What is the EL3N vacuum tube?

The EL3N is a pentode vacuum tube designed for power (se) applications. European oval cathode pentode. Sakuma favorite..

What is a EL3N substitute or equivalent?

Direct equivalents to the EL3N include 4694. These share the same pinout and operating envelope, so they can usually be swapped without circuit changes — though batch-to-batch variations between manufacturers (NOS vs current production) may shift the sonic character noticeably.

What are the key specifications of the EL3N?

Amplification factor μ ≈ 23, transconductance gm ≈ 9 mA/V, plate resistance rp ≈ 50.0 kΩ, max plate voltage 250 V, max plate dissipation 9 W, heater 6.3 V / 0.9 A.

Is the EL3N still in production?

Production status varies by year and manufacturer. The current Amperatubes catalog classifies the EL3N as Sought-after availability. NOS (new-old-stock) examples from RCA, Mullard, Tung-Sol, GE, Sylvania and Telefunken trade among collectors; modern production where it exists comes mostly from JJ Electronic, Electro-Harmonix, Tung-Sol (New Sensor), Genalex, and a handful of small-batch makers.

What does the EL3N sound like?

European oval cathode pentode. Sakuma favorite.. Sonic character also depends heavily on the circuit operating point, the surrounding tubes in the stage, and the output transformer when present — use the interactive loadline calculator on this page to explore the trade-offs.

By Jean-Michel Falligan Devergne · Reviewed May 29, 2026

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EL3N Pentode Vacuum Tube

Pentode6.3V / 0.9A8-pin Side Contact P8A

SourcePhilipsReviewed2026-05-29StatusDataModelCalcModelunder reviewPDF

Small-signal pentode for low-noise voltage amplification

Datasheet ↗

EL3N — Philips — pentode vacuum tube — (1938)

50.0kΩ

9.0mA/V

8.0pF

0.3pF

7.00pF

GAIN23%

POWER23%

DRIVE50%

LINEARITY89%

SPECIFICATIONS

Heater6.3 V · 0.9 A

Max Plate Voltage250 V

Pa max9 W

Gain Factor23

gm9 mA/V

rp50.0 kΩ

Inter-electrode capacitances

Cgk8 pF

Cgp0.3 pF

Cpk7 pF

Pinout8-pin Side Contact P8A

Era1938

RaritySought-after

HEATER6.3V / 0.9A

MAX PLATE250V / 9W

BASEp8a-sc

Source datasheets

1 manufacturer datasheets cross-checked for EL3N

1 verified

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The EL3N is a indirectly-heated pentode from Philips, introduced around 1938. It provides a gain factor (μ) of 23 with 50.0kΩ plate resistance. Commonly used in power (se) applications. European oval cathode pentode. Sakuma favorite.

HISTORY

Introduced1938ManufacturerPhilips

Pre-War

EL3N Datasheet

Local mirror · PDF

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METRIX TESTER

Test this tube on a Metrix

SPICE model not yet available. Loadline calculator requires calibrated Koren parameters.

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