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Elektro-Harmonix Vacuum Tubes

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Hi !

Anyone have used Electro-Harmonix Vacuum Tubes? They are from Russia, but as far as I know, there are only 2 tube factories in Russia - Svetlana and Sovtek. Shops which sell them claim that these tubes are equal to NOS like Telefunken but I am very suspicius to this claim. Russian-made tubes were designed for military equipment like radars and not audio amplifiers, and therefore, constructed with different specs in mind.

Thanks in advance for any suggestion(s)
 
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Electro Harmonix, Sovtek, and Svetlana are brands belonging to New Sensor corporation, a US company. For that matter, so are Tung-Sol, Mullard, and GEC - they bought the rights to these names as well... all are good tubes.

Svetlana is also the name of a Russian manufacturer, but in the USA, their tubes are sold as SED (winged-C) brand. Many thought that their EL34s and 6L6GCs were the best, but New Sensor has many competing offerings now. The other large Russian manufacturers are Ulyanov, Voskhod, and Reflektor - you don't hear THOSE names, since they are marketed under other names.

NOS tubes generally last longer, but there aren't that many left - prepare to pay for the privilege of using NOS. I'd consider military construction a plus... better quality and reliability. Sound is harder to pin down - everybody hears things differently, and there are as many opinions as there are tube users...
 
Excellent compendium Tom, and I couldn't agree more about the the new tubes being good. I've been trying several of the new/old brands in the 12AX7 and so far, I couldn't be more pleased. As far as the Russian Military, much of their surplus ends up in my projects.:music:
 
I've used their EL34s with very good results, as well as their 12AX7s and 7868s. I wouldn't go so far as to say they sound as good as Mullards or Teles, but very respectable for the money.
 
I own about 20 of there 12AT7's I just got a large stock of 12AT7's made by Ei in Yugoslavia and I have heard some of the better chinese as well. The Electro Harmonix is a good tube and a bad tube?
CONFUSED ?LET ME EXPLAIN THEN...
out of 50 tubes depending on the production run a few will have to high of a noise floor to bother useing in a critical circit one out of ten will sound very good and the rest just ok.The best of them can not compeat with the old smooth plate 50's through 60's production 100,000 hour!Telefunken smooth plates.
The best newer tubes are made by Ei and are hard to find They can be perfact copies sonicly to the telefunken as they are an exact clone of them but some are very microphonic and not good in critial aplications so these now rare tubes must be hand selected.THe best sounding 12AX7 I have found is the new reissue Tung-Sol very close to the old Telefunken but with 15% more gain than a standerd 12AX7,makeing them perfact for aplication in the low output Rolls Belarri phono preamp.also the Sovetec LPS and Ei brand are good choices for this tube .A nice and very consitant tube is also the RCA NOS JAN new old stock joint army navy they are not as punchey as the Telefunken but the over all tone is very close.I hope this helps you. After hearing the Ei's next to the Electro Harmonic hand selects it is very obvious why the Ei's got snapped up so fast.They are truly golden.
 
Just a side note:The quality of machein work that went into the 1950's and 60's tubes will likely never be recreated.So I think it is not a bad idea to explore tubes that we can obtain with reasonable effort and money old stock Electroro Harmonix from 10 years ago are better production then most sold today Tad is curantly useing chinese manufacture but the quality controle is very high and Tad tests there tubes before excepting them I am getting an octet of there new 1960 RCA reissue EL34STR. and I hear the new Mullards from New sensor are a winner as well.If you shop wisley you can still get good tubes.
 
I can't compare tubes against tubes as I have little experience rolling. But - I bought an amp that has 2x 12AX7's in it, wound up not liking the sound of the amp. Then I dropped in a pair of 12AX7 "EH" and that fixed it right up. The original tubes were probably old and worn.

A shot in the dark that paid off, but EH was the magic bullet.
 
Clmrt said:
I can't compare tubes against tubes as I have little experience rolling. But - I bought an amp that has 2x 12AX7's in it, wound up not liking the sound of the amp. Then I dropped in a pair of 12AX7 "EH" and that fixed it right up. The original tubes were probably old and worn.

A shot in the dark that paid off, but EH was the magic bullet.
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Yep, and the thing about 12AX7s is they are such a high gain tube, they will continue to "work" long after they're worn out. :thumbsdn:
 
Urizen said:
I placed a quad of EH 7868 in my Fisher 400 with good results.
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They fit now too, since they got the height thing figured out.:yes: In this particular tube number, I'd say the EH sounds better than NOS GEs (at least in a Sherwood 5000). I put a quad in Twantiques Sherwood after a resto, and boy did they sound good. Really controlled "crisp" bass response was their strong point, but the mids and highs were quite nice as well IMHO.
 
For the money there hard to beat and new sencor has menny other nice tubes that sound good as well,Don't be afraid to try the new Tad's or Ei's if you can find them.Most sellers will tell you though Electro Harmonix has had a high failure rate latley due to a very high production rate.I also have been told the 12AT7 is the hardest preamp tube to manufacture due to clearences in it's construction that are smaller than a couple microns. try this link for some good info http://vintagetubeservices.com/Default.htm There sight is a educational tour covering the best vacuum tubes and explains what makes or breaks a tube.
 
I don't generally use new production tubes for the small tube positions.I pretty much always use new production tubes for the output tubes.
 
dmax99 said:
I don't generally use new production tubes for the small tube positions.I pretty much always use new production tubes for the output tubes.
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I am looking more and more at some 1960 Telefunken smooth plates for my imput tubes because they sound good up to 100,000 hours and I could never use them up in my life time.
 
If you're running vintage gear the telefunkens may be the way to go,but with more modern gear I would put my money on Amperex tubes.It's rare to hear anything negative about them.
 
The Amperx Bugal boys are nice great tonal spread but not the attack or articulation of the Telefunkens.
 
Wouldn't this kind of depend on what circuit the particular brand of 12AX7 is in?

Say one brand of amplifier sounds better with Telefunken 12AX7 as driver tube, where another brand amplifier may sound better with a Mullard 12AX7.
 
Mike Stehr said:
Wouldn't this kind of depend on what circuit the particular brand of 12AX7 is in?

Say one brand of amplifier sounds better with Telefunken 12AX7 as driver tube, where another brand amplifier may sound better with a Mullard 12AX7.
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read the link I posted.We all have differant tastes and equiptment may vary but alot of people out there are listening to 1970 and newer Mullards not unlike the east german Telefunkens that sound like crap,thinking they have the good stuff. It is no wonder the worlds most expencive Hi Fi gear recomends the rare Tele smooth plates from the first production runs 1950 to 56 seem to be the golden years 1957 to 68 are good too but not the most prised tube of all .my dates might be a little off but not by much.
 
We all have differant tastes and equiptment may vary but alot of people out there are listening to 1970 and newer Mullards not unlike the east german Telefunkens that sound like crap,thinking they have the good stuff.
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I don't think I have any Mullard or Telefunken 12AX7 from the that era......they are mostly '50's to late '50's dates, IIRC.
 
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