TAD RT272 Tubes EL84 Cz Pair

For reasons of portability, I frequently use a Mesa Boogie Mini-Rectifier and 10-inch speaker, which I can easily bring on a plane or load onto my motorcycle to ride to gigs. The drawback is that this amp-speaker combination often lacks in bass response and head room, which are really crucial elements to my clean sounds.

In real gig situations, I need lots of volume to keep up with loud drummers. You can always increase the treble on most amps, particularly Mesa Boogies. But to my ears, there is nothing uglier and more painful than boosting the sharp treble end of the frequency spectrum just to be heard. The original Mesa Boogie power tubes tended to break up way too early, not allowing me to generate clean sounds with punch and clarity and medium or higher volumes.

On reading the description of the CZ tubes, I decided to give them a try. I'm VERY SATISFIED. While they aren't drastically louder, they are noticeably louder and deliver more bass, allowing me to stay clean at higher volumes without resorting to boosting ear-piercing treble frequencies.

Most of my distortion is derived from pedals and with the CZ tubes, so I can now use them to push the power tubes to distort at a more appropriate volume level for a gig situation. Contrary to some reviews out there that the CZ tubes lack character, they sound warm and smooth. On the other hand, the TAD EL84 STR tubes, which are touted for their tone and claimed as being superior to the CZ tubes, they are no better than the stock Mesa Boogies I had--they break up too early and lack bass response. I will definitely keep a spare set of CZs on hand!

I Needed replacement tubes for my Hughes & Kettner Studio 84 because the original Ruby Tubes were starting to go microphony.

Installing the tubes was a bit tricky because of the construction of the H&K (nothing to do with the tubes) but after getting the Amp apart, setting the tubes in was no problem.

After turning on the amplifier, the tubes made no "displeasing" sounds (crackling, Popping etc.) they were and still are absolutely quiet...nice! The have a bit more output than the standard tubes that were in the amp and I have been very pleased with quality.

Cheers

I have been buying from Thomann for many years now and I have to say they have one of the best customer service around, along with their extremely competitive prices. (cheapest by far!)

In all honesty, I have never needed to buy pre amp tubes for amps. But when my EL84's blew in my Vox I needed some. Did some research and for my price range these came top. Boy oh Boy, do these sound good! These have a fair bit of kick in the bass region than most tubes but don't let that put you off. The drive and crunch these little beauties provide is excellent. Brilliant all round sound for a relatively cheap tube.
Even though made in china, they fell very sturdy, very responsive and sound really really warm.

Im extremely happy with these and would definitely buy them again over sovtek tubes!