Your choice of EL34's

Getting back to tubes the average audiophile could actually find, hear, and buy without being independently wealthy, an inveterate risk-taking junky, or possessing an advanced degree in ancient audio esoterica: The Svetlana's are the best new EL-34's available IMHO (used in my C-J MV-55). There are previous threads on this subject to search for...

Albert, I'm sure you've listened to many tubes that I never will, but I suspect that if I could, I might only somewhat disagree with you in degree, not in kind. I do not at all dispute that tubes can greatly affect the quality of the sound, and that there are times when an older tube, even an extensively used tube, can have the superior sound. Most of my tube-rolling using vintage tubes has taken place in my guitar amps, and there has even been an occassion when the best sounding tube was an "obsolete" metal-case oldie. I will admit that these experiments were done with tubes that I just scrounged up, not pristine NOS bought for big bucks from a dealer. But I have also done a little dabbling with mail-order NOS in my hi-fi preamp, and mostly been disapointed, with noisy, ringy results. And with power output tubes, I've always found that freshness does matter. Obviously, it's possible to manufacture either a superior or an inferior tube, and it is probable that some of the best would have been made in the tube's heyday. But it is also possible that someone could make a top-quality tube today. In addition, I think it is quite likely that some amount of snobbery and opportunism has attached itself to the NOS market, as will happen with any scarce or no longer made commodity. If I had the patience and werewhithal to hunt down premium NOS and do all the comparing, maybe I would reach conclusions similar to yours. But this is clearly not for everybody, and motivation, in the form of dissatisfying sound, would also have to be present. I think that in a case such as the Svetlana EL-34's, that someone might be manufacturing a tube right now that is about as good as anything ever made, a position some reveiwers have taken on this tube. I like what I hear with this product enough that in my rig, I am not really curious to go down the NOS road (and they've been very durable). YMMV!

Well, I didn't mean to give the impression that I find Albert's pursuit of the best possible sound snobbish. But I do think that the high-end industry as a whole, and the NOS tube sub-industry, does drive its marketing and pricing strategies, in part, from a snob-appeal perspective. I'm not saying anything revolutionary, of course, and this business is hardly the only one to indulge in it. (I do think that the music lover can suffer for it these days, but I also have to admit that the snob-appeal angle "works" on me to some extent, as I'd warrant it does with most audiophiles, aesthetes of the picayune that we are.) But if it's fair to criticize the modern product by suggesting that it only costs .50 cents to manufacture it, then its also fair to criticize the NOS business by suggesting that an old tube didn't cost $100 to manufacture, either.

Actually, this whole topic begs a question that I, as a tube user with a distaste for the vagaries of NOS-chasing, find very interesting to ponder. Why couldn't the tube-component industry, maybe in conjunction with the guitar-amp makers, form a consortium to design and manufacture a modern line of tubes that would take full advantage of the latest technologies and manufacturing capabilities? It's already been proven that people will pay a premium for the best, and equipment makers would love to be able to depend on a reliable supply. I think that, as a whole, the modern tube gear industry is probably large enough to make such an undertaking feasible, and that it would be profitable in the long run, even if very expensive as a start-up proposition. (Look, for instance, at what Kron Enterprises has been able to accomplish, or at least attempt, on their own.) Maybe a new generation of "super-tubes" could help tube gear catch up in some of the areas where SS has advanced beyond what was acceptable performance before the latest generation of speakers and digital sources upped the ante. I believe tubes are obviously here to stay, and that there is no reason in theory why a superior product couldn't be made today for the future, same as transistors or chips.

Maybe the guys who resurrected the WE 300B could branch out...

FWIW, I agree with Albert that the Tesla's are good for the money, but for a little more I prefer the Svetlana's. My tests were done in my Connie-Jay MV-55 driving Thiel CS2.2's (I've not heard the V-12). The Tesla's were certainly better sounding than the stock Sovtek's, and I used them for over a year before trying the Svet's. My impetus to experiment again came from durability issues I was having with the Czech tubes. The Svetlana's have the most natural sonic signature of the three on all manner of instruments and voice, with less tonal coloration, the cleanest transients, and the firmest bass. The Tesla's were more extended than the boring-sounding Sovtek's, but had a rising high frequency emphasis and lacked fullness and body compared to the Svet's, which I think are more neutral but just as extended. They also possess the smoothest-textured presentation and the greatest sense of image solidity. Overall, the amp now sounds more transparent to the source, with the least "electronic" character imposed. And as I stated before, longevity seems very good so far (about a year of a few to several hours a day use).

Albert, exactly which Sovtek 12AX7 are you recommending? I was never impressed with them in the past, but I know they've introduced some new wrinkles in the meantime. My preference in new 12AX7's has been Yugoslovian EI ECC83's, though a person has to go through a bunch to find a couple of quiet ones. Fortunately, they are common at local guitar shops (when the country of manufacture isn't in chaos), so I can try several and promptly return the duds (if only I could do this with NOS!) I also tried the newish Teslas, but didn't like them much better than the Chinese ones (and had durability problems with these as well). The even more recent Svetlana version still awaits my audition.

What you say about a circuit's being intimately bound together with any particular tube's performance in it is undoubtedly the truth. So in fairness, I should point out (as I have alluded to in past forums that touched on this subject) that C-J techs advised me not to run the Tesla EL-34's in my MV-55, because their tests showed that only the Sovtek was up to the demands of this circuit (I suppose this has to do with biasing). I went ahead and ignored that warning, since the Teslas clearly sounded better than the Sovteks in the amp, and since I had always found C-J's tube replacement kit choices for my preamp to be seemingly based mostly on dependability of supply rather than sound (and I can sympathize with their need in this). Now the fact that the Tesla still managed to sound better than the manufacturer's recommended brand, albeit while not lasting as well in the circuit, led me to assume that I was not compromising its sonic potential and that C-J was just playing it safe. But I obviously cannot rule out the possibility that the Tesla tube might be able to give even more of itself in a situation where it was operated more comfortably within its (claimed by C-J) design specification. Luckily for me, the Svetlana made all this moot, and I have wondered why C-J never made them the OEM choice in this model, given that they have used Svetlana 6550 types in their bigger models. Maybe they still thought the Sovtek was going to last a little bit longer here - or maybe they just didn't want to buy a more expensive tube for a two-grand product.