TELEFUNKEN Elektroakustik EL-34

[fltundra]

Spoke with Telefunken this morning and they have EL34's available.
Guy i spoke with say's they have about 100 tubes left.
Bad news is they are $800.00 for a matched quad!

http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.co ... /el-34.php

[selloutrr]

Good news they will have about 100 tubes for quite a while. So you have time to save up some $. You can still buy NOS telefunken EL34 from supply houses all across europe for a fraction of that price.

[VacuumVoodoo]

What the heck is "medical grade"? Hm...given the time period and origin they could have been used in HV electroshock therapy, ....bad karma....pass.

[renshen1957]

What the heck is "medical grade"? Hm...given the time period and origin they could have been used in HV electroshock therapy, ....bad karma....pass.

Hi Aleksander,

All humour aside, Medical Grade was exactly what it means. These were all screened for critical use in medical test equipment, with the "selected tube" or Leeds & Northrup versions being the better versions, all of these tubes went through more stringent quality control than tubes for Hi Fi manufacturers private labels.

Telefunken produced smoothplates 12ax7, either a cloth label on the glass marked "selected tube" or marked with an OEM label (Leeds & Northrup). These possessed blue or red enamel tips. Grass Instruments also had a yellow tip version.

All of the red, yellow, and blue tips are incredibly quiet, the yellow tip version is even lower in noise, and all are rare and difficult to find these days. These are available infrequently, but be prepared to pay through the nose as these were discovered by the audiophile community quite some time ago. From $280-$435.00 per pair

I did not know of the medical grade EL34. If similar quality to the other medical grade tubes, still over priced but most likely a better quality tube.

Best Regards,

Steve

[Cliff Schecht]

I've got one red tipped Telefunken 12AX7. It's a pull from whatever piece of equipment I was salvaging but it is a damn fine tube. Good for V1 positions for sure. There's also a white tipped 12AT7 in one of my amps somewhere but I've never seen any information on what this means.

I've also got a few pairs (and one set of quads) of various Telefunken EL34's. I use one of the pairs in my Express and am saving the set of quads for a 100W Marshall build. They also sound great in a 5F6A type circuit (no surprise there!). I don't hear much difference between these and the XF2/XF4 types I have tried, tbh they all sound pretty dang good. IIRC the XF2/XF4 is Mullards attempt at copying Telefunkens EL34.


I've never heard of medical grade EL34's either but that doesn't mean they don't exist. Some of mine are relabeled by HP and others by Tektroniks (preamp tubes only from Tek). Some of the quads came out of some HV power supplies that were using the 34's as series pass elements. I guess it wasn't too stressful of service because all of these tubes test strong and still match up decently.

[David Root]

I have a white tipped T/F 12AU7, long ridged plate, date code yb, Nov '60. I just assumed it's a selected grade of some kind, either medical or computer grade, but I have no specific knowledge.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Spoke with Telefunken this morning and they have EL34's available.
Guy i spoke with say's they have about 100 tubes left.
Bad news is they are $800.00 for a matched quad!

http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.co ... /el-34.php

As a self confessed tube nerd I've gotta say the el34 pictured in that link looks a heck of a lot like an old sovtek el34g with telefunken printed on the glass. That tall black base with rft knockoff guts is a dead giveaway. Anybody else remember those?

[Reeltarded]

What the heck is "medical grade"? Hm...given the time period and origin they could have been used in HV electroshock therapy, ....bad karma....pass.

Medical grade. You know.. MED I CAL GRADE.. (wink wink).. You know. Medical grade. Sorry for all the winking. It's the GLAUCOMA.

Dood, I would kill for a quad of el34s that were used to be cruel to someone, if not just for the creepy story, and the awesome sound that usage in a mental facility would impart to them, of course. I use a hand cream that is made from the cheek fat of crying seals. I don't care how they make them cry!