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Pictures of your Tube Amplifiers


henry4841

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A retired audio engineer friend of mine gifted me this Zero Zone Grounded Grid line-stage circuit and power supply last winter.

 

All I needed was a PS transformer and so I ordered one. Then I ended up blowing up a mosfet in the first PS he gave me, and had to buy another.

I need to point out these ZZ grounded grid line-stage PCBs have the silk-screening incorrect for the 22uF 450volt Epcos decoupling caps.

The ground line is backwards on the positive side.

If you notice, the caps are in backwards, which are oriented correctly. Keep that in mind if one desires to purchase these GG boards.

 

The original output capacitors were some green supposed Vishay brand metal polypropylene. They look rather cheap...

I had the 1uF Jantzen Silver Z-caps sitting around, so I swapped out the Green caps for the Silver Z-caps.

 

Never thought my 2A3 amp would benefit from a line-stage, I always used a passive volume control. And I always thought that I had bloom, depth and width.

The retired AE replied that you won't get bloom, depth and width from a passive volume control...you need tubes with gain.

Lesson learned. Ann and Nancy Wilson almost made me cry with their harmony...

 

I'll try my Altec 345A next with ZZ GG line-stage.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

DSCN3706.thumb.JPG.ad02ad426ad547bbd342d2777a9201e9.JPG

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I like the distressed look of the (oak I think) wood. You will not find a SS Preamplifier that looks that good. I was not familiar with the 76 tube and did a quick search and found this,

 

  http://vinylsavor.blogspot.com/2015/09/tube-of-month-76.html

 

Excellent looking curves and I am not talking about the appearance of the tube.  

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Seller said it was zebra wood, he has apparently been building them for a while selling to friends etc... I got mine off Ebay but he also posts on USaudiomart

 

So far its a great sounding pre, I am hoping for longevity with it. It looks to be well put together except for some minor things I noticed which should not affect use or reliability if the user is careful with it. It sounds as good as some pre amps I have paid quite a bit more for over the years

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At first glance I thought it was a HP-87. The Eico HP-89 is a 50 watt per channel power amplifier made in 1960! The owner is a lucky guy. Leaving the old can caps is exactly what I am doing in my Eico ST-70 restoration as I install new caps in their place. 

 

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/eico/hf-89.shtml

 

The one reviewer on hifiengine had this to say about his amplifier.

"Took one to a Macintosh test clinic in the mid 60's. They laughed at it when they saw it, and stopped laughing when they tested it. Except for the area below 50 Hz (cycles,in those days), it tested out exactly like one of their Macs!"

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1 hour ago, tube fanatic said:

Restored Eico HF- 89.  Original P/S caps left in place on top to preserve cosmetic appearance.  This amp is powering a pair of CWs for the “guy down the road” and provides amazing performance.  
 

Maynard 



 

 

E2C9C7EF-B3B1-4993-B20A-3611847AAC11.jpeg

B5599BF6-D233-41E9-9D12-4FAFC9D13730.jpeg

I need to move to your neighborhood / street  😁

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46 minutes ago, henry4841 said:

At first glance I thought it was a HP-87. The Eico HP-89 is a 50 watt per channel power amplifier made in 1960! The owner is a lucky guy. Leaving the old can caps is exactly what I am doing in my Eico ST-70 restoration as I install new caps in their place. 

 

https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/eico/hf-89.shtml

 

The one reviewer on hifiengine had this to say about his amplifier.

"Took one to a Macintosh test clinic in the mid 60's. They laughed at it when they saw it, and stopped laughing when they tested it. Except for the area below 50 Hz (cycles,in those days), it tested out exactly like one of their Macs!"

 

I agree with the Mac test clinic impression.  It's rare that I like a push-pull amp but this one really impressed me not only on the bench, but listening as well.  The synergy with the CWs is something to hear.  Eico was always a sleeper brand and didn't get the recognition they deserved.  The OPTs on this unit are massive and obviously of top quality.  I lived about half an hour from Eico and worked on lots of their stuff in the 60s and it was all excellent.

 

Maynard

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7 hours ago, joessportster said:

heres a pic of my Hagerman Trumpet Phono Pre. I bought it off USAudiomart earlier this year

 

Hagerman Trumpet Phono Stage

 

 

Dammit Joe this has always been on my list of Tube Phono Preamps. Do you have any pics of the inside?

 

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, seti said:

 

 

Dammit Joe this has always been on my list of Tube Phono Preamps. Do you have any pics of the inside?

 

 

 

 

You have good taste 😁, Jim Hagerman did come out with a smaller unit that is currently on sale brand new 999.00 I asked him about it He claims they are more alike than not. Check it out on his site https://hagerman-audio-labs.myshopify.com/collections/phono-preamps/products/trumpet-mc-vacuum-tube-phonostage

 

I will see if I have some pics of the guts

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To Preface. When I first got the Trumpet I had a loud mechanical hum / buzzing it could be heard across the room. I emailed back and forth with Jim Hagerman (He is great like that) after some looking 2 of the smaller transformers had shifted in shipping like 1/16 of an inch, Just enough that there mount tabs were resting against the main power transformer. I loosened the 2 mounting screws on each forced them back into place tightened them down and now no more mechanical hum nor any noise for that matter. 

 

10 - 15 years ago when I had a Edgar Horn Titan setup with an air bearing TT and arm,  My Neighbor had a 40,000.00 SPJ Laluce turntable we both did a lot of testing on Phono stages (I had like 10,000 LP and he had around 5000)  Vinyl was our main source. We must have gone through 20 different phono stages and to the last,  NONE could match the sonics of the Trumpet

 

 

trum 2.PNG

trum 1.PNG

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1 hour ago, joessportster said:

To Preface. When I first got the Trumpet I had a loud mechanical hum / buzzing it could be heard across the room. I emailed back and forth with Jim Hagerman (He is great like that) after some looking 2 of the smaller transformers had shifted in shipping like 1/16 of an inch, Just enough that there mount tabs were resting against the main power transformer. I loosened the 2 mounting screws on each forced them back into place tightened them down and now no more mechanical hum nor any noise for that matter. 

 

10 - 15 years ago when I had a Edgar Horn Titan setup with an air bearing TT and arm,  My Neighbor had a 40,000.00 SPJ Laluce turntable we both did a lot of testing on Phono stages (I had like 10,000 LP and he had around 5000)  Vinyl was our main source. We must have gone through 20 different phono stages and to the last,  NONE could match the sonics of the Trumpet

 

 

trum 2.PNG

trum 1.PNG

 

I know about the new one but I love the asthetics of the Trumpet. I love the construction and shielding... Good stuff.... Great score....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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