OT: Show us your DIY tube amps

[bowtie427ss]

They look like painted chokes to me.

Agreed, looks like the OPT's are the ones with end bells directly behind the 2A3's, or maybe those are the ones Alien is asking about............................

[Altec Best]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Toobs need a layer of dust to smell correct when they get up to temperature.

Seriously though, don't clean them unless you're aware of how delicate the numbers and other graphic print on the envelope is. Some tubes lose their numbering/lettering if you just look at them wrong. I'd much rather have 60 year worth of dust than some squeaky clean mystery tubes.

That's why they make Sharpie's Bowtie ! You mark the tubes before the lettering disappears.

I have a question for you guys.What do you think are the best sounding Tubes for you die hard tube guys. KT88's

[bowtie427ss]

That's why they make Sharpie's Bowtie ! You mark the tubes before the lettering disappears.

I have a question for you guys.What do you think are the best sounding Tubes for you die hard tube guys. KT88's

Original Tung-Sol 6550's thru Acro or higher quality iron.

But, in the right circuit, on the right iron, you can make a JJ/Tesla EL34 sound pretty damn sweet.

Then i heard Pass' Firstwatt and D'Agastino's Krell and rolled all my tubes right on out of here........................

[Altec Best]

Any pics of those amps ?

[bowtie427ss]

Any pics of those amps ?

Not really thinking of any one specific 6550 or EL34 platform, but rather the few of each that i have heard over the years that were outstanding from the bulk of tube amps i've heard.

Used to be that you could step into an Allen 75(6550's on acrosound trannies) pair for less than the 6550's were worth, ebay and online forums have changed that. I have owned those and heard others that had been modded extensively and they were nothing short of spectacular.

I also owned a Conrad Johnson PV75AL, that was an excellent amplifier. However it runs the 6550's uncomfortably close to their limits, too hard for me to burn beloved vintage 6550's in it, and hard enough that some import 6550's will only last a week or two, with about a year of regular use being the best you could hope for. I was informed of some mods that would extend tube life but was afraid of killing it's value. Ended up with another a couple years later, but it was noisy needing restoration and it fell victim to my fading interest along with probably 20 other various tube amps, with my one regret being not getting to hear properly restored Altec 1568's.

One of the most impressive uses of the EL34 i've heard was in an heavily modded(again) Peavey 50/50 or 60/60. I don't recall the circuit specifics, but i know the factory output iron was replaced with Heyboer's or something of that ilk, i remember the owner/builder griping that he could have just bought a plug n play amp for what he spent on the OPT's, although i think he achieved a sound quality that few if any plug n play EL34 amps have.

And of course Pass and D'Agastino are solid state guys, currently and for at least a while to come i am a firm member of their camp, and my curiosities are looking at the evolving class D technology. That is not to say that i won't revisit tubes again in the future, however.

[Altec Best]

Yeah changing/burning up tubes all time gets to be a real bummer... It's always nice to have 200-400 wpc SS amps on hand.. Totally plug and play.

[zelgall]

KT88 and 300B SE bi-amping my model 19s.
Kyle.

[tinpan]

Let's see if i can post some pics without getting the size error. For me it's all 300b except for a couple EL84 amps kicking around.

I Like the Audio Note Kits and I have a buddy, Digital Pete build them for me


Here's my one of Audio Note Interstage Mono Blocks. It's 300b tubes in parallel


Here's the underneath view

- - - Updated - - -

OK, got it figured out finally


Here is my AN Kit 1, it's an integrated 300b amp


Here's the AN DAC 3.1 that goes with the Mono Blocks. I also have a couple of 2.1 DACs, line stages and phono stages as well, if you want to see pics of those.

[alancohen]

I have a question for you guys.What do you think are the best sounding Tubes for you die hard tube guys. KT88's

"Best" tube is like catching mercury. Kind of like what is the best driver for a speaker. The circuit it's in makes a big difference, just as the enclosure and even room parameters also affect the end result for a speaker. And eventually the answer comes down to what you prefer.

I have KT88s in my cathode follower. I love it. It is warm and musical, but not as transparent as the EL-509s in my output tranformerless amp. In a transformer-coupled amp, the OTs make a huge difference and really good ones can cost a small fortune. The law of diminishing returns is in full force here.

I'm currently awaiting my newest toys which will be a pair of 300B output transformerless monoblocks. That's a real trick since "In an OTL, the cathode is connected to the speaker. A 300B triode has a directly heated cathode. That means the cathode is the filament. This places the filament in direct electrical contact with the speaker." Eliminating the A/C hum on the filament has been cleverly achieved in this circuit by using a separate power supply running at 25Hz instead of 60Hz to heat the filaments. There will still be a hum, but below audible levels. Pretty cool. So in effect you get the best of both worlds. No transformer between tube and speaker to color the signal and the bliss of a 300B. Actually 8 of them..ouch!

As far as "replacing tubes all the time", again, it depends on the circuit. A well designed amp should be able to provide many years of service for the tubes. Reliability is job #1 for an amp designer.

AB, you're more than welcome to stop by and listen to both...anytime.

[Altec Best]

AB, you're more than welcome to stop by and listen to both...anytime.

Thanks Alan for the offer !