My Tube Collection, Welcome to share yours
- Thread starter adrian cheng
- Start date
If I posted a photo it would be an image of many boxes. But then, my life began before transistors, and I've not been for even a day since, outside the presence of active vacuum tubes in use in some way, between hifi, guitar amps, TVs and table radios, all my life, valves have been present and a bunch of tubes have lingered. -Phil
We would love to see some of your tubes and boxes.
OK. Nobody needs to see more pics of 12xx7, EL34 or KT-XX. So I'll pull a few of the more unusual ones to photo and post. -Phil
From USA 12AX7 Black Plate
Left to Right Ken-rad Westinghouse RCA
Left to Right Ken-rad Westinghouse RCA
and perhaps a photo of your Mustang, if I interpret your username correctly
But please include the "mundane" tubes. We appreciate all tubes.
I can watching all of my tubes every day without getting tired.
I’m new to this forum, but I do recognize a few names from Facebook groups. I just scored this pair of NOS EL37 tubes & am planning to try them in a Fender Vibrolux Reverb. I’m swapping out the NOS JAN 6L6WGB that are currently in the amp. Current plate voltage is 418v at 36ma. I noticed there’s information about screen voltage being an issue with the EL37; however, I don’t know how to measure it.
Last edited:
EL37 data sheet
You can check the recommended and max operating conditions depending on the tube configuration. Some measurements would have to be in circuit since a tube tester may not have all these parameters measured or displayed. The assumption is that if the correct tube types are used and the correct rectifiers are used - then everything is within normal operating conditions. Tube swapping and substitutions can work, but I always check with the amp designer or manufacturer before going too far astray.
Feelin' groovy ....
Factory matched quad of EL34.
Factory matched quad of EL34.
This username goes back to the earliest forums after the Web debuted. There was a transition from newsgroups, which were the home of hobby & interest exchanges on the internet, Compuserve, etc. before the Web hit. Some of the first fora I was active in circa 1994 (I built my first corporate web site in late 1993) were automotive, and at that time, my projects were SVT Mustangs, specifically a 1993 SVT Cobra that I made some light mods to, and then I bought one of the first samples of the 32 Valve 1996 SVT Cobra Convertible, which I promptly set about to seriously upgrade its suspension and other control bits, as well as to weld in full tubular ladder subframe connectors -- made it torsionally stiffer than the coupe. Fab car I had for ten years. 213 was the original LA/SoCal area code (still have a 213 cell number too). I used the username across interest forums from automotive, guitar, hifi, astronomy, politics, etc. Of course, that was from the time when the internet was about anonymity, long before social media. I've been 213Cobra for over 30 years and counting, online. Alas, I don't think I can locate any photos of those Ford SVT cars, but if I do I'll post some. I have a few interesting tubes to post, which I'll get around to in the next few days.
Phil
Some matched pairs for me to play with from my boxes of ECH3/EBF2 tubes.
The GT E34LS tubes previously had large heat wings, similar to the large heat wings on Tesla E34L tubes from the early 1990s.The Tesla tubes have double getters, but not sure if the GT variants had those. Some people insist that the versions with large heat wings sound the best.
Last edited:
Here’s what the large heat wings look like. I wasn’t able to take a picture of my tubes without too much reflection to see the wings. The Groove Tube E34LS had the large wings at one point. According to Eurotubes staff, Aspen Pittman had an exclusive contract with JJ to produce the EL34S for Groove Tubes and not make them for sale branded as JJs. I’m thinking Fender made a cost cutting move to no longer pay for the exclusive large wings and just make them like the standard JJ offering.
The photography is tricky. I sometimes get great photos only to find that I am in the reflection off the flashing.
So much cross pollination with the tube manufactures and the brands.
Last edited:
Similar threads
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |