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I though I would post some comments on the sound comparison between the Shuguang EL34A and B tubes (circa 2008).
I am a US citizen that lives in China and am involved with various manufacturing projects, one of which is audio speakers. As such, I have opportunity to listen to a great many different systems, solid state and tube.
A system that I listen to everyday at my home/office for leisure, entertainment and as an occasional testbed is a Unison S2 tube amplifier driving a pair of 15" co-axial 100 db (probably 96 db in room) speakers. As most know, the Unison is a SET driven Ultralinear with around 12 watts of power.
Because many tube amps (and solid state) are used for voicing in our project, a fair collection of tubes is on hand at any one time. For Chinese tubes, we deal directly with Shuguang and boxes of their product are in house. The El34A and B are listed on their site (and others importing them) as having different bottle design (true) and slightly different grid alignment (dont know because Shuguang's technical English is quite poor and we have never had a discussion via our Chinese EE and them) and a higher plate dissipation for the B (which appears to be true).
Because I listen to this combination constantly and have for quite some time, I am sensitive to even subtle changes in its sound. The EL 34B is definitely a "ballsier" tube (forgive my tech speak) having more bass impact and volume but at the expense of a little top end extension and overall resolution. It is by no means crude and in fact sounds very good. If your listening includes low or very low volumes, I have not heard a better tube as its extra base output is like a pseudo loudness contour and one is left with the feeling that the presentation is complete and intact. At these moderate to low volumes, the mid and hi presentation are quite good and it is not until the volume gets turned up (probably near 90 db or above) that it may not be the last word in resolution or extension.
The EL34A on the other hand is what the NOS EL34s that I have used in this amp (Philips and Mullard circa 1960s) sounds like. On this combination, I preferred the Philips over the Mullard and ....... the EL34A over the Philips. Heresy i know. The EL34A is an over achiever by not trying to be an over achiever. It is linear, taught, extended with good resolution. By comparison to the Philips, it has better (quality) and lower bass extension though I would have to give the nod to the Philips for mid and hi resolution. The EL34A's mid and hi were not bad and again fits the character of this tube perfectly, linear. You dont find yourself acknowledging a particular "signature" of this tube good or bad. It is not a tone control, it just sounds damn good.
In summary:
EL34B; Very good "ballsy" tube unsurpassed in this system for low volumes
EL34A; My favorite tube in this system regardless of brand or cost
Philips and Mullard NOS; Great tubes, the Mullard warm (too Port and Cigar for this system) and the Philips maybe just a shade to tipped up but very linear and resolved.
A couple of notes: I have not tried the "Treasure" black glass series yet but will report back when I do. There are some comments circulating that the "B" is better or an upgrade to the "A". Completely inaccurate. One is not better than the other from a construction or reliability standpoint. I think the guitar guys may find the B more to they're liking.
Last but not least, these Shuguang tubes need at least 10 to 15 hours of use (I just let the amp play all day via internet radio) before they even start to settle out and 30 to 40 before they sound good.
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Topic - Shuguang EL34 A and B comparison - pchirayath@fasscorp.com 19:50:20 01/15/10 (1)
- RE: Shuguang EL34 A and B comparison - pchirayath@fasscorp.com 00:11:51 02/03/10 (0)
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