatable and knowledgeable fellows. Total win.
Pete Thorn once again helps to remove the cork-sniffer fog and get to the core of the truth - all while making me so friggin envious of his guitar chops and tonemastery. Thanks, Pete! Rock on...
Those old Marshall's are so gnarly on the top-end. That's the sound of classic rock.
Marshall amps, like Les Pauls, are overrated and used by sheeple.
@@melvynobrien6193 someone forgot their meds today.
@@Billywagner22 once you understand the magic off the gold Marshall highs you fall in love
@@melvynobrien6193 Because your tone is superior to Eric Johnson, EVH, Michael Schenker, Duane Allman, Kosoff, Angus Young, etc., etc...????
@@melvynobrien6193 Mel loves his custom shop Hello Kitty Signature Model.
Great vid. Maybe an EL84 one next?
Edit: with Dave too if possible! Your discussion at the end gave some good context
Excellent video. Thank you!
I've parked EH6CA7's in my 100 was Superlead since they first came out but I might need to pickup a set of the EH EL34's next go around. I hear some good bark in the mid range and nice crush glass sparkle in the demo. Back in the old days, I recall reading an article around 1984 where Rudy Leiren mentioned he used Sylvania 6Ca7's in Ed's Marshalls and replaced them every other show. Outstanding demo guys!
Thanks so much Pete👍🔥
Great video Pete and Dave!! Thank you!!
PS, I see I am not the only one that like to record my cab upside down.. 🤘🏼
Those EH 6EA7's sound so good for EVH stuff. The midrange really has life and really cool snarl to it.
I keep coming back. Great vids Pete!
Pete+Dave= Instant like!
so glad there is a few of us left that appreciate tubes.
14 strong! Hold brothers!
I’m obsessed with tube amps. They are just heavenly .
Absolutely! I wish those who aren't concerned with their tone would find something better to do, than waste their lives watching things they disagree with.
I'm in the process of tube rolling an amp, and discussions like this are golden. For whatever reason, topics like this usually attracts a ton of trolls.
@@joshsmith7033 I was going to say people forget that tube amps at one point may have been affordable but, for most working musicians having to consider amp maintenance into the cost of playing kind of rules out tube amps for most. I have a few tube amps but, I also play them sparingly because they are heavy as hell to lug around and I hate paying to service them but, I also don’t trust doing it myself.
@@joshsmith7033 Price, (un)reliability, maintenance, practicability. List goes on and on. They are like mechanical watches. Cool but for all intents and purposes, inferior to the alternatives.
Thanks Pete, now I have those riffs stuck in my head for the next 12 hours or so. ha
Video quality looks great! I have no reason to be watching this more than once but.. I just love rock n roll..
Great demo and discussion, Pete and Dave!
For Relaxing Times!!! haha I love that ! Thanks for this hard work Pete! Siemens and Sylvania for my vintage vote. The new EH EL34's!
PETE I can listen to you play Van Halen all damned day long, if that went on for another week I wouldn't be sick of it
From what I'm hearing all the talk about different tubes really isn't worth it... Maybe it sounds different in person but through my monitors I don't hear it.
Great vid Pete... Always love to see Dave on here.
I didnt notice a very big difference. Cool test thanks guys!
I know I'm geekin out in a big way when this is of total high interest!!You guys have some true blue loyalty in your people. I have always heard just a touch more lows if using 6l6s, a bit more mid squish with el84s(my favorite for sure), and with el34s I just hear a balance that says Marshall tone to my ears. Especially when I was younger. That's at a very "average" bias level. I have only heard others in Fender amps for example. Thx fellas for this.
Excellent test! I, like you, was expecting more from the EH’s. My favorite had been the EH6CA7’s for quite a while. I still really liked them in this test. I’d still like to hear them with the bias a bit higher. Thank you for your efforts and reviews!
Good review. Thank you so much.
Excellent work! This is very awesome! Much like your 12AX7 shootout, your recordings parallel my own listening experience with the same EL34s, pretty much dead-on the same. Those grungy/compressed SEDs are not my preference in a 50W Marshall, but can be a better match in a 100w, or a modern sterile sounding amp that needs some more character. In the old Marshalls, XF2s or RFTs for me! Which one just depends on if I want brighter (RFT) or fuller (XF2). Thanks so much to you and Dave for putting the work into this and sharing with us!
Actually watching the video now that I'm free with time. This is such a cool video format! After you get yourself a nice AC30 you'll have to do this for us EL-84 guys! ;)
Perfect timing, I was looking for a new set of EL34s
That will be very informative video! Can't wait!
Thank you Pete and Dave! Phew. Though I couldn't hear too much difference from speakers (a little, tiny bit more with headphones) I've got a list of a couple of sets of tubes I want to chase down...just to have around as replacements. I'm going to be buying for quality as much as tone (what little difference there is). We don't know what the future of these tubes and manufacturing will be so, not a bad idea to have some security in the parts kit. What a great test. Gotta love an SG with humbuckers going into a JTM 50 watt. Cheers!
Amazing video, yet again!
Thanks chaps, great video
Ive been using Tung Sol in my amp bc the high end does something nasty that frankly is quite enjoyable for me, however, to my ear, here the original Siemens stood out and were easy to listen to. My favorite in this back to back comparison by far. Nice video!!!
Agreed The east German tubes roll off the high end in a nice way
Awesome video, thanks Pete and Dave! 🤘🏼 I see a lot of people commenting how they hear little difference, but one thing I’ve found is the playing feel is different between these tubes.. some just feel drier and like they’re fighting back, while some just saturate in a great way and make it feel easier to play!
Yep to me its what they feel under my fingers that my friend is a good point
Great job Pete!!!
Totally fun trip...yeah, guitar-geeky-whatever, that's a great run down. Besides being all locked in has served as a great time to tone-chase, at least for me anyway. Mediums in any art form matter. Good stuff to know. I love EH and Matthews and the stuff he does, such an eccentric character that runs a great operation here in NYC. I love stuff that is made in NYC, so little of it left...he's hanging on.
Great video! I always enjoy your playing. I would be really curious to hear a comparison of EL84 tubes.
I love The Tubes! Sorry couldn't resist. Good stuff here Pete!
Fee Waybill forever
@@PeteThorn I was lucky enough to see them Live on the Outside Inside tour (1983) two times (She's a Beauty). I'm not lying when I say those shows changed my life, in a good way. Fee Killed it. They were amazing.
It’s Tube Talk! Love it
Liked the Tung Sol a lot. Many thanks, gents!
Dang, that Sylvania... actually a little too silky or creamy for my setup, but wow, that's sweet. Thank you once more, Pete, awesome idea!. Kudos to Dave!
Good stuff I dorked out hard lol. Tubes are fun. I bought a box of vintage tubes, mostly EL34 and 6L6 tubes, years ago for $100. For EL34's I love vintage Matsushita's the most out of Mullard, Sylvania, etc. They chime and grind almost Voxish. I usually go Tung-Sol for new tubes, I like the high end clarity, or EHX for a softer tone tube. I liked the new Mullards too. They all sounded good just different. May your tubes glow guide you through the night.
Shit I missed the premiere. Ah, well. Awesome stuff, as always! I particularly enjoyed the tribute to Leland Sklar. ;) Take care, Pete. \m/
Not often I "pound" my ears with volume on a gear demo, did on this one! All different, cool vid Dave and Pete... Old stock for me, Mullards or Siemens. Great tones Pete!
If you understood electronic theory you wouldn’t have made a comment like that. You’re trying to hear differences that just aren’t there.
Tubes amplify the original signal through electron flow, they do not alter the frequency.
@@RockDrillSuite They all have different bandwidth and frequency response. Once driven to distortion they all have different characteristics...... subtle to some, audible to many. I'm an engineer, how about you???
Super groovy, I must be a guitar nerd? I love the acoustic on the wall. The faucet to get out the dropped picks is genius 😆
Great video👌👍 Favorite was the RFT one, it just has THE Marshall sound to it 😎👌 Actually liked all of the old ones, but out of the new ones I liked the JJ's & the tung sols.
Pete you are a true bad ass, I love watching your videos
Thanks!
WOW I love these kind of videos...
thanks for this!!!
But now you need to extend the comparison with the JJ EL34 II and the JJ E34L
:)
yepp..... I tested my reference pair of NOS Mullard xf4 against most current production tubes several years ago in my workshop! The JJ EL-34-II comes the closest to my xf4s - I use them on a large scale (300+ tubes a year pre-covid) only two failures per year! They run in my Class A and Hot Class A/B (around 400V) circuits for years! Get a good supplier who re-test/re-select , don‘t buy direct from the factory .... my opinion 😉
Amazing work! Would love a KT-66 comparison next 😎
I liked the JJ and Svetlana sound. They are sharp and remember me 80's metal tone.
I was totally ready for Beating Around The Bush to kick in during that intro!
Super cool, incidentally I got my hands on a pair of Rivera labelled Siemens/RFT EL34s that are soon going in to my JMP50 which is the same year and spec as yours! It seems I lucked out!
This will be interesting...I have a 72 sl/a and im swatting up for an acdc tribute band ...loved the Van Halen sound you guys did ...hello from Scotland 😆
🦆
Mr Thorn all of this is fantastic, but BRAV F-ING O on the new lighting. It looks so great! The video almost matches the playing now (your playing is a little not fair; so hence the almost)
Thanks Alan! Made some investments mainly in the new light that lights me that u don’t see. Makes all the difference in the world. Also learned a little bit about color grading, still a work in progress
Um, this is the most geeky/cork sniffer content ever and I am absolutely here for it! Pete Thorn and Dave Friedman are putting in the work nobody else is willing to do. They should get the Medal of Freedom for this. (I’m totally serious.)
Agree, with other demos and comparisons between different versions of amps you never know which tubes are in any of the amps being compared and how they are biased, which render the comparisons useless. The winner may sound like nothing if biased like the compared amp and reverse. That said, my experience tell me, that the difference is more in the perceived volume and the definition in the sound. I used EH EL34s to tame 100w super lead amps loudness and Mullards to make 50w 1987 amps louder to compete with 2203s and split channel 2210s. They got a bigger low end, and as mentioned sort of fills out more of the space. So i guess that i totally agree with their findings, including their description of the Siemens RFTs.
Or maybe the Metal of Freedom.
Wrong.
We listen to music too.
You're using your own ego to educate yourself.
This is natural for us to behave like this.
You've been damaged from zero customer service and mass population.
It's normal to listen to music.
Jumping on the band wagon is a horrible life.
Were u using any kind of pedal boost?
When you're playing loud enough to get good amounts of power tube distortion then the speakers are really going so a lot of the sound is them which can make tubes sound more similar than they are. I use a power scaled amp which allows you to overdrive ouput tubes at low speaker volume and you can hear huge differences between tubes. My favourite for two extremes if you're trying to tweak your tone is Tungsol EL34B for lots of fat low mids/bass through to JJ E34L for a super tight bass. It's a cathode bias amp so this may be contributing to the changes of course as different tubes find their idle points.
A LOT closer than I was expecting. The original mallards sounded killer 👌🔥😎
🦆
@@ReWindElectricOld 🤦♂️ gotta love auto correction 😂
I WOULD NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ANY ONE OF THOSE TONES GLORIOUS!
Thanks for doing this Pete! It had to be difficult. I tend to obsess about stuff like this. If I had to be the one doing this comparison...I'd surely run-out of my Fluvoxamine pretty quick!
They all sound pretty similar, but there are differences if you really listen closely to particular components of the overall tone. Personally, I liked the old Mullard's the best, then the Tung Sol's and the JJ's because they all have a swirling tone characteristic that I like a lot. I have a quad of original Svetlana's (to me they sound like old Mullard's) in my '72 Superlead that seem to be lasting forever. In my amp they sound amazing. I don't know what I'd ever replace them with when the time comes. I'm thinking probably Tung Sol.
Ah, great video, as always!
Its a pleasure to watch you and Mr.Friedman geeking out about things every time hes on the channel. Love that!
A suggestion for comparisons... hmm, maybe a little deeper dive into the brightcap-thing? Different values, how they work, why it doesnt really work well with most distortion pedals depending on the value, etc (I know what it does, but many people dont). You explained it briefly when you did the "amp in the zone" video about your 50w plexi as far as i can remember. But i doubt that this alone fills out a 45min video :P
Or a comparison of the different 1959-marshalls (from 1966 until today, or at least from 1966 till 1980 since todays reissue SLP is basically the 1974-1980 PCB amp, with the 1959HW being a unicorn. Doesnt have to be every year of course, but the 4-5 ones with noticable changes?). I know that Johann Segeborn has a lot of videos about that topic, but together with Mr.Friedman you maybe could do a thing similar to this one, but the other way round: the set of tubes stays the same, only the amp is getting changed out from clip to clip. And maybe some SuperBass-amps thrown into that for extra comparison.... Ok, just a dream, difficult to get your hands on all of them at the same time :P
Or something non-marshall related, like the different fender models played back to back (Deluxe, Twin, Super etc.)... Also the thing with vintage amps again...
Stay healthy!
The RFT EL34 from GdR sounds very good. Rock n Roll damnation 👍
Really really really..?
Just jokin'. Amazing video as always Pete, keep going
This was very informative. It's easy to compare back and forth because the location for each tube name is clearly visible by floating the mouse over the individual segments. I'm a big fan of the old Mullard. First out of the gate, it was hard to beat. The Siemens almost ties it for me. But those new Mullards do the job beautifully and affordably. Too bad I don't have an amp with EL34's!! Haha
I agree - it's hard to tell much difference - but I can absolutely say that the tubes make a huge difference , at least in my gear.
The 6CA7s jumped out at me. That said, it's all win, I did not hear any clear losers on first listen. I was tuning into the very first run on Light Up the Sky and listening for how brightly the notes popped. Anyway, will listen more than once to see what else I hear. Thank you, Pete. We need much more of this kind of 'test piloting.'
Bravo!! I've sworn by EH and some older JJ E34L that I own.
Great episode! I have some older production Chinese STR-B tubes and some newer... I hope the new ones don't fail! 😳🤬😂
Woooah how did I miss this video for so long🥳
I gotta get my 1974 Jmp 100 watt amp over to Dave (it used to belong to the great late Gary Ritchrath) recorded the solo to roll with the changes with it 👏
Loved Gary Richrath's tone and playing, without him that band wouldn't have rocked at all. Great classic licks in Roll with the changes...
What a great comparison Pete/Dave. So helpful for me, EL34 are my main rig. I’ve switched to EH because of you Pete and it’s my go to tube. Love em. I also use the Genalex Gold Lion KT77 and they rock as well. Thank you for what you do Pete. I have a 1976 Marshall 4x12, black back all original cab. Checkered .....great shape. Any interest in buying? I just don’t have use for a big 4x12.....lemme know.....love your vids and show. Never miss a show if I can help it....
Haha what a great opening riff
Love that track