Winged =C= EL34 timeline questions.

[Dougie]

I'd like to learn a bit about the variations of the Winged =C= EL34 tubes.

Some are advertised as pre sovtek, some advertised as the random S logo, some have brown bottoms, some have black bottoms, and I guess there are some recent knockoffs made as well.

How do you tell these apart and which are the good ones of these to get?

 

[lunchbox]

I tried some new one's and they sounded really thin in my amp. Not much low end, kinda trebly. I didn't like them at all and figured that all the winged C's were like that.

But.... I found some late '80's/early '90's with the red S logo and thought I'd give them a 2nd try. They're way different. They completely smoothed out and warmed up the tone of my Laney without losing any of the low end balls.

I think the one's I have have got the black bases. I'm not sure what the difference is in construction, but they are definitely not the same as the new one's. They're much better. They look exactly like these:

 

[Dougie]

Funny I was sending you a PM while you were posting this..

I'm trying to learn some of the history and changes in base/logo/getter etc, and which ones are the ones to get.

 

[Splattle101]

...