Cornman Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Have you hugged your amp today? Some nights after a deeply moving music session I feel so much adore & appreciation for my system I just feel like giving it a big hug. Don't you your's? ~ Last night the sparkling cimballs hung in the air like fireworks; & Ella & Louie's voices were hauntingly visceral in their life like presence in my listening room, in short pure reproduced musical magic. I often had these same feelings before my amps recent rebuild with new caps. Now after a couple of weeks of listening I feel like my money was well spent. - A couple of months ago I began to hear an intermittent noise that I could best be describe as that of frying bacon in one channel. After replacing tubes and carefully checking other likely suspects ( pe-amp/--wirring-Etc) it was obvious I needed to take it to the shop, a dear friend with 40 years electronic experience. His first suggestion was to replace the coupling caps. After several hours of study on the internet I selected four Mundof silver & oil ( 22UF) caps at about $30 each. The results were possibly a slightly tighter and more detailed sound but they did not eliminate the frying sound. So back to my tech. (Charlie). Remember we are talking about moving an 80 LB beast here -truly a labor of love. This monster not only took up all of Charlie's work bench but also about gave us both a hernia![:'(]Talk about high output- Charlie pointed out to me when we powered the Bat up that his bench supply voltage would drop two volts![:^)] My friend was kind enough to show me on the scope how dirty the output signal was, and recommended we install all new output caps. We used the same brand an spec's used by the manuf. At a cost of $160.00. Not bad considering there were about ten caps replaces of fairly high UF values. So how does it sound now? To put it in perspective -I have loved this Bat VK60 since I purchased it 18 months ago. In the evolution of amp gear I have gone through over the past few years this is my Champ (so far). Note-I said "my champ so far" - that means for my ear in my listening room - I fully respect the doctrine = all ears and room acoustic are not created equal. There are still several other amps I would like to compare with the Bat such as- 300B -MC275-VRD-PCAT-Stargate- etc. Opps, I digress -- How does it sound after being serviced with new caps by a master craftsman with love in his heart- Clean Clean CLEAN! All the frying grimlin noise is gone-Yahoo! As so often is discussed ( an rightly so) on this forum is the ability of anyone to hear subtel changes. Are they real- or perceived -" it cost more -must sound better" syndrome -an on & on it goes with dozen's of variables. With all that in mind I feel that there is more then the obvious improvement with the elimination of background noise. Speed of transient is faster. Small new nuance sounds ( that were already great) are extremely revealing now. I suspect the output strength was boosted as I had to reduce my pre-amp output by almost 2Hours. I had previously set pre at about 75% full open, now it is running at 60% and producing same SPL levels. Sounds to me like the amp and Charlie both deserve a big hug, besides those big'ol warm trannys feel real good on my old authentic hands. Cornman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 a big hug indeed. sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I would hug BAT VK60's if they were mine. These amps are incredible!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capo72 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 I would hug BAT VK60's if they were mine. These amps are incredible!!!!!!!!!! At the top of my wish list! Jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 I'd hug my amp but I would burn my nipples on the EL-34 tubes! Thanx, Russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capo72 Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 I'd hug my amp but I would burn my nipples on the EL-34 tubes! Thanx, Russ LOL, same here with the EL-34's. But, if i'm gonna burn em i'd wish it were on those 6c33c's instead of the EL-34's in my Dynaco. Ouch! [:'(] Jeremy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornman Posted July 16, 2009 Author Share Posted July 16, 2009 Burned indeed, if you touch those tubes.One of my favorite quotes I heard when I first started considering purchasing the VK60 was from Craig O. " those tubes will warm a small aircraft hanger"! [] We have been averaging temps here in Austin daily of 104., but that does not hinder my listening enjoyment. I find the sound well worth the heat. Cornman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 I'd hug my amp but I would burn my nipples on the EL-34 tubes! Thanx, Russ Thanks Russ....just the image I want stuck in my head.......[][][] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted July 17, 2009 Share Posted July 17, 2009 I'd hug my amp but I would burn my nipples on the EL-34 tubes! Thanx, Russ some have to pay extra for such service Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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