Svetlana vs Mullard EL-34's

I have tried both. The Mullards are better, bigger and fuller sound. My Mullards did not last as long as I thought they should, particularly given their price and reputation. When they gave out, I decided for the amp I was using, Cary Signature 40 M, it didn't make sense to pay the $ for the Mullards, so I went back to Svetlana's. You know what, I like the Svetlana's. They don't sound as good as the Mullard's, but they still sound very good and to me the difference was not worth the $. And now when I think I may need to change tubes--I just do it and don't worry about it because the Svetlana's are so inexpensive. I do intend to try cryo treated Svetlana's in the near future. I think they are going to be very good and still very reasonable.

I couldnt agree with Rives more, I too have tried both and feel that the trouble involved in finding a tightly matched quad isnt worth the hassle. My amp (Air Tight ATM 1) requires tightly matched quads and the ones you find here and on ebay may be called or claimed to be mathched, but my experience has proven otherwise. the problem lies in there being very few Mullards to choose over to get a good match....aside from that, the Svetlanas and even the JJs, sound very good and cost about 5-8 times less.

Umn:

There are many different versions of the Mullard el34/6ca7. I still own the xf1/double getter & the xf2/single getter versions. I recently (last 4 years) listened to/compared later XF3 & XF4 versions (can't remember the getter details on them, but the plates were of a different construction type and they did not sound the same to me as the earlier versions).

To make this even more complex (or maybe not) I have also owned/used XF1/single getter and XF2/double getter versions, these having different getter construction than those noted above that I have kept.

The "maybe not" part is that I considered the XF1 single and double getter versions interchangeable in push/pull amps as they both had the same sound. The same is/was true of the single/double getter XF2's. However, there was a difference in sound (to me) between the XF1 and XF2 tubes (same goes for the XF3 and XF4 types). Other's may even hear a difference between single/double getter versions within the same type/code. Just because I did not hear a difference does not mean that others cannot.

This makes your question a tad more complicated than it seems.

I'll suggest that you research the various Mullard types as well as the "various" Svetlana types @ Audio Asylum in their tube forum (audioasylum,com).

Yes, there are now various Svetlana el34's as well. Svetlana USA (think that's the name) can now label any tube with the Svetlana brand and they have been doing just this from what I have seen/read. I believe that the original Svetlana el34's were produced in the St. Petersburg plant (sp) and this is no longer necessarily the case.

I have no idea as to what/which tubes the above posts are referring to (and neither do you). A bit of work, but again try searching @ Audio Asylum (lots written on this).

Thanks for all your input.

Mullard produces the most neutral sounding EL34 I have ever heard. But I don't think they are worth the money. You might want to try something out of Germany ( Siemens, RFT, Telefunken ) It seems easier to find a matched quad, and the sound is quite good.

The Svets ( IMHO ) are the smoothest of the newly produced tubes, but lacking in bass. Tesla ( after breaking in ) have the most bass. But sometimes go out with a bang.

You can try thetubestore.com, they offer their opinions different EL34's. And thel also do a good job of matching.