I just recently acquired a BHSE, impulse purchase, but me thinks a very good one.

The amp comes with JJ EL34's, should I leave it at that or is there anything to gain from other exotic tube choices?

Being a hybrid I guessing tube choice is not as critical, but the hype train over on HF have me second guessing.

Being grounded grid and with fixed operating points the tubes are less of a factor but their construction still matters.  I'm vary of the Psvane tubes given the quality issues of other Shuguang models which is why I still recommend the SED's.  Same sturdy build quality as the late Mullard tubes which is also why they are expensive. 

You wonks can say that the tubes shouldn't matter in the BHSE, but my experience is that they do matter in the BHSE.     I started with the stock new production Mullard EL34s (I think that they were Mullard), and was not in love with the sound because that is how I always heard the amp.  Then I bought some NOS xf2 Mullards and I have since loved my amp.  Voodoo, mind games, placebo, whatever.  I am not an exotic tube nut but this combo works for me (and others).

Edited June 15, 201313 yr by Voltron

I'm vary of the Psvane tubes given the quality issues of other Shuguang models which is why I still recommend the SED's.  Same sturdy build quality as the late Mullard tubes which is also why they are expensive.

We'll find out soon enough I have a quad on the way.

You wonks can say that the tubes shouldn't matter in the BHSE, but my experience is that they do matter in the BHSE.     I started with the stock new production Mullard EL34s (I think that they were Mullard), and was not in love with the sound because that is how I always heard the amp.  Then I bought some NOS xf2 Mullards and I have since loved my amp.  Voodoo, mind games, placebo, whatever.  I am not an exotic tube nut but this combo works for me (and others).

This is my experience too, definitely hear some change.  I went a bit overboard buying 24 metal base tubes   but it was an investment   . Thing is, I paid a lot.  Anyone wanna buy a $1600 quad of EL34 metal base....

They do matter but not as much as you'd get with a more basic amp.  I always run XF2's but use SED's for testing. 

 

Good news on the tubes Todd. 

The 6DJ8s make more of a difference in the T2 for sure.

Does anybody have any BH boards they would like to get rid of? 

I am thinking on building one, since the Megatron project appears to have slowed down.

Edited June 17, 201313 yr by eggil

...and I thought there wasn’t going to be much more juice to squeeze out of the 007 MK1s after the KGSSHV.

I’ve been having perpetual “holy shit” moments for days now, gotta love the honeymoon faze.

 

Right now with the JJs I’m loving it, I live with these for a while and see how I go for tubes.

Thanks for the recommendations...

 

Now heres a little amp porn from my listening chair...

 

There is something truly special about them Blue Hawaii's... 

Nattonrice's "old" rig - sexy!

Nattonrice's "old" rig - sexy!

Toms all T2ed up... I was very happy to take this of his hands, poor guys just inundated with amps.

Super nice price you got though.  That gotta go be the cheapest BH in awhile.  Great purchase!

Yeah it was pretty much a no brainer deal couldn’t have pm’d him fast enough when I discovered the thread (thanks to wink).

Knowing that it was a Tom Booker (nattonrice) build meant a lot, he’s a good friend and an excellent diyer.

So I gave in and bought a quad of Psvanes EL34PHs, I’m impressed so far, I can tell a clear difference (better) than the JJs I was using.

The quality of the tubes looks good to my untrained eye, although when installing them I did notice that two had a slight rattle when shook (gently), felt like the filament was loose or something, is this normal an expected trait for an EL34? From memory some 300Bs had a similar trait.

You don't get rattles with silicon...... just rattled.

Some of the modern tubes do rattle a bit but they really shouldn't.  Shaving down the materials used is the best way to make money on tubes these days. 

Granted, they don't roll off a fancy German assembly line, but I've been shocked at the shitty internals on *some* modern production tubes.

I guess we should be thankful there's still a market at all?

I certainly am.  Fucking hoarders are fucking up the NOS market.

There is a huge market for tubes and it is growing larger by the year.  I really don't see ECC83's and EL34's ever going out of production unless people stop liking guitars.  That said, some of the production values are piss poor and for me the worst offenders have always been Shuguang and New Sensor. 

Bring back Mullards. (or is that mallards- I'd better duck for cover).

Edited July 28, 201312 yr by wink

Trying to get the packaging as efficient as possible, i designed these new end caps and had my helper cut/glue them. The tubes can go under the amp in foam. Now if i can find a place for the cable besides the top of the amp, i can cut off another inch

Vs original box

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Cut two notches in the middle foam "pole" on one side and wrap the cable around them in an oval (vertically).

just found the actual weight is now 5lb above the dimensional weight (previously dimensional weight was 9lb over actual weight), so unless i want to remove tiny bits of foam weight, seems there's not much advantage to going any smaller

Blue Hawaii is blue.