Mullard EL34 as a choice for your amp.

Tweak1 , addiction is stronger - thanks & sorry but will stick with tubes for now. I also think that there is a huge misunderstanding on the characteristics
of new and old/vintage sound of tube gear. But that issue was beaten to the ground and opening this can of worms will take away from the actual question in hand. Some of non tube gear that I like are: DarTZeel gear (nice but price is beyond me) and
Red Wine Audio Signature 30.2 amp - which I really like and see myself building a system around it.

Hi Rob,
no I was thinking about NOS,
heard mixed feelings about new reissued series.
But please, share your thoughts regardless.
I am always open to good advice or suggestions.

Thank you Jig for complements and interest in my question.
You are right, I should mentioned the characteristics that I'm looking for in EL34s replacements. My rig is already fast, transparent, musical. Bass is nice, well define, articulated, robust and I am not sure if it can get any better in my own setup and room. So, where I am looking for improvements is middle range. What I am seeking for is more engaging voices, slightly more body and air around the notes, detail (not coloration). Budget around $500.

Also anyone came across low noise, musical 12ax7 for phonostage.

Thank You

I recently bought Vacuum Tube Valley issue 16 to research the "which EL34" question, as it had an EL34 tube shoot-out. Apparenltly here are 3 different types of Mullard EL34's, of which type 2 and 3 rated very well, but they rated almost all the new production types (JJ E34L, Sovtec EL34G, Svetlana EL34) equally well, and several NOS Tungsram tubes better. They liked some 70's Japanese Amparex the best, surprisingly some Telefunken among the least, but almost all the tubes rated pretty closly. I use late Siemans, and like them.

A friend of mine has those amps with JJ KT77s on Martin Logan Odysseys and it sounds FANTASTIC! I would look into some of those JJs