Marshall branded EL34s

parker_knoll

Anyone used Marshall branded EL34s? Any good?

they're on a good deal right now and my vintage Mullards are finally crapping out after 12 years. They came in the amp and no way I can tolerate the expense or the crapshoot of scoring some more Mullards. 

FelineGuitars

Modern EL34s are a hit or miss affair sadly.....

HHwarner

Have a chat with Karltone

parker_knoll

HHwarner said:

Have a chat with Karltone

about whether Marshall branded valves are good?

HHwarner

No but you will be guaranteed a decent matched set. I had a marshall branded set and they were not that well matched ;-)

webrthomson

FelineGuitars said:

Modern EL34s are a hit or miss affair sadly.....

Very true - I've mostly gone KT77 because of this. Karltone seem good as a supplier though - there does seem to be some burn in

dilbert

HHwarner said:

No but you will be guaranteed a decent matched set. I had a marshall branded set and they were not that well matched ;-)

+1. they weren't garbage, just characterless. 

ICBM

Depends who made them - Marshall have used many different suppliers over the years... possibly whatever they can get cheapest.

Buy tested and matched branded valves from a good vendor like Karltone and you know what you're getting, and a warranty.

parker_knoll

What was attracting me was that they were £8.50 each

ICBM

parker_knoll said:

What was attracting me was that they were £8.50 each

You can try them, but expect to find a reason why the seller isn’t asking for more...

parker_knoll

ICBM said:

parker_knoll said:

What was attracting me was that they were £8.50 each

You can try them, but expect to find a reason why the seller isn’t asking for more...

this is retail. They're on offer at Watford Valves. Cheers all for advice. 

ICBM

parker_knoll said:

this is retail. They're on offer at Watford Valves. 

Interesting... given that Marshall still use EL34s in their amps, why didn't they use them or sell them themselves?

parker_knoll

Just an update: I bought a set of these and they seem to be Shuagangs based on visual inspection. I'll test them this eve. 

parker_knoll

ICBM said:

parker_knoll said:

this is retail. They're on offer at Watford Valves. 

Interesting... given that Marshall still use EL34s in their amps, why didn't they use them or sell them themselves?

they might have changed supplier or overstocked. Whatever way, someone's got their hands on a job lot of Marshall branded valves. 

Teacherphil

I have a new pair in my jcm800 which I assume are Marshall branded Chinese el34s . I've tried different brands and usually go for NOS valves but for some reason they just had a certain bite that suited the amp so I left them in. The Marshall branded ecc83s sounded rubbish so I swapped them for some old mullard and brimars.

parker_knoll

The Shuagang EL34Bs are actually very good. I've been running them in a '60s Laney and they're the only modern valve that can handle the power and sound grand. 

soma1975

Sorry to hijack this thread but on a tangential subject I wanted to try some EL34s in my Marshall Astoria that currently has Gold Lion KT66s in it. Would these ones on offer in the OP be a decent enough set to test it out with? And what is the difference between an EL34 and an EL34b?

Many thanks. 

parker_knoll

Larger bottle, higher power. I'll tell you what they're like next week,  but if they're Shuagangs they're more than adequate 

soma1975

Cheers 

boz_h

I have a an bit of an issue with these valves in a THD Bivalve, they can only run on the low voltage setting (around 330 volt).  If I use them on hi voltage (470 ) the HT fuse blows.  Derrick at Watford Valves was really helpful and sent me a replacement set (still had the same issue) a set of Harma EL34s (which worked fine on Hi voltage) and a big box of 5 amp fuses.  He seems to to think its because they are running in Class A (ish) mode and cannot handle the extra stress.  They sound decent enough, but I am not convinced of their robustness. 

ICBM

boz_h said:

I have a an bit of an issue with these valves in a THD Bivalve, they can only run on the low voltage setting (around 330 volt).  If I use them on hi voltage (470 ) the HT fuse blows.  Derrick at Watford Valves was really helpful and sent me a replacement set (still had the same issue) a set of Harma EL34s (which worked fine on Hi voltage) and a big box of 5 amp fuses.  He seems to to think its because they are running in Class A (ish) mode and cannot handle the extra stress.  They sound decent enough, but I am not convinced of their robustness. 

I think we’ve just found out why Marshall didn’t want them.