EL84 tubes compared: Russian, Chinese and vintage European
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- Опубліковано 19 січ 2018
- I bought the cheapest and most expensive EL84's from a general, non-guitar dedicated electronics supplier. I had a closer look, and tried them out in a single ended 5W Champ clone. Guitar used was a Squier Telecaster in the middle position. Once I had an acceptable sound, I didn't change the settings on the amp or the guitar.
www.conrad.be/ce/nl/product/1...
www.conrad.be/ce/nl/product/1... - Наука та технологія
Great vid dude, clear and super useful!
Oh my the telefunken so smooth!
I'm getting old now but I remember, as a kid in america, you could buy tubes in all the drug stores. In my hometown 1 drug store and a 5 and dime. Both had tubes and tube testers!!
Yep, the big metal tube testing machines were very common in stores. The drugstore near me had one. I recall seeing them as a kid in the early to mid 1970's.
Very interesting. The puppy and the chickens were cool too. Thank You from Mobile, Alabama
What a sweet comment! Glad you enjoyed the video. Greetings, from Hoegaarden, Belgium
"RSD" was "Röhren-Spezial-Dienst" (Special tube service), they were big in the late 70s and 80s to supply replacement parts for old radios and televisions after the original manufacturers had discontinued them. They rebranded whatever they could get their hands on (which was a necessity in those days, you were lucky to get tubes at all!), so quality may be a mixed bag.
I live in Belgium and it truly is a forsaken hellhole 😂 goede video! Heb de BTB EL34 tubes
Sweet!!
Very Good, tanks man!
Glad you like it!
Very good review on the EL84/6BQ5 Amplifier tubes. I was Suprised to hear the difference in sound. I am sure a Vintage Sylvania or RCA would have a warm sound as well especially in a Vox amplifier👍👍💙
Cool, thanks!
@@zjokka I like the solvetek, get a new production Mullard regular length plate 12ax7,, short plates are for high gain
I,inked the Belgian Addams best. Followed by the Soviet. The Philippa and telefunken were very different to the others but had a pleasant sound.
Sovteks are newmade. They are still making them. Funny, but Sovteks tubes almost impossible to buy in Russia.
Hi Dmitry! Thanks for you comment. Sovtek is owned by Electro Harmonix guy Mike Matthews, an American and the only Russian factory still making tubes. www.wikiwand.com/en/Sovtek
Thank you! Sure, I know it well. The factory is nearby my city. And the only option to buy some is to drive there, call them up and grab some tubes. 'Nearby' is around 500km, but that's Russia. Pretty convinient I should say (no). =)
hellhole, belgium. what a name.
I did not invent that ;-) it was a joke. There is however, a town called Hellevoetsluis just across the border in NL. A lovely place!
@@zjokka haha! what a chilled video you made. thx
Great test, cheers! For me, the first ones sounded a bit dull, sovtek better low end but lacking def in high harmonic notes, jj for me lack character, telefuken just right! phillips quite balanced, adzam surprising good sound.
Sorry men, but JJ tubes are not Chinese. JJ electronic factory is located in Slovakia (Europe), previously Czechoslovakian TESLA: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JJ_Electronic
Of course, you are absolutely right.
I'm new in all this things so which ones should I use with a vox ac15?
Anything's better than what the amp came with (chinese tubes)... it's all matter of taste. I like Sovtek for price and reliability...
Uhh , their are only a few companies making tubes for all suppliers. Many say the sovtec 's are good.
the tubes sounds the same at low volume ,
I love tubes... And chicken too
If you did speaker swaps the difference in tone would have 100s of times greater! The only difference in tone between them would be in emission strength that you would see on a tube tester, a tube that tested strong would sound chimey, older tubes that have lost their strength will lose their top end response. Tubes are fun to play with but after a while you start to toss in any tube that tests strong, isn’t microphonic, and a good track record of lasting- then you go searching for tone elsewhere
How come such a small speaker? Test with 10" speaker.
Because the Champ has an 8" speaker! But ok, I'll do the test again with better recording gear, a lot of different tubes and a bigger cabinet. People who are interested in the sound of one preamp tube versus another should focus on becoming better players. But this is a very popular video...
If I used 10", you may come back and ask for 12"? All that matters is that the setup is exactly the same for every clip except for the power tube....
@@zjokka- correct - it's not tiny speaker size - that makes the sound not clear / muffled / distorted - we need to focus on becoming better players - tone is down (highs are sliced off) and playing (very good jazz) is loose with fingers on the strings muffling them vs a clear attack with a pick. Further, since this is a Champ Clone guitar amp - it might not be the best quality with circuits and tone quality. Your playing is good. But what you do as a player, is hard to hear coming through. Don't turn down tone. Let the strings ring.
@@BrewerShettles A single ended amp is more suited to test the tonal characteristics of an amp than a push-pull: in latter case, you are hearing both tubes at the same time. Also, tube don't have a certain tone... they just have electrical properties that react to the surrounding circuit - layed out in the spec chart of the tube. There are good tube, those who live up to those specs, and bad one, whose electrical properties have degraded.
This is not my best video in my own opinion, but people seem to like it. Still, there is no information here... very old tubes may have seen little activity in their life and hence perform great; new tubes have seen a lot of use or have production mistake.
@@zjokka I like it too - your playing is excellent!!!! You muffle the strings and kill tone. Let the strings shine!! Use new strings. Maybe your strings are dead. Time to change strings a few times a year!! Distortion is ok. Adds cool edge. I play guitar too.
@@BrewerShettles 7:05 all I hear is those crappy ceramic Squier pickups - horrible! It's got Nocaster pickups in it now...
JJ’s are not Chinese Tubes they are manufactured in Slovakia
You're absolutely right -- my mistake. Already older video.
I would smoke weed for seasons looking thru that window
Sitting by the Window by Moby Grape (1967).
@@montag4516 ua-cam.com/video/7CkGx5BkS8c/v-deo.html thanks for this
well i will say that those Russki tubes give them older tubes a good run for their extra money if u buy them now.
The Russ Tubes and Tung Sol/ American are the same designs aren't they
Hey, thanks for you question. I do not think so... the Russian tube is directly equivalent, but constructed differently from the US ones. Wiki says: "6P14P (Cyrillic: 6П14П) produced in the USSR by the Reflektor plant. As of 2012 a slightly modified version of the 6P14P was manufactured in Russia for Sovtek. An extended-ratings version of the 6P14P is also available - 6P14P-EV (Cyrillic: 6П14П-ЕВ) and is known among US guitar players as "EL84M" or the "Russian military EL84". While not necessarily a true "military version" of the tube (in fact it is more comparable to the 7189), 6P14P-EVs are known for their low noise and durability. Large NOS (New Old Stock) supplies of the tube are available."
Note that last sentence.
The German brand Tube Amp Doctor, now even popular in the US, started their business on the basis of this big supply of old Russian tubes available from East Germany, which until 1989 was still communist.
EL84 is also one of the youngest tubes around, invented in 1953, where 6V6 and 6L6 date from the late 30's... So it was invented after the Cold War started, in England. Then copied by the Russian, but the construction of the tube will be different, no doubt. Sorry I don't have specific info on this.
@@zjokka I knew about Russian Made Tung Sols being produced after Tung Sol had quit making them in The US and I assumed this was anther Tung Sol design ...I am no expert about tubes ,I think it is interesting though ...Thanks for the reply Zjokka
@@VIDSTORAGE Ok -- you are referring to the Soviet/EHX tubes which are currently made. Maybe they do a "Tung Sol" reissue.... I don't know but wouldn't attach too much importance to that.
The Russian tubes I had were old military stock from East Germany, with date codes from the 70s.
@@zjokka ua-cam.com/video/oHtYLc40DC0/v-deo.html This is a vid about the Russian Tubes that uses the Tung Sol brand logo vs. the NOS Tung Sols that made me curious about your tubes and I can clearly see they are much different than yours ..Thanks again for the information on the history of them ..
Prefer the Philips sound-wise, warmest/fullest.
What’s better el84, amperex, ge, or sylvania?
Mike Jamieson in this case i liked the amperex a lot but with old tubes a big factor is the actual condition of the tube. Thanks for asking
1. sovtek
2. 2- nd russian tube rds
3. Telefunken
4. Mazda
5. Philips miniwatt
6. JJ .
7 chines.
Telefunken EL84
Telefunken was the warmest then Phillips then sovteks then rsd
Phillips to my ears
ADZAM is MAZDA backwards!
Yes:-) Typically for Belgians to put the template in mirror view.....
Ламповый усилитель. Сравнительный тест: 6П14П / 6П15П / 6П18П ua-cam.com/video/8EHrXF7bUnw/v-deo.htmlsi=1nqfq_KJMb3upTyy
Hey thanks for the comment but I don't believe is brand testing tubes anymore... quality is only a result of selection, not brands. Some brands just buy and select...
CCCP is the Soviet Union... just shows they are NOS at this point.
Thanks for your comment...
I knew that, I think I mentioned that in the video. Problem is not the quality of the tubes, but that the company who buys these old military supply doesn't bother to test them.
Like you said: it's real NOS, but the company selling them, thinks they make a better product rebranding them... easier than selecting them, but still a waste of ressources.
@@zjokka yeah you said it as i typed hahah
Long as not from china.every thing breaks
I think it's all a matter of testing and selection - and old tubes that are still working have gone through natural selection.
Ma per la mia esperienza con le mie radio, le valvole Telefunken made in germany originali sono le migliori, migliori anche delle philips anche se philips ha sempre fatto delle valvole di qualita', per esempio su le radio CGE anni 50' montavano sempre valvole Telefunken made in germany in produzione, se monti le philips la radio va bene ma non ha la stessa potenza di suono che ha con le Telefunken made in germany, alcuni modelli di valvola Telefunken a parita' di sigla con la Philips ha una struttura interna della griglia diversa rispetto alla Philips, per cui per me le Telefunken made in germany sono le migliori che danno un suono potente e molto definito.
I nomi dei marchi non garantiscono una certa qualità o suono, è importante solo il processo di selezione. C'è un processo di selezione in fabbrica, ma per ogni vecchia valvola ancora funzionante oggi, è stata sottoposta a un test di 50 anni. Le valvole vintage che funzionano ancora oggi sono le MIGLIORI unità prodotte. Tra 50 anni ci saranno ancora tubi J&J ed EHX in giro - e vale la stessa teoria: se funzionano ancora sarebbero i migliori prodotti da quella fabbrica. Ma solo il tempo potrà dirlo...
Le valvole New Old Stock sono sempre una scommessa: mai usate, quindi non testate come lo erano le altre.
@@zjokkaNo io non ho detto che la valvola telefunken va' meglio perche' si chiama Telefunken, ma perche' ha delle piccole differenze costruttive rispetto alle philips che la rendono piu' performante da un punto di vista di resa nel suono, se tu prendi una ECH81, UCH 81, UCH42 e guardi come è fatta una telefunken con la sua placca argentata ed una philips che ha la reticella al posto della placca, e questo rende la telefunken superiore del resto le valvole telefunken costavano di piu' delle philips, brimar, fivre, ecc. Ma solo quelle Made in Germany, perche' dopo la Philips compro' Telefunken e Siemens erano tutte uguali anche se con marchi diversi.
Philips best
Terrible test
Thanks for your support!