mobile homeless Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 My good ole Quebecian buddy has not been sleeping much as of late. After aquiring a new abode, now outside of the walls of old Quebec City but thankfully away from Tourist Hell, he has been soldering like a stung jackdaw, burning hands, wire, caps, and taking away precious years. Or something like that. No, he is not bringing back amps for sale as these two samples are spoken for, one going into his new listening room, the JFL-84 to a good friend as a wedding gift to light the bedroom. Nothing like a little atmosphere. The first 6BQ5 is a modified EICO circuit using a 5UG rectifier so as not to scare the poor tike with hard to find tubes. It's a one input, passive volume beast using Mystery Iron. And it's damn good looking. Goodbye black box with filigree. I think it's turning out nicely... I now want to get married again. The second shot is a push-pull Class A DHT 2A3 Monoblock (IT title was typo). The driver is a 6C45-pi with a pentode mosfet constant current source plate load. The phase splitting is done through a center taped choke. The PSU is tube rectified, the voltage tube regulated as well. Iron will be the usual assortment of Hammond chokes scattered about with a Magnequest EXO-173 permalloy phase splitter and the heavy on the ducats Peerless/MQ SA-240 permalloy output. It's TRIODE with an ATTITUDE. It's also part of a project we are working on over the next few months. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Those are beautiful amps. Can you ask Jeff to design me a pair of 2A3 SET monos with Tango OPTs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 Jeff is not making amps for people at the moment. I'll be talking to him a lot in the next month or so, however. You never know what comes out of that....by the end of February, he might be WANTED for tampering with Quebec City Electrical Codes. You arent getting married any time soon are you? kh ps - First MQ...now, TANGOO. You have gone Gibbon-Crazy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I could be getting married next month if that helps getting me something from Jeff . I have actually listened to MagneQuest but not Tango OPTs. However, I have heard of Tango reputation for quite a long time. I can only imagine Tango would best MagneQuest in a good SET design, Moondogs for instance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 It's a matter of opinion with the iron. I am not sure Jeff would agree. I dont have an opinion on Tango iron besides what I have read over the years. Will it be worth the price difference? You have to make the call on that one. I do know Jeff isnt too keen on making amps any time soon. You seemed to have developed more patience as of late. Who knows... by your 5th wedding vow celebration, something might be coming down the pike. heh... kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 What? You're on your fifth already? Man, where have I been. Don't I wish I have two pair of Moondogs, one with MagneQuest and one with Tango OPTs to compare. I am not sure I agree that it's a matter of opinion when it comes to OPTs as the designs are quite distinctive. As for my patience, its about to run out. Though I have been holding out due to a personal family thing. I am hoping you will get a little less busy after the CES and maybe we can resume some talk again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
banned Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Mandaville Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 As is always the case with Jeff's work, these look fabulous. I think it's great he's tried a choke loaded CCS in the driver, which is similar, I believe, to what John Tucker did with is 45 parafeed. Looks like the Power Transformer might be from Hammond. Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 "...he has been soldering like a stung jackdaw, burning hands, wire, caps, and taking away precious years..." Classic Holsten. Funny. Dare I ask: What the hell is "jackdaw"? lol As usual, very nice work by Jeff. Wango Tango Neo. I wouldn't get too hung up on it. Jeff is an OPT freak, and if he's not using them I sure wouldn't make it a priority in any future purchase of mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neo33 Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 I am not, Deano if that makes you happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Kelly, Thanks for sharing the pics & info. I've been very curious about the PP project, & am glad to see that working on his dissertation hasn't excluded the important things in life. Beautiful work, Jeff. When do we get a review? SSH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Landau Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Nice amps, I hope that I'll be able to listen to them some day. Neo, Tango outputs a not as good as Tamura ones, but their IT (especially the NC-20 and NC-21) are among the best out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 Jackdaw... A Eurasian bird (Corvus monedula) related to and resembling the crows, having black plumage with a gray nape and underparts...known for thievery. heh. I especially like the looks of the EL-84 amp. That is one hell of an aesthetically pleasing amp - looks cool with the output transformers hidden underneath. If you notice, that is actually one of his old Pantheon 6SN7 SRPP preamp chassis', which could fit this little EL-84 PP. The EL-84 is still one of my favorite pentode output tubes; they just sound so "right" in a good circuit. The 2A3 DHT Push Pull Monoblocks and the EL-84 integrated both use Hammond 300 series PS iron, much better than the 200 series by Jeff's account. I heard his preamp using the 300 series and it sounded very nice. The 2A3 DHT PP Monos and the EL-84 amp couldnt be any more different parts wise as the little 84 is filled with cost motivated parts. Jeff was trying to see what he could do with some carefully chosen parts for minimal ducats none of them especially renowned, including the outputs. It will be an interesting experiment. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 What I want to know is where is the power transformer on the EL84 amp ? Must of use a bunch of sperates or something ? The chassis doesn't look tall enough to fit a traditional transformer under the chassis. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deang Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Batteries not included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 ---------------- On 1/12/2004 11:08:55 AM mobile homeless wrote: I especially like the looks of the EL-84 amp. That is one hell of an aesthetically pleasing amp - looks cool with the output transformers hidden underneath. kh ---------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOSValves Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Ben, Did this leave you speachless LOL !! ---------------- On 1/12/2004 1:52:45 PM bclarke421 wrote: ---------------- On 1/12/2004 11:08:55 AM mobile homeless wrote: I especially like the looks of the EL-84 amp. That is one hell of an aesthetically pleasing amp - looks cool with the output transformers hidden underneath. kh ---------------- ---------------- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 Does JFL's heart melt at the birth of one's first child? Any day now.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 Ben has the ticket...(I think his quote was in reference to the answer) The power transformer is sitting on top, the one piece of iron you actually see. The two output transformers are mounted under the chassis plate. I believe they are mounted on the sides facing inward but am not totally certain on this. I believe the chassis is actually tall enough to almost fit the EICO HF-81 output transformers (2 5/8 inches wide) underneath mounted side ways coming off the interior wall. While it would be tight, you can get iron in there if you are creative. Since the outputs actually dont put out as much heat as the power trans, it wouldnt be a big deal. Sadly, Jeff didnt use the great little EICO irons opting for a new, cost effective offering. As stated above, we'll see how this experiment turns out. kh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted January 12, 2004 Share Posted January 12, 2004 ---------------- On 1/12/2004 1:54:16 PM NOSValves wrote: Ben, Did this leave you speachless LOL !! ---------------- I was just trying to answer your question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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