Jump to content

Pictures of your Tube Amplifiers


henry4841

Recommended Posts

Just now, Shakeydeal said:

 

I don't have 300B monoblocks. But yes, this is for the main system.

 

 

 

i saw the SET monoblocks in your signature -- just assumed 300b amp -- my bad.

 

so the new amp is to use with your la scalas?  i thought you really liked the amp you have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, jcn3 said:

so the new amp is to use with your la scalas?  i thought you really liked the amp you have.

 

I believe this is the fourth or fifth change since I've been paying attention all part of the fun I suppose I finally found my destination amplifiers in the Carver mono-blocks they just do everything perfect cannot imagine anything sounding better at least for the price I paid only reason I'd get rid of these would be to down-size if I ever have to. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

58 minutes ago, Shakeydeal said:

I like them both. But the EL84 output tube seems better suited to the lascalas.

 

 

 

i like the sound of el84 tubes, too -- very full sound and a surprising amount of bass from a skinny little tube!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, jcn3 said:

 

i like the sound of el84 tubes, too -- very full sound and a surprising amount of bass from a skinny little tube!

 

I had a Music Reference RM10 which I foolishly sold. But to my surprise, this Aric EL84 beats it hands down.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
20 hours ago, Turnip said:

Snapped this night time shot of my Icon Audio Stereo 40 Mk IV.  I run it in Triode mode with Low Feedback

Icon Audio makes beautiful equipment! I would love to try their tube phono stage.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, capo72 said:

Icon Audio makes beautiful equipment! I would love to try their tube phono stage.

I agree.  I really like the copper plate tops on their chassis. So far, I have been very happy with the 40 Mk IV.   The headphone output on it is outstanding too, so at least I'm not tempted by their headphone amps. I emailed some questions to Icon and I promptly received a reply from David Shaw himself. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My friend and I finished another pair of amplifiers. These were a real mission. I spent so much time on these. They are supposed to be 90wpc which they are but they clip like crazy. They are super clean up to 75wpc.

2 x 5ar4, 2x od3, 2 x 6sn7, 2 x kt90..... There was a 12au7 preamp stage but we ripped it out. We add JJ and Hayseed caps and also two test points and pots for setting bias. They are still pretty much Allen 90 organ amps but with a beefed-up power supply.

 

Screenshot2023-07-12at1_24_56PM.thumb.png.8dc339441f5e31f88830037ed1b50fd8.pngScreenshot2023-07-12at1_25_20PM.thumb.png.ea33241b9b854e47f51801fd537e6e93.png

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

In the past, I have built and re-built a number of tube amps, but these two are the ones I currently own. The first two pictures are of an amp built on the chassis and iron of one of the cheap Chinese amps sold on Amazon and FleaBay. I acquired one of these third hand, and like its previous two owners, I was not in love with the sound of it. You can see what I did to it by checking out my YouTube series about it here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUD-UYYvvR59Mrh2ON8Qpkb0aJceN3OL8. (Dear moderators: If I have erred in placing this link, please forgive me, I'm new here.)

 

The second two pictures are of what I have always termed the "baby amp." It's a 2.5WPC, all-triode, class-A, single-ended amp with no negative feedback and about as simple a schematic as possible. It uses a 5AR4 rectifier, a 6SL7G voltage amp, and a 6AS7GT output tube. It has very little gain, but it sounds really good with my Cornwalls, possible due to the very low plate impedance of the output tube. I built it in 1995, and it has not been changed since, save for replacing the original output tube which sadly went to air sometime in the past. For a sense of scale, the width of the chassis is only 10 inches (25.4cm).

 

CCAR Top.jpg

CCAR Bottom.jpg

Baby amp top.jpg

Baby amp bottom.jpg

Edited by Scott Grammer
Typo!
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for posting pictures. Nice to have another tube electronic geek ,tech, on this forum. I've built a couple of those Chinese kits and was well pleased with the sound for what they cost. What surprised me most on those kits was the iron, not bad at all. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, henry4841 said:

Thanks for posting pictures. Nice to have another tube electronic geek ,tech, on this forum. I've built a couple of those Chinese kits and was well pleased with the sound for what they cost. What surprised me most on those kits was the iron, not bad at all. 

Yeah, the OPT's surprised me with their sound, although their measurements are a bit wacky. The 4-ohm tap is not at 4 ohms, more like 3, and the HF is lacking. With no NFB, it begins rolling off at 13KHz. But the bass was stellar. Flat down to around 10Hz! I imagine the primary has a great deal of inductance, which would explain both the lossy highs and the excellent bass. 

 

This one was not a kit, it was prebuilt. They had the primary of the OPT's wired backwards, so the ultralinear tap was at the wrong percentage of the winding. And the suppressor grids of the EL34's were not connected to anything! Just left floating in space. Finally, with an 8-ohm load on the 8-ohm secondary connection, the primaries are the wrong impedance for EL34's, actually better matched to 6L6's. I'm currently running 6L6's in that amp, and they sound pretty good with mt Cornwalls - better than the EL34's in the picture. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...