NOSvalves saved my Khorns!
I've heard them on several occasions over the years and have desired a pair for a long time. Local dealer had a beautiful used (1990) mint pair in his showroom and I could'nt resist.
Delivery truck showed up. The furniture movers brought 'em in. One of them asked me what I was going to "drive" them with. Golden Tube Audio SE 40. He then informed me that a friend of his repaired tube amps. I wrote down the number in case I might need it sometime.
The next six weeks or so with these speakers reminded me of my wife. She sure was fun to date. But when I married her and had to live with her every day, I could'nt stand it! She would bite my head off every night JUST LIKE MY NEW SPEAKERS! Oh, I meant to say my ex-wife. They were almost my ex-Khorns.
Before I commenced with the divorce I thought I would have my amp looked at.
Enter Craig. We spoke on the phone and he told me to bring my amp over for him to take a look at. I mentioned that I was thinking about sending it to Sonic Craft to have it modified. I was hoping that maybe he could do it. Especially after looking at all the amps in his work shop. After looking at the Sonic Craft websight he informed me that the mods looked good and that they obviously had experience with this amp. His advice was to send it to them. But if I wanted, he would bring his (heavily modified Dynaco MK III, I believe) amps over and we could compare the sound.
My amp: Little bass, screeching midrange and highs. Craig's amp: Tight, "balls to the wall" bass, midrange and highs that I could actually lean into and listen too! What an amazing transformation! One song led to another, music that I was very familiar with sounded totally different than what I had been listening to. Craig had a really good Dire Straights CD that I had'nt heard before. SPL meter check: Wow! It does'nt SEEM that loud! From a "measly" 30 watts? My amp sucks; I needed a cold Bud.
Now I know what my speakers are capable of. I need to decide what to do about my amp. I probably should just have Craig build me one but I'm trying to stay within my budget. One thing seems to lead to another in this crazy hobby of ours. Talked to Sonic Craft yesterday and was impressed with Jeff. He seems to be a straight shooter. I won't mention his opinion of Klipsch; he's in the speaker business himself. I met his ex-partner in Seattle a couple of weeks ago at VSAC 2003 and he said a lot of good things about his former business associate.
Sonic Craft Jeff's opinion on the Golden Tube is that it's a really good design but that the parts quality of the original amps is terrible It's a single ended pentode (I think he said its wired in triode). It has original Sovtek 5881 output tubes with Sovtek 6sn7 input tubes. These amps apparently were very unreliable but I have not had any problems with mine. Other than the fact that it sounds horrible with my speakers.
If anyone has experience with these amps, I would appreciate any comments about them.
And Craig, "This Bud's For You!"