pabbi1 Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 This is the 'new' McAlister EA-6, freshly returned from Peter, with a better than new rework of the circuit... tube compliment is: 1x 12BQ6 1x 6BQ6 2x 12AU7 4x 6CG7 4x 17GW6 This is with the Eastsound E5 and the HE60. Good news: This amp is great, if not spectacular when playing acoustic (Allison Krauss), classical, and some rock (Jane's Addiction, Who Ultimate Collection, and Hoobastank). Just superb. Bad news: On saturated and distorted rock (Tool '10k Days' and 'Lateralus', Jett 'Get Born' and 'Shine On', and even Velvet Revolver), I catch a raft of fuzzy distortion (almost static) in the upper guitar band and the top of percussion (cymbals)... BUT, ONLY on certain CDs / bands (/producers???). WTF? Vocals and any acoustic instruments are universally outstanding. The only thing I can come up with is the 'Even order harmonics' (good albums) vs 'odd order harmonics' (bad albums ?) that Peter says he is after - can exploring that single minded signal processing objective be causing this bizarre behavior? Honestly, I have never had any amp behavior quite like this. Even some heavily distorted guitar is great (Neli Young - 'Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand, Cinnamon Girl)... just bizarre. This is NOT a function of volume - noticeable cranked up, and down low. It is not crappy CDs - they sound GREAT on the Blue Hawaii. For the moment, let's put aside the 'ugly innards' part - it still does a LOT of things in spectacular fashion... regardless of it's price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sacd lover Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 This is the 'new' McAlister EA-6, freshly returned from Peter, with a better than new rework of the circuit... tube compliment is: 1x 12BQ6 1x 6BQ6 2x 12AU7 4x 6CG7 4x 17GW6 This is with the Eastsound E5 and the HE60. Good news: This amp is great, if not spectacular when playing acoustic (Allison Krauss), classical, and some rock (Jane's Addiction, Who Ultimate Collection, and Hoobastank). Just superb. Bad news: On saturated and distorted rock (Tool '10k Days' and 'Lateralus', Jett 'Get Born' and 'Shine On', and even Velvet Revolver), I catch a raft of fuzzy distortion (almost static) in the upper guitar band and the top of percussion (cymbals)... BUT, ONLY on certain CDs / bands (/producers???). WTF? Vocals and any acoustic instruments are universally outstanding. The only thing I can come up with is the 'Even order harmonics' (good albums) vs 'odd order harmonics' (bad albums ?) that Peter says he is after - can exploring that single minded signal processing objective be causing this bizarre behavior? Honestly, I have never had any amp behavior quite like this. Even some heavily distorted guitar is great (Neli Young - 'Down by the River, Cowgirl in the Sand, Cinnamon Girl)... just bizarre. This is NOT a function of volume - noticeable cranked up, and down low. It is not crappy CDs - they sound GREAT on the Blue Hawaii. For the moment, let's put aside the 'ugly innards' part - it still does a LOT of things in spectacular fashion... regardless of it's price. I would say a bad tube or the amp is oscillating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pabbi1 Posted March 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Would this make sense, as it seems spot on: Originally Posted by derekbmn If i'm not mistaken(and I very well could be) the McAlister amps have very low maximum output voltage.As in not a whole lot of voltage swing. Are you sure it's not simply clipping on complex passages ? Running out of steam so to speak on temporary but sustained peaks.(ie: guitar) Personally I think that may be what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sacd lover Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Would this make sense, as it seems spot on: Originally Posted by derekbmn If i'm not mistaken(and I very well could be) the McAlister amps have very low maximum output voltage.As in not a whole lot of voltage swing. Are you sure it's not simply clipping on complex passages ? Running out of steam so to speak on temporary but sustained peaks.(ie: guitar) Personally I think that may be what it is. I didnt pay enough attention to the fact this is an electrostatic amp. None of the tubes you list would have a lot of voltage swing so I would tend to agree possible clipping makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JBLoudG20 Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 Sounds like poor engineering to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepak Posted March 11, 2007 Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 On saturated and distorted rock (Tool '10k Days' and 'Lateralus', Jett 'Get Born' and 'Shine On', and even Velvet Revolver), I catch a raft of fuzzy distortion (almost static) in the upper guitar band and the top of percussion (cymbals)... BUT, ONLY on certain CDs / bands (/producers???). WTF? I noticed this too with my Stax SR-404. It was worse on really badly mastered CDs. Particularly bad on a Coldplay album that I had to stop listening to after a few minutes into it. The Stax just couldn't handle most modern rock. Any sort of heavy distorting guitar caused this crackling/static sound. This was with an SRM-313 amp. edit: also heard this in an Omega 2/KGSS at one meet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pabbi1 Posted March 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2007 May well just be poor design - but, I have never heard any clipping on the BH... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted March 12, 2007 Report Share Posted March 12, 2007 Well, the BH is the highest voltage swing amp out there AFAIK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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