Common variants of the EL84, manufactured today in Russia, Slovakia and Yugoslavia

The EL84 (European designation - known as the 6BQ5 in North America) is a vacuum tube (a. This article is about the electronic device not an evacuated pipe used for experiments in Free-fall. k. a. valve) of the power pentode type. A pentode is an electronic device having five active Electrodes The term most commonly applies to a three-grid Vacuum tube, which was invented by the Dutchman It has a 9 pin miniature base and is found mainly in the final output stages of amplification circuits, most commonly now in guitar amplifiers, but originally in radios and many other devices of the pre-transistor era. A guitar amplifier is an Electronic amplifier designed for use with an electric or electronic Musical instrument, such as an Electric guitar. In Electronics, a transistor is a Semiconductor device commonly used to amplify or switch electronic signals

It was developed to eliminate the need for a driver tube in radios, and has rather more gain than is usual in a power pentode, producing full output from a relatively small drive signal. This eliminated the need for one preamplifier triode in radios, making them cheaper to produce. A preamplifier (preamp or control amp in some parts of the world is an Electronic amplifier which precedes another amplifier to prepare an electronic As the EL84 itself is a 9 pin miniature, it was also cheap to produce and manufacturers were quick to adopt it in general use, and they are found in many old European valve radios.

In common with all 'E' prefix tubes, using the Mullard-Philips tube designation, it has a heater voltage of 6. In Europe, the principal method of numbering Vacuum tubes was the nomenclature developed and used by Mullard in the UK and applied Europe-wide thanks to 3V. It is capable, when used at its plate rating of 300 volts maximum, of producing 17 watts output in Class AB1 in push-pull configuration. An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power and/or Amplitude of a signal. An electronic amplifier is a device for increasing the power and/or Amplitude of a signal.

Developed by Philips in 1953 for use in the British Mullard 5-10 amplifier, the EL84 came to prominence when used in Watkins (and later the Vox) amplifiers preferred by many British invasion bands of the 1960s. Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV ( Royal Philips Electronics Inc. The Mullard 5-10 was a Circuit for a Valve amplifier designed by the British Vacuum tube company Mullard, in 1954 to take advantage of their Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer which is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, the Vox Electric organ, and a series of innovative The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media — and subsequently by consumers — to the influx of Rock and roll, beat and pop performers When overdriven, the EL84 power tubes of these amplifiers produce a distinctive chiming, articulate, treble-heavy sound when compared to 6L6 tubes more commonly used in American amplifiers of the era such as those from Fender. 6L6 is the designator for a Vacuum tube introduced by Radio Corporation of America in July 1936. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of Quincy Illinois is a manufacturer of stringed instruments such as solid-body Electric guitars including the

Other equivalent tubes are the 7189, an extended-ratings version of the tube for industrial applications and the 6P14P (Cyrillic: 6П14П) produced in the USSR by the Reflektor plant, which is a direct equivalent of EL84/6BQ5. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 A slightly modified version of the 6P14P is currently being manufactured in Russia for Sovtek. Sovtek is a brand of Vacuum tube owned by Mike Matthews's New Sensor Corporation and manufactured in Saratov, Russia. An extended-ratings version of the 6P14P is also available - 6P14P-EV (Cyrillic: 6П14П-ЕВ) and is known among US guitar players as "EL84M" or the "Russian military EL84". While not necessarily a true "military version" of the tube (in fact it is more comparable to the 7189), 6P14P-EV are known for their low noise and durability. Large NOS (New Old Stock) supplies of the tube are available.

Current production of the tube takes place in Russia (Sovtek and Electro-Harmonix brands), Slovakia- Čadca (JJ Electronics), and Serbia- Niš (Ei). Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Sovtek is a brand of Vacuum tube owned by Mike Matthews's New Sensor Corporation and manufactured in Saratov, Russia. Electro-Harmonix is Slovakia (long form Slovak Republic; Slovak:, long form, is a Landlocked country in Central Europe with a population of over five million Čadca ( Tschadsa (rare Csaca Czadca is a district town in northern Slovakia, near the border with Poland and the Czech Republic. Serbia (Србија Srbija) officially the Republic of Serbia (Република Србија Republika Srbija) is a Landlocked Country The Sovtek EL84 is often sold under their own brand name by other well-known electric guitar and guitar amplifier manufacturers - such as Fender or Mesa Boogie. An electric guitar is a type of Guitar that uses pickups to convert the vibration of its steel-cored strings into an electrical current which is made louder A guitar amplifier is an Electronic amplifier designed for use with an electric or electronic Musical instrument, such as an Electric guitar. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation of Quincy Illinois is a manufacturer of stringed instruments such as solid-body Electric guitars including the Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering is a Company in Petaluma California that makes Amplifiers for Guitars and basses

Also see 6P1P. 6P1P_trioJPG|thumb|right|155px|A comparison of Svetlana 6P1P (left 6P1P-EV and Beijing Electron Tube Factory 6P1 (right]] The 6P1P (Russian 6П1П) is a Soviet

External links

• [1] - EL84 data at TDSL.