Rachel has been in the house for over eight years and is an end game for me.  Love this amp!

That said, lately I have had to increase the volume knob more than normal.. My thinking is that it might be time to stuff some new tubes in it.  This set has quite a few hours on em.  O r maybe it’s just me that needs new ears.

And, to add to the above, does any body wish to advise me on a more powerful tube to give it a little more poop?

The EL34's in there have absolutely no markings on them. So???

Thanks RR, I will investigate that option.

I would second the ''807 with adaptors'' comment. Really happy with ours and that set up. Let us know what you end up doing and happy listening, Chris.

And, to add to the above, does any body wish to advise me on a more powerful tube to give it a little more poop?

DPC You meant "pop" I hope!

Right or Wrong, I'm intrigued by the 807 tube.  Have been reading everything I can find on the subject.

Now,  the advise on where to get em.

I found that 807 tubes sound the best in my Rachel. They also look nice with the large bottle shape. I get mine from The Tube Store in Canada. I got the adaptors from Ali Baba. The adaptors were of good quality and arrived quickly. But I did not like the fraudulent $1200 credit card charges that I assume was the act of the seller in China or someone else along the way.

Dennis- Looking at a couple of boxes of tubes that have appeared over the last many years, but I think I tried everything that Steve said I could in our Rachel. The EL34 the best until I got some adapters and tried some 807's. I have purchased 807's from RAM Audio Labs, Viva Tubes, Tubeman, and most recent from Mullard Magic across the pond. Glad the KT88's sounded better, that means that the EL34's were due for a change. The nice thing about Steve's designs is that there are a LOT of ways to fine tune your system with tubes and IMO the differences are subtle, but always there. Keep us posted on what you try and settle on, this forum is a awesome source of info. Happy listening, Chris.

Dennis,
I think you'll be happy with the 807s. I sure was. When you get them I hope you relate your experience with them particularly as compared to the KT 88s.

Don

The National Union 807's sound more old time radio. While the 1970s RCAs are somewhat bright.

I have a pair of Brimar/Ferranti 807s and I really like them - I suspect they're from the same batch you purchased from Tube Man. Let us know how you like them.

Same - have a couple of 7DJ8's arriving in tonight's mail... can't wait.

To answer your question.  So far I have four sets of Russian EL34’s, one pair of Gold Lion KT88’s, one pair of Ferrari 807’s and a pair of NOS RCA 807’s.

I am fond of all of them.  The idea of the 807 tubes (with adaptors) got me thinking.  Found the TubeMan site and he was very helpful.  Pulled the trigger on both sets.

I had become quite happy with the Gold Lions but the 807’s please me even more.  The NOS RCA’s seem to be the better of the two types.

I think that anyone with a SE34 amp would be happy with giving the 807’s a try.  The RCA’s were only about $40.00 if I remember correctly.

Thanks everyone for their hellp.

Dennis

Well well? DPC It's been a while! Final thoughts.