Show us your tubes

[dwbasement]

 
I'm a 6as7 lover but mine is a headphone amp from Poland. Seems like you have a great day listening to tube amps.

It was great, too many tubes to listen to. My 6as7 was there too, not really great with the low efficient speakers, one of the guy came back to my house to try the horns, and thats a didferent story. [emoji6]

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[mwhouston]

@dwbasement really nice.Good mix.

[dwbasement]

[mention=147028]dwbasement[/mention] really nice.Good mix.

Yes apart from the tubes mix, also good mix of SET, UL, PP

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[dwbasement]

A few amps of what we have tested.

WE421A

KT150 WITH 6H30PI

6EM7

6AS7

AND 300B not photoed.

 

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[dwbasement]

Another pair of GEC 6080WA arrived today. Sound beautiful.

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[Odyssey]

A B36 will be the driver for a new  headphone amp I'm getting. I've 2 of the best. A Marconi and a GEC.

 

 

 

[F18]

This thread has gotten quiet. 

 

Cheers,

[Guest BobbyD]

15 minutes ago, F18 said:

This thread has gotten quiet. 

 

Cheers,

Ok, here you go.....

 

300B stereo power amp with external psu.......lots of tubes......

[darth vader]

LM-502 CA DAC. 7037 output tubes and Burson V6 "vivid" op amps. The orange ones are the Burson V6 "classic" op amps.

 

If the stars align, will have a GEC 6X4 rectifier to replace the SER 6X4 rectumfrier soon.

 

This is where the best of both worlds align. Killer DAC with tube sound

This is where tubes and opamps meet at a bar and take each other to bed...and wake up wanting to do it over again.

 

The vivid just want to go hard at it, the classic like to cuddle afterwards.

[Rob181]

6 hours ago, darth vader said:

This is where the best of both worlds align. Killer DAC with tube sound

This is where tubes and opamps meet at a bar and take each other to bed...and wake up wanting to do it over again.

The vivid just want to go hard at it, the classic like to cuddle afterwards.

Erotic tubes...who would have thought...

[Odyssey]

My contribution - FDD20 tubes. :-)

 

 

[David Free]

[McCvinyl]

Holy sheeesh! Theres more bulbs than on my christmas tree.

What are those beasts.

[Dave o]

Elson Silva lent them to me a few years back.

 

They were heavy, run very very hot and sounded like liquid. From memory he said they were 200w SET

 

 

[Rob181]

2 hours ago, Dave o said:

Elson Silva lent them to me a few years back.

So...when are you going to give them back...

[Lloyd]

I have a box full of three hole plate Sylvania 6SN7s from early 1952.  NOS.

 

Amongst a bunch of other 6SN7s, like RCA, Ken Rad and many others like the black round plate TungSol - including the famed metal bases.

 

A bunch of TS 6SU7 GTYs - the best version of 6SL7.  

 

Not for sale in the foreseeable future.  And even then,  only under extreme torture, and only to people with an @ehtcom amp and can demonstrate that they have their head screwed on and an open cheque book.

 

I now look on eBay, and offerings for NOS are sparse compared to just a couple years ago.  That is OK, as I understand that some new production can be perfectly good.

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by Lloyd

[F18]

For 6SN7 position, a pair of 7193/2C22/6J5/L63 will trump any 6SN7 in all nearly aspects of sound anyday of the week. 7193/2C22 a bit more for the hardcore enthusiasts though with anode and cathode connections external on the glass.

 

For single 6SN7 equivalents or same, early English MO-V ECC32 are the ones to get from the British family, these are essentially prototype or early 6SN7 GT’s before they carried the design and improved on it to make later 6SN7GTA/GTB’s which have higher plate voltage.

 

From the US family you have the RCA or any JAN CRC marked red base extra rod support on the mica 5692 which is not a true 100% 6SN7 equivalent but close enough to be a direct drop in where 99% of the circuits will not complain.

 

The Australian make AWV Super Radiotron/Philips Miniwatt/Mullard 6SN7’s should not be neglected, the ones with black plates, marked GTA are superior sounding to most common Sylvania, GE, RCA 6SN7’s. Not suprising given the designs and part of the tube manufacture came from Europe such as Holland, Berlin and the British factories.

 

 

cheers

[Lloyd]

9 minutes ago, F18 said:

For 6SN7 position, a pair of 7193/2C22/6J5/L63 will trump any 6SN7 in all nearly aspects of sound anyday of the week. 7193/2C22 a bit more for the hardcore enthusiasts though with anode and cathode connections external on the glass.

 

For single 6SN7 equivalents or same, early English MO-V ECC32 are the ones to get from the British family, these are essentially prototype or early 6SN7 GT’s before they carried the design and improved on it to make later 6SN7GTA/GTB’s which have higher plate voltage.

 

From the US family you have the RCA or any JAN CRC marked red base extra rod support on the mica 5692 which is not a true 100% 6SN7 equivalent but close enough to be a direct drop in where 99% of the circuits will not complain.

 

The Australian make AWV Super Radiotron/Philips Miniwatt/Mullard 6SN7’s should not be neglected, the ones with black plates, marked GTA are superior sounding to most common Sylvania, GE, RCA 6SN7’s. Not suprising given the designs and part of the tube manufacture came from Europe such as Holland, Berlin and the British factories.

 

 

cheers

 

ECC32 draw a 50% higher current than 6sn7s.

5692 - 43% over max rating.

You sound as if you know what you are talking about, but....

Look forward to fried transformers.

 

[F18]

You’re blowing it out of proportion, most properly built (not some amp from China or dads backyard) will handle the extra current on the filament no problem because most transformers have headroom on the secondary winding anyway. 

 

I did say these are equivalents or near the same and direct drop ins 99% of the time will be fine.

 

The CV181 is also a modern and old equivalent of the 6SN7 and ECC32, both model designation thrown interchangeably.

 

For a different and more linear sound the 6CG7/6FQ7 can also be rewired to work in place of 6SN7’s. 

cheers,

 

[mwhouston]

17 hours ago, ashmeow said:

That is a lot of glass and fire.

[Lloyd]

On 10/11/2017 at 6:40 AM, F18 said:

You’re blowing it out of proportion, most properly built (not some amp from China or dads backyard) will handle the extra current on the filament no problem because most transformers have headroom on the secondary winding anyway. 

 

I did say these are equivalents or near the same and direct drop ins 99% of the time will be fine.

 

The CV181 is also a modern and old equivalent of the 6SN7 and ECC32, both model designation thrown interchangeably.

 

For a different and more linear sound the 6CG7/6FQ7 can also be rewired to work in place of 6SN7’s. 

cheers,

 

 

Maybe I am.  I am naturally careful in many aspects.

I have asked Earle what valves can I use, and he said a big NO to some, and he makes tremendous transformers.  I forget, that was a few years ago.  I think it was more to do with output valves.

 

So, I err on the side of caution.

No way am I in a position to rewire anything.

By the way, dunno if this has changed, but Earle used to make his amps in a shed in his backyard, so.................

[mwhouston]

I am dad's backyard and always have been. Doesn't  mean my amps, preamps, phono preamps MM and MC, SS and tube, DC Blockers, speakers, interconnects and speaker wires perform any less than way over priced commercial gear. In fact a guy who bought my 150W T3 monoblock Class D amps (Tutu) for his expensive Harbeth 40.2 says they are the best amps he has ever heard and he has had a few. All from dad's backyard.

 

The only thing that annoys me with DIY gear is when it is poorly finished and presented. And dad's backyarders don't build to a price as is commercial gear. My MC stage has two $450 Audio Note silver paper and oil caps. The concentric 15" drivers in my speakers were $1K each!

[Ittaku]

Mine are hidden away within the amplifier enclosure, but here are some photos when I opened her up to test the bias.

[aussievintage]

On 10/11/2017 at 6:40 AM, F18 said:

You’re blowing it out of proportion, most properly built (not some amp from China or dads backyard) will handle the extra current on the filament no problem because most transformers have headroom on the secondary winding anyway. 

 

 

A few things are working in your favour.  Firstly, transformers will be only available commercially in particular sizes,  and after you calculate the requirements of your design, you pick the transformer that is the next one up in size.  This is not just the filament/heater winding current rating,  but also the other windings may be underutilised, allowing some leeway in the total VA rating.  Finally the designer of the transformer will have done his calculations and allowed the usual engineering leeway.

[F18]

 

On 11/11/2017 at 3:55 AM, Lloyd said:

 

Maybe I am.  I am naturally careful in many aspects.

I have asked Earle what valves can I use, and he said a big NO to some, and he makes tremendous transformers.  I forget, that was a few years ago.  I think it was more to do with output valves.

 

So, I err on the side of caution.

No way am I in a position to rewire anything.

By the way, dunno if this has changed, but Earle used to make his amps in a shed in his backyard, so.................

Naturally (not directly at you), you should always check if a tube that you're dropping in that isn't the same part no as the original will work optimally in the DAC or amplifier it is going into. Yes, some designs are strictly made and designed to take only those certain tubes as the original designer/engineer has intended it to do so because it is best kept that way, also acting as a prevention to the user just dropping in any tube that has the same type of socket. If you get what I mean.

 

Earle has expanded his business now so yeah.

 

Cheers,

On 11/11/2017 at 5:56 AM, mwhouston said:

I am dad's backyard and always have been. Doesn't  mean my amps, preamps, phono preamps MM and MC, SS and tube, DC Blockers, speakers, interconnects and speaker wires perform any less than way over priced commercial gear. In fact a guy who bought my 150W T3 monoblock Class D amps (Tutu) for his expensive Harbeth 40.2 says they are the best amps he has ever heard and he has had a few. All from dad's backyard.

 

The only thing that annoys me with DIY gear is when it is poorly finished and presented. And dad's backyarders don't build to a price as is commercial gear. My MC stage has two $450 Audio Note silver paper and oil caps. The concentric 15" drivers in my speakers were $1K each!

Mark,

 

I hope my previous comment about "dads backyard" did not offend you as that isn't the intention of my post as I have seen your work and builds on your blogspot website as well as here. The reference was more in-line to those who find a tube amp in there dads backyard shed or from a deceased relatives estate.

 

Hope that clears up any confusion.

 

Cheers,

On 11/11/2017 at 9:30 AM, aussievintage said:

A few things are working in your favour.  Firstly, transformers will be only available commercially in particular sizes,  and after you calculate the requirements of your design, you pick the transformer that is the next one up in size.  This is not just the filament/heater winding current rating,  but also the other windings may be underutilised, allowing some leeway in the total VA rating.  Finally the designer of the transformer will have done his calculations and allowed the usual engineering leeway.

Well yes, unless specifically mentioned by the designer/manufacturer that you cannot drop a certain tube in there product, the transformer ratings is always a step above what is actually calculated on paper. This also means they are able to provide easy modifications should problems arise with supply of a certain tube/part or oscillation in the circuit, the manufacturer can change over parts without swapping out the transformer, because of the headroom ratings of the overall transformer they have chosen originally, allows those changes. Most big manufacturers have custom made transformers to there specifics anyway, rather than opting off the shelf commercial units.

 

Cheers,