Some have really been hit or miss in reliability so thought I would drop his out.
For me favorite tones right now are the Mullard reissues. Little bigger bottle so may not fit some amps. When you really crank these they come to life compress very nicely and really sing. A close second would be the TAD STR big bottles sound more like a 6V6 but just don't compress and sing like the Mullards when you really push them but IMO they last a little longer.
Reliability is where i will rank the TAD's as my #1 ran them for a few years in a couple amps and never had a failure. The JJ and Shunghangs on the other hand are just crap shoots.
Had my first failure of a Mullard last night when one redplated in the middle of a set. Was in my little Boogie Subway rocket. I flipped the amp off let it cool reset the tube with a tap and refired it. much to my amazement it ran the rest of the night was a little off tone wise but made it through. Dropped the other pair I had on hand in today and really beat on the amp for an hour or so through my 2/12 cab. Ran like a champ and sounds great.
i keep hearing rumors about reliability issues with many of the new production EL84's and wanted to get some feedback from other on experiences. i need to order at least another Quad to have back ups on hand. I'm thinking of just grabbing the Mullards because I like the way they sound but wanted to see if there was anything else out there folk were recomending .
For me favorite tones right now are the Mullard reissues. Little bigger bottle so may not fit some amps. When you really crank these they come to life compress very nicely and really sing. A close second would be the TAD STR big bottles sound more like a 6V6 but just don't compress and sing like the Mullards when you really push them but IMO they last a little longer.
Reliability is where i will rank the TAD's as my #1 ran them for a few years in a couple amps and never had a failure. The JJ and Shunghangs on the other hand are just crap shoots.
Had my first failure of a Mullard last night when one redplated in the middle of a set. Was in my little Boogie Subway rocket. I flipped the amp off let it cool reset the tube with a tap and refired it. much to my amazement it ran the rest of the night was a little off tone wise but made it through. Dropped the other pair I had on hand in today and really beat on the amp for an hour or so through my 2/12 cab. Ran like a champ and sounds great.
i keep hearing rumors about reliability issues with many of the new production EL84's and wanted to get some feedback from other on experiences. i need to order at least another Quad to have back ups on hand. I'm thinking of just grabbing the Mullards because I like the way they sound but wanted to see if there was anything else out there folk were recomending .
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