SED Winged "C" EL34

headrott

No problem Brock. Just let me know.

Greg

doctor r

Offer remains open, just picked up a quad of Amerex EL34s to add to the menu.

Rick

reeltrouble1

hot damm, American Express has tubes.........waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

RT1

george daniel

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

hot damm, American Express has tubes.........waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

RT1

yep-- the pre sale password is the customer service 800 number listed on the back of your card-- pre sale begins on Wed--6-46-10 thru valvemaster.com :rolleyes:

reeltrouble1

I did just order two quads from Jim of the SED, they work very well in the Wolcott's. The amps circuit was actually designed to minimize tube sound differences but there are other factors to consider that do not make all tubes equal sq aside, you still need the fundementals of voltage and current. The SED are a very strong tube, could of got some Mullard cryo, but passed from the tubeman in Fla.

RT1

doctor r

Now you get rewards points for all the tubes you buy

heiney9

SED Winged "C" EL34 or EI 6CA7? If you had to choose one, why?

I'm looking to purchase one or the other, unless someone can convince me to get both. I've decided unless I can find a pair of real Mullards for about $125 or less I'm not going down that path with the Norh SE9.

So these seem to be the best two alternatives and possibly I'll be adding a Siemens/RFT EL34 at some point.

Discuss

H9

george daniel

Whew,, I have both,,I think the "C" has a tad better midrange,,,the EI 6CA7 has better bass,,and thats' really kinda picky on my part--if I had to choose just one--I'm gonna stay with the "C"'s.

heiney9

george daniel wrote: »

Whew,, I have both,,I think the "C" has a tad better midrange,,,the EI 6CA7 has better bass,,and thats' really kinda picky on my part--if I had to choose just one--I'm gonna stay with the "C"'s.

The thing is now that I think about it I can still get the "C"'s farily easily since they are still made. The EI's on the other hand.............might go for those now and then get the "C"'s at a later date.

If you can't tell, I am so undecided. Some have commented that with the Norh SE9 the least improvement is found in the EL34 position. The rectifier has the most influence w/ the driver tubes next and then EL34's really don;t influence the sound all that much..........particularly going from a Mullard to an EI or Winged C.

That's why I'm sortr of putting the Mullards on the back burner for now. I have the rectification covered and I will have the driver position covered shortly.........all that's left is EL34's and supposedly this unit respondes well to power cord rolling.

H9

P.s. Swapping the Sovtek rectifier w/ a British made RCA (Blackburn) made a very big, positive difference even with the EH's at the EL34 position.

george daniel

Brock-- I misinterpretated your post,,I thought you meant EH 6CA7's,, I know that Jesse was very fond of the EI's,, I was referring to the EH's,, not the EI's-- good luck in your search.

heiney9

george daniel wrote: »

Brock-- I misinterpretated your post,,I thought you meant EH 6CA7's,, I know that Jesse was very fond of the EI's,, I was referring to the EH's,, not the EI's-- good luck in your search.

Yes George, the are the Ei 6CA7 from Yugoslavia the same ones Jesse likes. So far after the rectifier change I'm not really disliking the Electro Harmonix EL34's all that much.

george daniel

The EH's are not a bad tube,,I have the EH 6CA7's in my amp and actually like them better than the old Teslas that were there before,for the money it's a very good tube,IMHO.

heiney9

I have been reading that the EH 6CA7 is a nicer sounding tube than the EH EL34. But those reviews are from Guitar Gear sites. I believe I have the EH EL34 not 6CA7, but they really sound better w/the a rectifier change. Perhaps when I find a decent driver tube the EH's will be just fine. .

getting some review info here

http://www.watfordvalves.com/cgi-bin/documents/testreport_46.pdf

F1nut

Some have commented that with the Norh SE9 the least improvement is found in the EL34 position. The rectifier has the most influence w/ the driver tubes next and then EL34's really don;t influence the sound all that much..........particularly going from a Mullard to an EI or Winged C.

If that is the case, why bother?

That said, the Ei 6CA7 is a very nice sounding tube with balls.

heiney9

F1nut wrote: »

If that is the case, why bother?

That said, the Ei 6CA7 is a very nice sounding tube with balls.

I think the point of the article was more about the high cost of the Mullards wasn't worth the difference's it made in that particular rig. I'm sure there are differences but $300/pr for Mullards vs. $60/pr fro SED "C"'s the difference wasn't worth the cost. All tubes sound different but at what point does the extra cost become worth it. (he was speaking about the Norh SE9 specifically w/his speakers) I'm not saying the Mullards don;t sound any different.

I'll watch the Ei 6CA7's and if they stay reasonable then I'll certainly give them a try.

H9

heiney9

George, are your EH 6CA7's the "fat" bottle type? Do they have the gold label? I found a pair very cheap but the Norh sockets are recessed and some have said the fat bottle type won;t fit. These are flared out from the base up, but still look smaller than many fat bottles.

H9

george daniel

Yep-- they have the gold label,, but are not exactly "fat",,much smaller than a KT 88--my sockets are flush I'm not familar with your amp,,but if your sockets are not recessed say,, 1.5 inches or so-they should fit just fine.

thsmith

H9 I am currently running the Ei 6ca7s in my anthem, bought them from Jesse. I was running Wing Cs previously.

I agree with Jesse they have plenty of punch but I also liked the Cs as well. Not quite the punch as the Ei but still I thought the Cs were nice sounding tubes.

george daniel

how did those redbases work out for you-- Brock-- how many power tubes do you need for that amp?

heiney9

Any idea what a good pair of Ei 6ca7's should sell for? I realize those sold in the FM might have been a great deal. Just looking for an average price. Would you guys pay more for the Ei 6ca7's than the Winged "C"? I can buy new Winged C's all day long for about $60/pr. Should I pay more the Ei's or if they get around $70-80/pr let 'em go and just settle on the Winged "C"'s?

Sorry for so many questions, just trying to get the best bang w/o breaking the bank or over paying.

H9

heiney9

george daniel wrote: »

how did those redbases work out for you-- Brock-- how many power tubes do you need for that amp?

??? redbases???

It takes (2) El34's

H9

thsmith

george daniel wrote: »

how did those redbases work out for you-- Brock-- how many power tubes do you need for that amp?

George, I ashamed to say I have not put them in the Wright yet. I am on vacation mid AUgust and plan to put them in then as well as the steel rings for the 1Cs.

heiney9 wrote: »

Any idea what a good pair of Ei 6ca7's should sell for? I realize those sold in the FM might have been a great deal. Just looking for an average price. Would you guys pay more for the Ei 6ca7's than the Winged "C"? I can buy new Winged C's all day long for about $60/pr. Should I pay more the Ei's or if they get around $70-80/pr let 'em go and just settle on the Winged "C"'s?

Sorry for so many questions, just trying to get the best bang w/o breaking the bank or over paying.

H9

Ei's seem to go go for between $50-$65 a piece. When I bought my Cs I paid about $100 for a quad but I did not need matched tubes.

Depending on your rig the Cs might be just fine but if your rig needs more bass then for sure the Ei's, not that the Cs are weak on bass just depends on your rig.

heiney9

Ah, I see GD was asking you about the redbases! Get those in there, I love my redbases in the other amp. They are very, very open and smooth! SWEET

thsmith

Yep that is what I am expecting but right now I have the Hytron 5692s that are built like the red base RCAs.

No time with work and other distractions.

Last night I did take time to listen to 3 albums and 1 CD. It was heaven.

heiney9

It's very probable the Hytron 5692's are the same tube. IIRC, the 5691 and 5692 were only made by RCA despite the logo. The early dark black plates are said to sound a tad better than the later lighter black or gray plates. The early 3 mica tubes had smooth edges on the mica the later had a serrated edge. Later tubes also could have black bases

If the contruction is the same 3-mica and 5-support rods then it's an RCA tube no matter the brand.

H9

thsmith

I have heard it both ways on the Hytrons and RCA 5692. When I talked to Brendan at tubeworld he said Hytron made these but either way I have the Hytrons and the RCA red bases from George.

BTW, George in traditional fashion made me a very sweet deal on the RCAs.

He is a prince !

heiney9

I just received a pair of NOS SED Winged "C" El34's off Ebay. The absolute best Ebay-er I have the pleasure of doing business w/ in the US. Paid with BIN late Sunday night, Monday morning had an e-mail they would ship, a few hours later I had a tracking number, today the package arrived. Extremely well packed, tubes in boxes wrapped in tissue.

I'm playing them now, they sound pretty damn good. I think I like them better than the EH's, but I need more time with them. I can tell already they throw a better 3D sound stage.

Next up is a pair of Siemens labeled xF2 Blackburn Mullards, when I finally get them from overseas.

Still waiting on the Ei 12AX7's from Germany.

H9

HB27

Another good tube for the buck is the XF-4 Japanese Mullard after the tooling was sent to Japan. Seamed tops on them and very similar in sound to the XF-2. They'll occasionally slip through the system at around $75-125 a quad. I could use them without any problem.