Would you use any of these tubes?

[Steve Savicki]

The first looks like a propane tank.

[ThrillsNSpills]

I would use Groove tubes.

There may be better choices now. I don't know if GT has the same rep they did in the past but someone will set me straight on it soon enough.

[indeedido]

Groove Tubes are great. Each are matched and rated. Good quality tubes. Most of the gigging "rock stars" use them. They have great customer service. You can email them, and they'll tell you what your favorite star is using. Slash, EVH, Zakk, etc

[BrownSound1]

I'm not a GT fan at all. I've had several sets of Groove Tubes that were matched as well as a fuckin' clown suit. Groove Tubes doesn't make their tubes...they just take something like Sovteks or whatever and relabel them. You'd be better off using Winged C (formerly called Svetlana..don't buy the "new" Svetlana tubes, they suck), or JJ/Teslas. Hell, the Chinese are making huge leaps with their tube manufacturing, and apparently have one of the best sounding new production EL34s on the market. I believe they are called Shuguangs. Terry Kilgore (yes THAT Terry Kilgore) sells tubes and he said that he has run them at all kinds of extreme plate voltages, and they have survived better than any other new production tube out there. Plus the tone is EXCELLENT. I'm going to get me a set, and some old Mullard ECC83s (12AX7s)for my preamp tubes. I believe that you can justify the cost of Mullards in the preamps because the preamp tubes can last for years. However power tubes are a different story. I can't justify the cost of NOS power tubes in a gigging amp. Way too expensive, and too much chance of them getting broken.

Now back to the original question....yeah, I'd use them before using some other brands out there. However, I think there are better choices available.

[Nitro Express]

It all depends on what tube you are using. Some brandnames have better EL-34 tubes than others and some have better 5881 tubes than others. I order my tubes from tubedepot.com. Their website is a great place to learn about all the tubes available.

My 5150 II is very tube sensative since it's high gain. I'm running Electroharmonix power tubes 6L6 GC and Electroharmonix preamp tubes with a NOS Telefunken in the V2 socket. Man, it's a new amp!

My Fender Bassman is quite forgiving on tubes. Even the cheap Chinese Sino tubes sound fine in it.

The Tube Depot can sell you custom matched tubes. Distorted guitar amps do better with low bias point tubes and high end stereo amps do better with high bias point tubes.

What's cool is the put a label with the bias point on the tube so when you retube, you order that bias point of replacement tubes and you don't have to mess with the bias on the amp or if they sound good in a fixed bias amp, you know what to reorder.

[kentuckyklira]

Originally posted by BrownSound1
I believe they are called Shuguangs.

Shuguang or Sino, depends on who´s selling. Cheap as hell BTW, less than 20 Euros for a matched pair.

[Nitro Express]

Sometimes a cheap as dirt tube will do the job. What some of these audiofiles pay for NOS tubes blow me away.

Some of those Chinese tubes are built pretty well with thtee mica disks in them so they are more druable.

[BrownSound1]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
What some of these audiofiles pay for NOS tubes blow me away.

You've got that right. We want those old tubes because of their overdrive characteristics, and they want them for audio reproduction. Talk about opposite views. :D

I noticed at Tube Depot the other day that they had a used Mullard XF1 EL34 with the big brown base for $299. I know it is rare and all, but fuck me running. I can retube my whole amp, preamps included, several times for the cost of that tube. Of course mind you that there has never been a better sounding EL34 than a Mullard, but still.

They did have a Mullard XF3 for $99 bucks...but at that price it is still 400 bucks to pop those in a 100 watter.

[The_KiD]

It all depends on what you are going for. I am not a fan of the Groove Tubes personally. Brownsound1 made some great recomendations. I run a fairly high end Tube 2 channel music rig and have played around with different tubes in guitar amps as well.

For out put tubes (EL-34, 6550's, and KT-88's) the Winged-C (Svetlanas) are great for the money. I have heard no other tube for the money come close. You can have some fun with EL-34's are they are pretty cheap. I really like the NOS Siemens, Mullards, and Philips Mini-Watts. Also Amperex made a metal base EL-34 which is supposed to be crazy good but they are stupid money..

As far as 12Au7's, the Mullards are about as good as it gets. If you are looking for something a little cheaper, the Philips JAN's are well rounded and found easily for great prices.

Cheers,

KiD

[Nitro Express]

The new Shuguang EL-34 tubes comming out of China are getting good reviews. I play a modded 5150 II so I'm a 6L6 man at the moment. Working on finishing a Metroamp Super Lead 100 kit so when that's done I'll light up some of those Shuguang EL-34s and see what kind of fire those Chinese dragons make.