Preferred Series EL34 Power Vacuum Tube (Matched)
Need matched power tubes? Don't worry! Price includes matching in any quantity you need for no extra charge. Need a matched pair? Just order "2" tubes. For a matched quad order "4" tubes. Matched sextets and octets are available as well.This Preferred Series EL34 vacuum tube is a premium high quality tube produced for us in China by the Shuguang factory. We found the best of current production, sourced it to our specifications and gave it a 6 month extended warranty.
The Preferred Series EL34 construction features:
- Grey plate and single "disc" style getter
- Gold grid wires
- Copper grid posts
- A carbonized filament for more efficient thermal radiation
- Low noise filament
- The bottle is made with a heavy gauge glass
- And finally the blue color base is a nice touch too!
From our review: The bottom end is amazing and the tube has tons of gain before it gets dirty. The real strength of this tube is the bass and midrange. Bass notes are rock solid and the mids are very rich and complex. The high end is very good but not bright. This tube really wants to be in your JCM 800 or other amp that can generate piercing top end."
Ian D'Sa of Billy Talent -
"The Preferred Series EL34's have an incredibly tight bass response, unparalleled clarity, and are very rich in harmonics. They are perfect for what I need out of my Diezel VH4 guitar amp. In combination with the Preferred Series 12AX7's, these tubes have brought my Diezel VH4 back to it's former glory. Many thanks to thetubestore.com!"
Wholesale pricing: Is available on 25 pairs or more. Contact us for pricing.
EL34 Tube Types 
Other Preferred Series tubesAdditional Information and Downloads
Reviews:
EL34 Tube Review
Tube Matching Information:
Power Tube Matching FAQ
Perfect Pair System
Downloads:
Preferred Series EL34 Datasheet (PDF)
Warranty Information and Return Policy
Warranty Period: 6 monthsPreferred Series tubes have a 6 month warranty from date of purchase. (Any exceptions will be noted on that tube's Warranty tab)
If you receive a tube that does not perform to the manufacturer's specifications, please do the following:
- contact us to get a return authorization
- return it via regular mail within 180 days from when we shipped it, and we will provide an exchange or refund of the full purchase price of the tube.
Returns not related to warranty or defect will be considered at our discretion, and are subject to a 15% restocking fee.
We can not accept returns that don't have an authorization, are past 6 months, or are returned improperly.
These guidelines may be updated without notice.
Ratings & Reviews
22 reviews
Warning! You'll want to play these loud!
by Paddy Mac
I took a chance on these and I'm glad I did. They do the job on clean, but they're so hot on medium and high gain, I'm not sure you won't care about your clean channel. I put these in My Suhr PT 100, which is basically a plexi style 100 watt amp. These EL34s take the roof off! I liked the Tungsol Gold 12AX7s in my smaller Suhr amp (Badger 35). So much so, I robbed those three tubes and added them to three more matched to the PT100. I have the gain on the mid channel at 4, and the high gain channel on 6. It's just wailing! Earplugs or an attenuator are in order here. You're just going to want to turn these EL34s up. I like how the bass and treble roles off nicely. This is the best tone I've heard for a 7 string. I hate boomy lows and spikey highs. These EL34s are clear and articulate. I'm not getting a grungy character here. What I'm getting is a well rounded tone which works really well with modern speakers like the Eminence CV-75s. These tubes are very refreshing if you're tired of vintage vintage vintage.What they lack in grungy old fashion character, they make up with hot screamin' gain tone. And not over the top and scratchy like some expensive NOS tubes. I'm not sure I'd recommend these for a new Marshall unless you want to go from traditional to modern. But for an old style plexi amp where JJs sound raw, these are smooth and scream. Very good quality and beg to be cranked up on high gain. I didn't get any weird double clipping with my Seymour Duncan Jazz, or Alternate 8 pickup. So they handle a bright modern high output pickup. I hope they last, because I really like these. A wonderful tube. They don't crap out with high output pickups. They're a modern sounding tube without grunge character. But with only a few hours of playing time, they may sag up. Yay thetubestore. Not a traditional sound, but not stupid over the top either.
Classic performance, solid construction
by Steve
I had to grab a pair of these to see what the Preferred Series brings to EL34's. After some playing time with these tubes in a modified Traynor Bass Master, I'm impressed!
Visually, they look great, with a bottle that's a bit larger than an original Mullard EL34 and a plate that's also bigger. The bigger plate should improve power handling and the plate is welded not stamped, so that should keep the microphonics down.
Play testing... there's a lot to like! The highs are clear, not edgy though. The mids are good, if anything, leaning a bit to the 'Brit' side. But the bottom end, solid and chunky. The finger on string stuff makes it to the speaker and these tubes help it along. I'm a bass player... what I hear works for me and I think guitar players will get a lot out of these tubes too.
Well worth a try!