New Mullard Tubes

[barnoah]

I noticed that I can by brand new Mullard tubes.... the description says... "The Mullard EL84 is a copy of the original, with black plates, carbonized screens, and gold plated grids."

My question is to you tube gurus... are these as good as NOS?

And also what is you opinion about all these other tube brands that I can by new... Tung-Sol, Telefunken, Sovtek, Mesa Boogie. Bugera, JJ, Electro-harmonix... can you tell which brands you guys like the best? My use is for these little Magnavox SE/PP and Dynaco ST-70 amps, McIntosh Preamps, and I like to listen to Instrumental and Vocal Jazz, Classical, and some rock. I use highly efficient speakers (vintage Altec and JBL) with these. Please let me know your thoughts... Thanks

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

I like the Sovtek 12AX7LPS or the JJ ECC83 for audio use. All of the new tubes are designed to survive in a guitar amp, this means they are rugged which is good. For audio these tubes do not sound the best to me. I like JJ KT77 or JJ 6CA7 in my Dyna ST-70 amps. Some lesser known audio tubes can be had NOS for low cost from many sources, these will last longer and usually sound better than the new stuff.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I have held new reissued Mullard EL84s in my hand and directly compared them to vintage British Mullards. They did not look at all the same to me. The new one looked nearly identical to a Sovtek.

That said, I feel that several new tubes are excellent. Including several different types from a brand that you don't list - the new reissued Genalex Gold Lions. Overall, I would not hesitate to use new tubes in amps & preamps at all price ranges.

 

[Dukiedook]

I think you can safely say the new versions of any reproduction tubes will be nowhere near the build quality of NOS tubes like Tung Sol, Mullard, GEC, etc. from back in the day.

 

[ferninando]

by some AKrs here, the new tungsol reissue is good as orig.

 

[vonclod]

I think the quality of Genalex is pretty good for new production. The only new tubes I wont bother with is rectifiers, but in general I like NOS.

 

[barnoah]

Sounds like most prefer NOS....

 

[Cactus Bob]

The Genalex Gold Lions sound much better than the New Mullards in my Mac Preamp.

 

[bjlefebvre]

I've used the new Electros, Tung-sols and Sovtek 12ax7LPs. The latter two sound very good to me, with the Tung-sols having a little bit of a leg-up.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I've pretty much given up the hunt for vintage tubes, unless I come upon a stash of them. Many of the new tubes are excellent.

 

[mjw21a]

I find a system just doesn't sound right without at least one pair of NOS tubes in the chain. I don't like all NOS though either but rather the first gain stage. All following tubes are new production

 

[mjw21a]

.

 

[larryderouin]

For someone on a budget or fixed income with very little overhead, the new Russian tubes are for the most part pretty good. Considering that most of them are made in the same factory, with minor differences internally, a lot of the price is bragging rights for the brand name. Really if you get right down to it, a Mullard, is a Tung-Sol, is a Tele, is a SOVTEK, is a EH, etc. . I've got a somewhat rusty tin ear so they all sound the same to me, so I tend to stick with the less expensive versions. But I DO Like the Tung-Sol Re-Issues in most flavors that I've had thru here. The Sovtek 12ax7LPS is generally the quietest 12ax7 I've heard so I stick with that in phono sections. 5AR4 rectifiers, either original Mullard (if you can find them for less than a mortgage payment) OR the Tung-Sol Brown Base. It's slightly less expensive than the Genelex, but handles pretty much everything I can throw at it without complaint. If it's in a preamp, or a separate tuner a Sovtek is fine. Anything with a heavier load, (integrated, separate amp or receiver) use the Tung-Sol or Genelex depending on taste and wallet resistance.

JJ does make good small signal tubes, however I've had nothing but failures out of the box or within 10-15 hours with their 7591's. Cathode/Heater Shorts for all of them. STAY AWAY FROM JJ7591's. I went to EH7591's at 1st and when the Tung-Sol re-Issue came out I went with that for units that have heat problems(Sansui 1000A) or space problems (Most H.H. Scotts). The T-S is 1/2 again more expensive, and I don't feel it's worth the extra cost just for a smaller bottle. It's a very good sounding tube, and it compares favorably with a Old Stock 7591 in S.Q. but it has the same problem all of the NEW Stock 7591's have. They can't handle the original grid resistor values above 300K like OLD STOCK 7591 in FIXED BIAS. Drop the grid resistor to 220K to 200K and it's fine. In Cathode bias, Max resistor value per spec is 1megohm, and the 7591 re-issues can handle that as well as old stock from my experience. I'd recommend the EH for most all 7591 based units unless it gets overly HOT, or it's a small crowded chassis. In those cases I'd use the T-S.

I would recommend a dis-interested party that can translate the Russian into English to double-check tube nomenclature. Russian is like English in that it has regional dialects and those can be confusing when translating from cryllic to english.