ST-35 Tube Brands

[riverrat373]

I'm putting together a Dynaco ST-35 tube amp using stuffed boards from Tubes4hifi, using EL84's and 7247 tubes and would like some suggestions as to what brands sound the best. I listen to jazz, blues and classical music. I know lots of people like to tube roll but I'm on a tight budget right now and want tubes that will work well with the type of music I like to listen to.

[6L6]

Just get fresh ones that are at least a pair of matched pairs, and don't worry about the brand. EL84s are good sounding tubes regardless of manufacturer.

[kevinkr]

I'll suggest the inexpensive and rugged Russian military surplus 6P14P-EV, even nicer, but rarer and somewhat more expensive are the -ER which I use in one of my amps. (These are equivalent to the 7189 and IMHO are a better match to the ST-35 operating conditions than most modern production.)

The nice thing about these tubes is an ST-35 is unlikely to cook them, and they actually sound very good.

I like the JJ as well, but am wondering whether they would survive in an ST-35 where they are run pretty hard and usually share a common cathode resistor which means if they aren't all well matched one or more may tend to run away. (From my own experience)

As an aside I hope you are using individual cathode resistors and bypass caps for each output tube as this assures much better current matching between tubes in a PP pair.

[revintage]

Hey Riverrat,

As an aside I hope you are using individual cathode resistors and bypass caps for each output tube as this assures much better current matching between tubes in a PP pair.

Note this is an very easy operation. Don´t mind this if you´ve already done it. If you are into modyfing it, also change the multicap.

I´d like to support Kevin about this as modern EL84s as they aren´t so happy about the overvoltage that you find in ST-35.


Also the brand issue isn´t so much about sound, it is about durability.