EL34 Guitar Amp Tubes
Get More at Sweetwater
Refine Your Search
Availability
Brand
Price Range
Financing What is this?
Type of Deal
Series
Model
- 6L6 (15)
- EL34 (14)
- EL84 (13)
- 12AX7 (11)
- 6V6 (11)
- KT88 (7)
- E88CC (6)
- 6550 (5)
- 12AT7 (4)
- ECC83-TK (4)
- GZ34 (4)
- 5U4 (3)
- ECC82 (3)
- ECC83 (3)
- EL844 (3)
- 12AU7 (2)
- 5881 (2)
- 5AR4 (2)
- 5Y3 (2)
- 6550-TK (2)
- 6973 (2)
- ECC82-TK (2)
- KT66 (2)
- KT77 (2)
- 12AY7 (1)
- 12BH7 (1)
- 5Y3S (1)
Quantity
Related Searches
If you want to compare another product, please remove one of your earlier choices.
EL34 Tubes
No discussion of historic guitar tones would be complete without taking a deep dive into the “British Sound” of the 1960s and 1970s. While the term “British Sound” often refers to the legendary UK guitarists of the time — heavyweights such as Pete Townshend, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton, it also refers to the UK-made guitar amplifiers that gained prevalence during that era. British amp manufacturers like Marshall, HiWatt, and Dallas Arbiter sought to distinguish themselves from their American counterparts by creating amps that were decidedly more aggressive in character — louder and crunchier with heaps of attitude.
One of the ways they achieved that was by employing EL34 power tubes rather than the 6L6s commonly found in American amps of the time. EL34 tubes gobble up a lot more current than 6L6s and tend to break up earlier. But, because EL34 tubes run hotter than 6L6s, they have far wider range of overdrive tones, from gentle saturation to full-on, face-melting distortion, all while retaining a musical character. EL34s exhibit a full-spectrum sound with rich, solid bass, prominent mids, and a bright, yet never strident top-end.
During the late 1970s, EL34s came in short supply and remained that way for some years, exploding their value on the NOS market. Thankfully, you don’t have to look that hard for high-quality EL34 tubes today. Manufacturers like Mullard, Groove Tubes, Tung-Sol and more continue to produce EL34s that rival NOS tubes. And amp makers such as Mesa/Boogie and Bugera have put out their own EL34 tubes that work great with their amps or any others.
Shop for EL34 Tubes Online
At Sweetwater, we have a large selection of EL34 tubes, whether you’re looking to replace a burnt-out set or just try another brand to change up the color of your amp. If you want to find out more about any of the EL34 tubes we have to offer (or any other tubes for that matter), reach out to one our highly knowledgeable Sweetwater Sales Engineers. They’re happy to talk tubes any day!
