OT question, EL 34 amp

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iknowjohnny
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OT question, EL 34 amp

Post by iknowjohnny »

Generally, and all things being equal, what tonal difference would you expect moving from a 3.2k OT to a OT with a higher primary impedence? I realize theres a limit to how high you can go before you are out of EL34 territory, but as you go higher within that tube's limit what happens tonally?
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skyboltone
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Re: OT question, EL 34 amp

Post by skyboltone »

iknowjohnny wrote:Generally, and all things being equal, what tonal difference would you expect moving from a 3.2k OT to a OT with a higher primary impedence? I realize theres a limit to how high you can go before you are out of EL34 territory, but as you go higher within that tube's limit what happens tonally?
Really others may be better equipped to answer this one but I'll take a shot.

The tube really is designed to work into about 6000 ohms at somewhere between 450 and 500 VDC. You'll get more headroom there for sure. KFisher designed towards that paradigm. Most HI-FI guys design that way. Somewhere along the line Jim Marshall had a 3400 ohm primary transformer and built the lead 50 to it (The JTM45 was a 6.6K primary), then came the jcm 800, silver jubilee and all the rest. There is a distinctive grind and a very linear transition from clean to a somewhat early breakup when pushing them into 3.4K. It was an accident believe me.
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azatplayer
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Re: OT question, EL 34 amp

Post by azatplayer »

This is an interesting topic, as you know what fender and marshall used in their amps, but perhaps not exactly what the respective tubes were wanting to see according to data sheets.
Im interested to hear from more knowledgeable folk than me as ive run different loads into different tubes and wrong doesnt always sound wrong.
I do think voltage must have a say in the matter too, and as marshall ran pretty high voltages, near 500V in my JMP, thats gotta contribute to the equation. I keep trying to get my head around load lines, but..
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