NOS Siemens EL34 vs SED winged C?

[iknowjohnny]

Now that the C's are out of production, remaining inventory is nearly as expensive as the RFT/Siemens el34. So the question is, how much difference is there really tone wise? I know tone is subjective, but i gotta ask. I used the
Siemens for years till they stopped production, but it's been so long i can only recall i loved them, but theres no way i can compare to the SED's i now use given the decades since i used the RFT. But i know how good tubes can become legendary in time and thier tone become overblown in peoples memories. So those who have used both recently, how do they really compare. Also, are the RFT longer lasting by much or at all? And lastly, anyone know of a reputable seller of these with a good price?

[Leo_Gnardo]

So those who have used both recently, how do they really compare. Also, are the RFT longer lasting by much or at all? And lastly, anyone know of a reputable seller of these with a good price?

Some of my customers have Siemens EL34 I installed back in the 1990's, still running strong, and in use a couple times a week at gigs.

=C= certainly creditable tubes but I find both EL34 and 6L6 get klonky-bonky after years in use, sometimes only months. Perhaps loose grid or plate structures contibute to their reputaton for "warm" tone - as they resonate @ 100-250 Hz before getting too clanky to use.

The few I have left I'm hanging onto.

Used to get Siemens from ARS, until something very flaky happened. Last order (@ 1993) I got tubes in Siemens boxes, and Siemens marked, but the pointy tops told me - EI - not Siemens. Failures left and right. I sent 'em back then ARS's accountant/front office manager called me up and started arguing with me. All I gots to say is "you ship me crap tubes - no soup for you!" Haven't ordered from ARS since.

[wyatt]

Siemens didn't make those tubes, they just supplied them for military contracts because it looked bad to have the Western superpowers buying tubes directly from East Germany. I would guess Siemens switched to EI as a supplier when RFT closed shop during reunification.

[TUBEDUDE]

spend the money on some new old stock Mullards and never look back, well worth it.

[Tone Lover]

So did the real RFT seimens have a dimple on top or were those the EI.

[iknowjohnny]

I think i DO recall the 80's german tube which was RFT having dimples.

On a side note to that. I have a set of svetlanas i bought about a year ago that are said by some to be similar to the C's but less lows. I felt they were too thin and not as good. I still think not quite as good, but i just tried them again for the first time in months and tried EQ'ing the amp for them more than before and biased them hotter than usual and i think they sound better than i first thought and closer to the C's than any other 34 i have tried, which is everything current except the mullard reissue. I think i may just keep using these to replace the C's. My brain hurts when i start thinking of $75 apiece tubes that may die on me and be money down the drain. Especially when these svets cost about $30 a pair ! Unlike any of the others, theres something they have in common with the C's that other tubes miss but i can't put my finger on it.

[overtone]

dimple top = RFT production

[wyatt]

RFT...
[img:410:380]http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/g8hqp/vpix/EL34top.jpg[/img]

EI...
[img:450:578]http://www.jogis-roehrenbude.de/EL34-St ... Jugosl.jpg[/img]

[Leo_Gnardo]

RFT...

The good ones!

EI...

EI EeeeYiiii no.......