Pilot tube amps!!!!

[RonSSS]

Thanks man. It's actually a fun process!

Ron

Very Good Post Ron ! Nice explanation in getting that old tube amp hopefully up and running smoothly.

[juniper]

I just thought that I should finish this thread, I always hate when there is something I am interested in and the op never ends the story.... I finally found someone who could work on my amps locally, it took forever. Who would think that so few people work on tube amps other than guitar shops.. I found a gentleman who worked at atma-sphere audio and he did a great job. These are fine amps and the best I have heard with my Altecs. Crystal clear, big sound stage, good imaging, and fast powerful bass. I dont know alot about electronics but have purchased a few. All around, these are the best I have heard. Thanks for all the the advice everyone, and RonSSS he used your guidelines to a T... Thanks all!!!

[Phil-G]

so it's finally restorated.
i will have to dream of tube amps for a while.

[LowOhms]

I just thought that I should finish this thread, I always hate when there is something I am interested in and the op never ends the story.... I finally found someone who could work on my amps locally, it took forever. Who would think that so few people work on tube amps other than guitar shops.. I found a gentleman who worked at atma-sphere audio and he did a great job. These are fine amps and the best I have heard with my Altecs. Crystal clear, big sound stage, good imaging, and fast powerful bass. I dont know alot about electronics but have purchased a few. All around, these are the best I have heard. Thanks for all the the advice everyone, and RonSSS he used your guidelines to a T... Thanks all!!!

Juniper,

Good going. What did the technician at Atmosphere find?? Did he need to replace anything at all, or, was it just a Variac UP slowly and measure voltages DC and AC ?? MY thought would be to change as LITTLE as possible, and do a SLOW variac up. Those vintage tubes will likely sound better than modern day replacements !!

There is a whole world of DIY amp building available for you and others. Owning Altecs, you are fortunate, because they are efficient enough to run on low powered tube amps, one to three Watts, which will be the purest sounding amps of all available.

Have fun, and tell us what it needed.

Jeff Medwin

[juniper]

Juniper,

Good going. What did the technician at Atmosphere find?? Did he need to replace anything at all, or, was it just a Variac UP slowly and measure voltages DC and AC ?? MY thought would be to change as LITTLE as possible, and do a SLOW variac up. Those vintage tubes will likely sound better than modern day replacements !!

There is a whole world of DIY amp building available for you and others. Owning Altecs, you are fortunate, because they are efficient enough to run on low powered tube amps, one to three Watts, which will be the purest sounding amps of all available.

Have fun, and tell us what it needed.

Jeff Medwin

I told him to keep them as original as possible but I wanted them to also be safe for daily use. He recommended replacing all of the large capacitors cans, and anything that drifted out of spec.. I had him save all the parts so if the next owner wants to place them back he can. I ended up with a small bag of parts with about 30 resistors, and 10 caps. Unfortunately the 5u4 gb's had to be replaced and he also suggested a matched quad for the 6ca7's. He also put a heavy duty cord on the amp. I would love to hear some low powered set amps with my Altecs, at 40 watts per channel the sa-260 is a little overkill, the volume knob starts at 6 and I rarely put it to 9. What really suprised me is how versatile the sp 210 is and how well the tone controls work... With other preamps I have had, I never used the tone controls, because I didnt like what they added, with this pre it is different.

[alancohen]

I'm a tube head and have all of this test equipment. I have worked at Tektronix for 34 years as a tech, eng tech, and now am in project management. We make oscilloscopes. And all other kinds of high end electronic test equip etc.

My own system is all tube and I built the power amps myself from the best parts stolen from vintage equipment.

Nice to read this resurrected thread. Good stuff.

Not to hijack, Ron, but I've built a couple of tube amp kits and have been thinking about picking up an old Analog scope. I was looking at the Tek 465s or maybe a newer 2245. Any suggestions/recommendations? If I was more than a few years younger, I'd be looking to apprentice in a vintage amp shop.