EL84

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Common variants of the EL84, manufactured today in Russia, Slovakia, and China

The EL84 is a thermionic valve of the power pentode type. It has a 9 pin Noval base and is used mainly in the power output stages of audio amplification circuits, most commonly now in guitar amplifiers, but originally in radios and many other devices of the pre-transistor era. The EL84 is comparable electrically to the octal 6V6, widely used in the USA until the 1960s. An interchangeable North American type is the 6BQ5.

It was developed to eliminate the need for a driver tube in radios, and has rather more gain than is usual in a power pentode, producing full output from a relatively small drive signal. This eliminated the need for a preamplifier triode in radios, making them cheaper to produce. As the EL84 itself is a 9 pin Noval, it was also cheap to produce and manufacturers were quick to adopt it in general use, and they are found in many old European valve radios and other audio equipment. A single EL84 was used in low-cost equipment, and a push-pull pair for lower distortion and higher power.

In common with all 'E' prefix tubes, using the Mullard-Philips tube designation, it has a heater voltage of 6.3V. It is capable, when used at its plate rating of 300 volts maximum, of producing 17 watts output in Class AB1 in push-pull configuration. Many guitar amplifiers routinely run EL84 tubes in excess of 400VDC, with the Traynor Guitarmate reportedly putting out 25w RMS with 2 EL84's in a push pull configuration and a B+ between 400-420VDC.

Developed by Philips in 1953 for use in the British Mullard 5-10 amplifier, the EL84 came to prominence when used in Watkins (and later the Vox) amplifiers preferred by many British invasion bands of the 1960s.[citation needed] When overdriven, the EL84 power tubes in these amplifiers produce a distinctive chiming, articulate, treble-heavy sound when compared to 6L6 tubes more commonly used in American amplifiers of the era such as those from Fender.[citation needed]

Other equivalent tubes are the 7189, an extended-ratings version of the tube for industrial applications, E84L (7320) long life, professional version with more than 10000 hours expected lifetime and the directly equivalent 6P14P (Cyrillic: 6П14П) produced in the USSR by the Reflektor plant. As of 2012 a slightly modified version of the 6P14P was manufactured in Russia for Sovtek. An extended-ratings version of the 6P14P is also available - 6P14P-EV (Cyrillic: 6П14П-ЕВ) and is known among US guitar players as "EL84M" or the "Russian military EL84". While not necessarily a true "military version" of the tube (in fact it is more comparable to the 7189), 6P14P-EVs are known for their low noise and durability. Large NOS (New Old Stock) supplies of the tube are available. The 6GK6 has nearly equivalent operating characteristics with a different pinout.

As of 2012 the tube was manufactured in Russia (Sovtek and Electro-Harmonix brands), Slovakia- Čadca (JJ Electronics), and Serbia- Niš (Ei). The Sovtek EL84 is often sold under their own brand name by other well-known electric guitar and guitar amplifier manufacturers - such as Fender or Mesa Boogie.

Also see 6P1P.

Gallery

  • Current production JJ EL84 model vacuum tube.

  • Valvo EL84.

  • Current production Russian Mullard EL84 vacuum tube.

  • Lorenz Elektrik EL84.

  • Russian clone of EL84.

  • Sovtek EL84.

  • Hitachi 6BQ5.

External links

See also

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