Frihed89

I have a custom made SS amp that i like a lot, and a MAD model and an MPX3 SE. I wanted to see what you guys recommended.....something new. I would really like an OPT coupled SET, but 300B, 45 or 2A3 would make it too expensive. I already have to worry about replacing two 300B WE in another amp.

$1000 Tube amp

I forgot to mention, I have a hearing disease and a tungsten prosthesis in each ear to replace the stapes. It doesn't react well to in-ear phones. It shifts everything up several registers.

What commercial tube head amp would you buy?

Technically, the Blackburn is a fine tube: balanced, detailed, fast, very transparent. I can't find any real faults as an input tube to my Mad Ear+ HD or driver in my Quicksilver Mini-mites, although these pieces of equipment may not be able to bring out the best in it. To me, though, the Blackburn is boring because it lacks "character". I am very fond of the early 1950s US-made 5751s and 12Ax7s, esp. RCA, Raytheon and Sylvania. These are not technically not as good as the Blackburn in that they put all put lot of emphasis on the mid-range and seem to have either a great treble and good bass or the other way around. None of them are bright or edgy: they are tilted down a bit towards the upper bass and lower mid-range, at least that is what i hear. They all are slightly different, but they all make listening to music more enjoyable to me than with the Blackburn. That's the character part. This is very personal: My definition of "character" can well be another person's definition of a flaw. By the way, mine were not microphonic.

I have listened to this and the Sovtek 5751 and the RCA TMBP 5751. I always liked the Sovtek 5751 and loved the RCA. This tube is actually quite OK in relation to these two, but I need to listen some more music to really feel the difference. It does a great job on country-western, but what doesn't?

Thanks for the tutorial. I am going to repeat your message. I know very little about electronics, but I have learned to solder and with the advice and guidance of various people on different forums I have changed a number of caps, resistors and even FETs in 3 different pieces of equipment. It's easy and fun and you can hear the differences as long as you change the right parts. What some upgrade outfits do is install a ton of high priced parts that don't affect the sound and a few that do. They get insane rates for this.

It has 4 KT88! If these 4 are only putting out 5W, then i expect that it is because it is running in SE class A with the KT88s wired as triodes. That or it is operating as a space heater.

I just got one. I was miffed by the price for a single and UPS delivered it to another address, so I was, not so subconsciously, looking to trash this tube. I stuck it in my Mad Ear+ HD and let it go for about 4 hours and then listened very briefly to a "simple" (voice + cello + banjo) recording by Ben Sollee before going to bed last night. It was not microphonic; it was low noise. It sounded pretty clean and the "tone" was... maybe a tad bit on the bright sound. The top end was nice - clean and clear. I need to listen some more. This isn't what i expected (wanted?). My wife liked it. She has a great set of ears. I am going to compare it to a Sovtek 12AX7LPs and 5751 and GE and RCA TMBP 5751s, maybe a TF smooth plate, too. This takes time.

I don't know about RAM. They won't even tell their "clients" exactly what the mods are that they have installed. Which of these caps would have the biggest influence on the sound? There are no coupling caps. The rest, accept for the filter, are electrolytics. Which ones lie most directly in the signal path? As in Donald says someplace else, it seems to me that the biggest improvements would come from a better output transformer. What about the power supply and filter cap?

How about The Mickey Mouse Club theme song? Where does that fit in? And Spike Jones? What amp would you recommend to correctly render Cocktails for Two? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvt4b_qwC_Q]YouTube - SPIKE JONES & CITY SLICKERS - COCKTAILS FOR TWO - 1945[/ame]

You're right, of course, and I am wrong. Also I have not heard the Sonnet, but I have never heard an Indirectly heated triode that can match a DHT. The same goes for pentodes wired as triodes in SE mode.

No, the DNA is not SET. It's single-ended class A, transformer output coupled, but does not use a directly heated trioed like the 300B. However, it's gotten some very good reviews. It remains to be seen if Donald is going to become a credible manufacturer. It's a really tough road to hoe, making the transition from DIY to a business. I have not heard any Woo amp and I have only heard one SET head amp, a DIY model, but it had the same magic sound and great dynamics as my speaker amp and I liked it much better than my SP MPX3 SE Slam or MAD Ear+ HD. So, researching SET head amps is a priority. I have way too much stuff.

yes. Thank you Kevin. I'll need to unscrew it at the very least, but i don't think so. (I forgot to even check what type it was). The washer is a good idea.

This is slightly off-topic (and slightly on). I was digging through My MPX3 Slam SE last night and sure enough i came upon an FET that was screwed into the side of the case. No, i don't know it's function, but shouldn't it be insulated against the case? What else should I worry about with these?

Have you any experience listening to SET (Single Ended Triode) amps driving speakers? For some people the SET sound is truly addictive. Woo also sells a very fine SET head amp, and it costs around $2500, which is a lot of money for a head-fier, I realize. But the SET sound is out of this world. Don't let class A SE (single ended) fool you. In 9-10 cases, these amps don't sound even close to a directly heated triode (DHT) like the 300B. You can even pay as much as $850 for a pair of new production Western Electric 300B tubes from their factory!

Yes, I emailed him about a capacitor value on my MPX3 and he replied immediately - but didn't answer my question - and disappeared. He's selling tubes on Ebay, but I forgot his shop's name - USA Tubes or something like that.

Or, if you have a really good attenuator for the volume, you can attenuate without too disastrous consequences. I have a "big" shallco ladder attenuator as the volume control on a tube preamp with a high-low attenuation switch and I hear hardly any sound degradation.

I have talked with Peter at least once about a headphone amp. At one point, there was a plan for AN kits to release one, hes said, but for some reason it hasn't gotten off the ground yet. A silver-nickel output transformer for a headamp would be quite an undertaking at

What's the deal with the AN preamp transformer you put up for sale? Was that another project? What happened? That's a really wicked piece of iron for a preamp!

Double Core UltraHiB silver output transfomers weigh about 8 kilos each! I just bought an AN amp that has two of them and weighs at least 40 kilos. I can't imagine sticking one of these beasts into head amp. Fortunately, I was joking...i think.

Thanks for answering my questions. Incidentally, on Tuesday I am going to audition a used AN Miushu integrated. I call it the Br

Earl and others: What would I hear diferently or better that I can't with my SP MPX3 Slam SE? I have recently noticed that, when listening to my new Audio Note CD Player, the SP amp lacked the inner resolution of the music compared to an SS amp I use (Blue Circle SBH). Surprisingly, also it didn't seem to "mate" as well musically with the AN CDP as the SS headamp. Music sounded flatter, not as organic. I did not hear such differences with an Arcam source. I wonder if something like the Stacker might also work well with the AN gear. But sad if the design dies, I agree, and/or no one picks it up commercially as happened with the Mullet amp.

Somewhere (here?) I made a crack/asked a question about adding Double C-Core Silver Output Transformers. As I recall, DN suggested this would be possible upgrade. Following that short "discssion", I have some questions for everyone: 1. Do you think a radical "improvement" in the output transformer would substantially improve the sonics? 2. I wonder if any existing Audio Note transformers or other components would fit, physically and electrically? (Try to restrain yourselves at the mention of the words "Audio Note". I am a hopeless true believer). 3. To the comment about 230V, aren't there any existing power transformers that would work? Again, AN makes a number and many (most? all?) have dual windings. To Donald North, are you coming to RMAF2009? If you look on booking buddy or fare compare, etc., the prices of flights are low. I just booked a SW flight to SFO-Den for $69 and noticed that Frontier, AA and others had dropped their prices to compete. I'd like to hear this amp, although I don't know about this "wonder tube". Cheers.