EL84

The EL84 is a vacuum tube of the power pentode type. It is used in the power-output stages of audio amplifiers, most commonly now in guitar amplifiers, but originally in radios. The EL84 is smaller and more sensitive than the octal 6V6 that was widely used around the world until the 1960s. An interchangeable North American type is the 6BQ5 (the RETMA tube designation name for the EL84).

The EL84 was developed to eliminate the need for a driver tube in radios, so it has rather more gain than is usual in a power pentode. Eliminating a preamplifier triode in radios made them cheaper. Manufacturers were quick to adopt it in general use, and they are found in many old European tube-radios and other audio equipment. A single EL84 was used in low-cost equipment, and a push–pull pair for lower distortion and higher power.