Mullard EL84's - yay or nay?

[Erlend_G]

After cranking up my Blackstar HT-20mkII to full volume, it started making crackling and oscilliation noises.

Our (me and my friends, plus an amp techs) guess, is that one or both of the power tubes failed.

The power tubes look burnt , like there is soot stains on the inside of the glass. So, I decided to order some replacement ones once I got my christmas paycheck bonus.


... there were three kinds of tubes for sale here in Norway,

EH, Mullard and TAD. The amp came stock with TAD tubes,
, I've heard bad things about EH tubes (which were the cheapest),

The TAD's were too expensive, so I ordered two unmatched Mullards.


I'm going to put them in when they arrive, and also reduce the bias a bit.

I really hope this will put the amp back into working order...



(OFF TOPIC)

.....

I also ordered a low-ohm, high sensitivity , and cheap AKG headset. As my expensive Beyer-Dynamic isn't loud enough with anything but professional studio/Hifi equipment.

Cost me over 150USD in total! :o ... norwegian gear prices are crazy.

(So I hope my family and friends give me money as christmas presents this year, lol)



-Erlend

[ThreeChordWonder]

They haven't made real Mullards since the last century*. Current Mullards are made by the Russian company Sovtek using the Mullard brand name.

In fact, Mullard tubes were made in Partnership with Philips since about 1927 when the joint venture was required to meet the technical demands of the BBC.

My paternal grandfather was the Chief Engineer at BBC Bristol until he retired in 1968. My dad's home built stereo had some very, very, good tubes in it that were probably ex BBC stuff, tested and found "not to meet BBC specification". Fitted in a sandwich box though...

[ThreeChordWonder]

PS Mullards good, matched Mullards better.

[Hsb]

I have a set of matched Mullards, works for me just fine.

[NegativeEase]

I really like the new Mullards, although they are not exactly OEM original Mullards, it's a brand for marketing by EHX/Sovtek in the Reflektor factory now a days

I own a lot of original OEM 60s Mullards, but they sit on a shelf -dont want to waste them

[LLL]

I own a lot of original OEM 60s Mullards, but they sit on a shelf -dont want to waste them

Hey! Share the love. Know what I'm sayin?

[misterwhizzy]

Whenever I replaced EL84's in my JCA20H, I heard much more difference in the bias level than between different brands. I tried at least Tung-Sols, Mullards, and EHX, and none sounded much better than another. I have no problem going cheap on those.

[Bogner]

EH is much better now than they used to be. Friedman switched to them for their tubes because they failed the least and were the most consistent of what is available.

[LLL]

It's actually gotten to the point where when someone states "Mullards" or "Tung Sols", they're not talking about the actual real ones.

Kinda sad.

Long live Blackburn codes!

I have some Valvo and G.E. labeled (plus CV4004s) real Mullards. And a pair of worn out Xf2s.

[NegativeEase]

Hey! Share the love. Know what I'm sayin?

Well, I think Ive mentioned on here, my Dad's company made high end tubes until the late 70s in a partnership with Siemens, and his best friend owned (I think he passed) that big NOS tube seller in Gainesville, Florida (who now is a big online seller). and my dad and I built amps growing up.

So as you can imagine, I got some cool old tubes from my parents as birthday and Christmas gifts -especially in my 20s when I was playing big stacks.

They have sentimental value too, so I tend not to use them in my amps unless recording.

[Ewizard]

These days anything not NOS is made in one of three factories. The China-made Shuguang's are actually pretty good, but for obvious reasons are not very popular ( M.I.C. ). JJ and Reflektor are the big players with JJ probably being the most prevalent tube in the market. Reflektor is perhaps a little more bespoke making the tubes for specific " BRANDS " that simply are nothing more than a Brand Name stamped on the side of a Reflektor tube. JJ does this as well. Which one is best? I like JJ myself. They make reasonably priced tubes that perform well. Seeing as how there is a 33.33% chance that any given " Name brand " tube you get is made in one of the three factories, your odds are pretty good that they will all be decent quality regardless. I have not seen a high failure rate in any specific tube brand. I have a set of Ruby Tubes EL84's ( probably made by JJ ) that are happy getting flogged to death in one of my 18-watt builds. For two years they have been subjected to WFO Tone and Vol. controls running into a load box device of some sort. They haven't seen an easy day in their life and still ask for more. I have a set of JJ's in a JCA-50H that have gone for 10 years just as happy as can be. I have a set of Ruby Tubes in my Peavey XXX that as best I can tell are original to the amp ( mid 90's era ), and they are still kicking along just fine.

[esandes]

I tried all kinds of EL34s in my Marshall amps. I really like Mullard. If they're good for EL34 they should be for EL84.

[misterwhizzy]

Not to derail, but didn't I see something about the factory in China going down recently? A fire, maybe?

[Ewizard]

Yes, the China factory had some damage from some incident, but interestingly enough they were already planning on a new building to move to for production anyway. Apparently, nothing of importance was damaged, but there was enough to have them hold production until a later date. The current stock of China tubes are backstock and overstock of tubes made before the shutdown. They should be back at it soon though.

[80's_Thrash_Metal]

I've had great luck with matched Mullards as well as matched EHs I have found Mullards to be a little more gainy and sparkly and EHs to be smooth as silk.

Your mileage may vary.