Well I decided to pull the trigger on these.

I've been contemplating NOS Tesla's or Mullards.

Good NOS Mullards are extremely expensive so it was really between the Tesla's and the PSVANE's. I ordered them from Grant Fidelity so being in Canada delivery should be pretty quick.

Anyone have any experience with these tubes?

Once burned in I give a little review.

Did you buy 4 or just 2?

My problem with Pissvane is that the Chinese want to position themselves as the only game in town. So I won’t support that. They package these tubes as if they were jewelry. Does that cause any concern?

I only ordered a pair, I asked for a gift box and Grant Fidelity threw it in.
I have a few tubes without a box so this came in handy. Plus they are local so shipping was quick. I'm impressed with the sound with only a few hours on them so it will all come down to longevity.

Sounds really good Steve. It will be good to hear how they sound after 100 or 200 hours.

With just the right other tubes, I was able to get pretty good sound from Winged Cs and Tungsol EL34s, but I was never a big fan of either.

I guess my Winged Cs, having come with my Torii MKIII, were probably new production though. I am thinking that was 10 or so years ago...and this was in a Torii III, which tends to have comparatively big bass compared to Steve's SE34 amps, and with the wrong combination of things it can go thick .... But luckily you can usually tune around that.

As I recall, the bass of the Winged Cs was pretty deep, but here it was softer and thicker than I like mid-bass down even with careful tube choices and amp adjustments. In contrast, the upper mids and low highs were clean and relatively fast with pretty good detail complexity and textures. Combining the slower bass (that also leaked into and dulled the mid-mids) with the well detailed/faster upper range, they sounded off-balance here without careful tube work and adjustments.

Also a long time ago, as I recall the Tungsols, the bass was less deep and tighter than the Winged Cs, and higher up, they were less complex and extended, giving them more sense of balance bottom to top. But more rigid sounding through the mids and highs, they tended to sound a little technical and cool to me, requiring some pretty carefully selected finely detailed tubes as compliments to help make the Tungsols more musical for me. But even then, it was like they squeezed too much of their potential micro detail into macro detail, making them harder, while also not allowing enough finer detail and spaciousness for the music to feel as live as I like.

Having tried a number of other EL34s, including remakes of Mullards, Groove tubes, a few China made variants, JJ 6CA7s and NOS Brimar labelled RFTs with short black bases (and probably more I can't recall just now), I moved to KT77s, KT66s, and 6L6 types....807 and 6L6 variants my favorites for a number of years now.

These Psvane EL34s have always seemed costly enough to be high risk to me. But from reports, including your initial impressions, they sound like they have all the right sounds in a really nice balance. Thanks for posting about them.

From your research, what kind of lifespan are people getting from the Grant selected ones?

Will your impressions of the Tung-Sol's is bang on in my opinion!

And I also have new and old Winged -C-'s and you nailed them in there performance too.

Very well said.

Tubes are like red wine to me, it's hard to describe but I know what I like!

I'll do another update soon. I have around 100 hours on them now.

I did just buy some National Union 807 tubes from Ebay  ::)

The older 807s have a metal girdle around the wires going into the bottom. The later RCAs omit this. I like the girdle; a sign of modesty. The WWII 807s are all alike. I suppose the government laid down the specs and all the manufacturers complied.

Hello all,
I know this is an old thread, but I was hoping to get some insight on the PS Vane EL34PH.
I have a Woo Audio WES. The rectifiers and driver tubes have both been upgraded, so now I'm turning my attention to the output quad.  For those of you who have used these tubes, what is your opinion Was it a worthwhile investment and a sonic upgrade.

As always, thanks in advance for any help.

Cheers,            Crazy Bill

Hello Bill - My SE34I.6, aka Rachel, is in Quality Control as we speak-or write (6-25-24). I hope I'll get the shipping notification any time now and then it's just a question of how long UPS takes to get to the west coast. The PS Vane EL34PH have already arrived (I think the "jewel" packaging is fine). I want to start listening with the tubes Steve selected which I expect will serve as a baseline as we go forward and experiment with different tubes. I think my first roll will be into those PS Vanes. I'm a little surprised, too, at the lack of response here. I hope I'll be able to give you some impressions after Rachel has spent a little time here.
I guess it's assumed we acknowledge this is a highly subjective activity. But here we are. You mentioned your Woo rectifiers and driver tubes have been upgraded. I'm curious. What did you replace with what and with what results?
Thanks,
geo

Hello Geo,
Sorry it took so long to get back.
The original rectifiers were Shu Guang 5AR4. Nothing boutique. I replaced them with RCA branded Mullards.
The original driver tubes were Current production Tung Sol 6SL7GT. They were replaced by RCA (GE branded) 5691,
Both changes removed a slight treble glare and increased dynamics. It was not subtle.
Looking forward to your impressions of the PSVANES.

Dominick,
Thanks for the offer, but I need a matched quad.
I already have thoroughly investigated them on the net and am aware of their past issues. Just hoping to get some feedback here.

Cheers,                    Crazy Bill