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Blue Hawaii Special Edition


pabbi1

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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.

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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. 

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You wonks can say that the tubes shouldn't matter in the BHSE, but my experience is that they do matter in the BHSE.  O0   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 by Voltron
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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.

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You wonks can say that the tubes shouldn't matter in the BHSE, but my experience is that they do matter in the BHSE.  O0   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  8) . Thing is, I paid a lot.  Anyone wanna buy a $1600 quad of EL34 metal base....

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...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...

 

Li75K4Jl.jpg

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  • 1 month later...

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.

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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. 

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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

post-52-13751555005546_thumb.jpg

post-52-1375155511472_thumb.jpg

post-52-13751555197572_thumb.jpg

Vs original box

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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