BEST 7189/EL84's To Take Serious Heat.....

[zozoe]

Greetings.... I've got some real hot 'n nasty amps that roast power tubes; Mesa, Budda, Vox, & Morgan, and I need a great sounding & heat/voltage handling set of tubes.... I recently read about some Preffered Series 7189's that can handle 400+v, and want to know what else is out there that might also be an all-around winner....
Sound, Durability, & won't crap out from the heat.
Many thanks~

[Rex_Rocker]

Russian 6P14P-EV. Sturdy, reliable, and can take a beating better than anything else out there, IME.

Or the modern equivalent. New Sensor sell a couple of variations on that same recipee: Sovtek EL84-M, Tung Sol 7189, or Gold Lion N709. I've only tried the Sovteks, but they sound the same as the old Russian military tubes. Don't know about longevitiy. Never pushed either all that much, honestly.

If not, the plain old Sovtek EL84/6BQ5 is reliable and good-sounding. Same as the EH's.

I personally dislike JJ EL84's, but that's just me. I find the top end raspy and brittle, and the mids to be focused lower than I'd like. I've had a couple fail on me too.

The TAD's that claim that sound like 6V6's don't. At all. They do have more top-end detail, and are scooped in the lower mids (hence more clarity and the ilusion of a wider soundstage, but not really). They do sound decent, though.