June 24, 200917 yr comment_248431 I got a chance to listen to the Singlepower Platinum Extreme at CanJam. I liked it compared to other tubed amplifiers because it didn't have that tubey warm colored sound. I wanted to pick one up used, but I have been reading that Mikhail is MIA and there may be problems with getting it fixed if I ever needed to. Can someone suggest some comparable amps with a similar sound? Just a FYI, I listened to the WooAudio3, Cary Exciter, and the Cary 300SEI. I thought all three of these amps sounded to warm and tubey for my taste. Report
June 24, 200917 yr comment_248437 There is no current, commercially available amplifier that uses a similar tube compliment in an OTL topology. Used examples would include the Eddie Current HD300 and Wheatfield HA-2 but I sincerely doubt you'll have much luck finding either and both are really only suitable for high-impedance headphones. At least that's all the comes to mind. The closest thing really is the Woo WA22 which is still a trafo-coupled design and may not be to your liking. Report
June 24, 200917 yr comment_248459 As an added bonus, build it with all the faults Mikhail did and you have the extra fun of fixing it regularly. Report
June 25, 200917 yr comment_248614 Just saw pictures of neil's amp. Pretty pissed at the moment. Which leads to the following politically incorrect comment... (with a russian accent) "IT MUST BE BUILT LIKE SHIT TO SOUND GOOD" The amount of total clusterfuck here is awsome. Report
June 26, 200917 yr comment_249137 Doesn't Berning, Bada, Decware and Antique Sound Labs have amps that would qualify? Here's an interesting one: http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Chazz-2-Headphone-Amplifier-Assembled_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ260380466884 Report
June 26, 200917 yr comment_249145 Part of what makes gives the Extreme the potential to sound good is running the 6080/6AS7 in parallel on the output, OTL's with a single tube are not going to perform well into low ohm loads in my experience. And of course none of them run the output tubes as hard as I do in the Menace. Report
June 27, 200917 yr comment_249594 And of course none of them run the output tubes as hard as I do in the Menace. You should try cranking up the bias till the plates glow and see if it sounds better, 6AS7's aren't that expensive. Going back to the OP, one amp that comes to mind is the Trafomatic Head One, but it's a transformer output amp not an OTL like the singlepower. Definitely a nice neutral sound and not the warm mushy sound found in many tube amps. Report
June 27, 200917 yr comment_249713 I wonder what would happen if you went to jack at woo audio and told him you wanted him to build an extreme his way. It sure would be pretty and it would work forever. Offer to supply the schematic and have him make the necessary changes to make it reliable. He already knows how to do dc filament supplies, and high voltage supplies for that kind of thing, should be easy. Report
June 27, 200917 yr comment_249735 If mine ever comes back I'll sell it to you. That aside, will picks of Neil's ES-2 ever be made public? Report
June 28, 200917 yr comment_249754 If mine ever comes back I'll sell it to you. That aside, will picks of Neil's ES-2 ever be made public? That is up to neil. But if you ask him real nice i'm absolutely sure he will send them to you... Major fail with capacitors just hanging there from stickem cable ties that long since let loose... Send the amp to me... But really you will never get it back... Edited June 28, 200917 yr by kevin gilmore Report
June 28, 200917 yr comment_249757 Yeah, I pretty much wrote it off already. If it comes back, it'll be a nice surprise. /shrug Report
June 28, 200917 yr comment_249889 I wonder what would happen if you went to jack at woo audio and told him you wanted him to build an extreme his way. It sure would be pretty and it would work forever. Offer to supply the schematic and have him make the necessary changes to make it reliable. He already knows how to do dc filament supplies, and high voltage supplies for that kind of thing, should be easy. Where are the shematic ? BTW, 2 MPX3 to sell on head-fi actually. I think the MPX3 SE is a better amp than a simple extreme. Report
June 28, 200917 yr comment_249910 Just tell Jack you want an OTL version of the WA22 with a single ended output. Report
June 28, 200917 yr comment_249918 complete with all the glorious fuckups... http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/singlehourextreme.jpg Report
June 28, 200917 yr comment_249958 Don't forget this Woo Audio 2 High End Headphone / Pre Amplifier. A bit different tube compliment. (although the same output tubes) Report
June 29, 200917 yr comment_250163 I loves me the Woo 2 and think it betters the extreme in it's stock form. Great sound, a pre amp ans Woo build quality to boot Report
June 29, 200917 yr comment_250170 They are almost too horrific for those noobs on HF... So I guess that means they are worse than Al's power supply? Report
June 29, 200917 yr Author comment_250214 Me thinks me likey the ASL. Although me never hear one, me try anyway. Anyone know if the MG Head III has self rectum-fying tubes? Report
June 29, 200917 yr comment_250369 So I guess that means they are worse than Al's power supply? Yup. Report
June 29, 200917 yr comment_250412 Self-rectifying? Not likely. come on Dusty, you can do better than that.. that typo almost does the work for you! Report
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