Peach and AH! Tube Rolling - Help

[Daddy Dee]

Chris,

I'm not for sure if I've followed everything in the thread accurately...

but was wondering, you did try the russian rockets in the AH! right? And your found them to be impressive?

I'm not familiar with them, but assume they are 6922's?

I'd be interested to hear your take on the break in time on the AH! upsampler. Also your take on the upsampled AH! vs the DAC you mention.

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Daddy,

I made a lot of changes in this thread. Here are some answers for you:

Russian Rockets = big improvement in the AH. A lot more bass response and I would swear more detail too. The Amperex PQ 6922 USA white labels in the AH make it extremely close to the Benchmark.

The Upsampler in the AH is also very big. The midrange "bloomed" if you will. Vocals sound more like they are real and right there. I ran the Upsampler for over one week straight.

The AH! vs. the Benchmark.

Very close, especially with the Amperex NOS tubes. Benchmark has more detail. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon was the true test. But, the AH can play most CD's and sound good. I have not played any "poor recordings on teh Benchmark yet.

The Benchamrk has a deep soundstage and good bass extension. It is also kind of bright (not too bright, but horns are tough on sources). Having teh Behringer EQ really helps. Dial in a few db of attenuation and no problem. The interesting thing is that the detail that the Benchmark "extracts" from the CD's is not lost in the Behringer's ad/da conversion.

If you are going with just CD's, get the AH with upsampler and plan on at least the Russian tubes. If you will use other digital sources at some point, the DAC is nice because it has three inputs. I plan on running sattelite radio and MP3's through it.

Chris

[427rs]

In my peach I purchased an early Holland Amperex Pinch Waste for $250. from TubeDepot. I run it in V1. I have Siemens in V2 and V3. I run the heavy mass tube dampers on all the tubes. The amperex is far superior in sound than the siemens. The siemens sounded nice but were very harmonic. The pinch waste is in a class all by itself.

427rs

[cjgeraci]

Good to know. What do you run in your Jolida? I have tried Amperex but currently run Mullards CV4004s. Would be interested what tubes you have tried...?

Carl.

[427rs]

I have the Telefunken 12ax7 smooth plates. A nicely matched pair. They seem to complement the highs as the Pinch Waste tube in the Peach is a smoother more musical sounding tube than the siemens in V1. I have had a nice set of RCA 5751 Command Series in the Jolida which are very nice but dont sound as good with the Pinch Waste tube in the Peach.

[cjgeraci]

I don't suppose you have tried the pinch waist in either the v2 or v3 slots (one of the superloz) just to see how it does for one channel in Superloz, have you?? At times, I love the extra treble and bass extension of the Superloz mode, but I just could not fathom buying two pinch waist tubes for that mode.

Just curious......

Would also love to know what dampers??

Carl.

P.S. Thanks for the Tele heads up on the Jolida. I love the Mullards, but might get the itch to do something different.

[427rs]

I bought my dampers from dampers@levytubes.com, Miami FL. 33155. High Density SILICONE Vacuum Tube Vibration Dampers. Aerospace Silicone-Rated at 400 Degrees F. I run them on all my tubes everywhere. I even bought the little vibration damping dots for under the Mark 3s. I have bought a closely matched set of Holland Amperex that I can try in V2 and V3. I have a long weekend coming up and will do some more swapping around to let you know. I really love this pinch waste tube in V1 Mark, really Lets the Peach sing.

Brian

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Well, the two Amperex 6922's work great but the Pinch Waist is acting up. It cuts out after being player for a 1/2 hour to an hour. The Seller on Audiogon told me that I can return it if it was nto as expected. If he lives up to it he is a great seller.

Mark,

Thanks for your help. I was nervous buying an "old" tube and really needed the help when it acted up. Juicy Music is a great business and like everyone here says, the Peach will never leave my system.

Chris

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Mark,

I sent you an email.

Chris

[427rs]

I bought mine at Tube Depot. Beautiful origional box, perfect lettering. I was told it is NOS and I have no reason to believe it is not. With shipping it was 253.90. I had it in 4 days. I big investment but I am very pleased with the sound quality.

Brian

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Brian,

I ordered one from the Tube Depot this morning. The only thing that is unusual is that they say that they are made in Holland. I thought that the Pinched Waist tubes were US made. I looked closely at the picture and they look like the real deal (halo's, mica's, etc.).

How do your sound? I can't believe the detail. I had to take mine out to re-pack it and I really miss it.

How are your level controls on the Peach with the Pinched Waist (are they almost even or really spread out)?

The Pinched waist that I was sent was way off. I had to turn one pot all of the way up and the other almost all of the way down. It also cut out after a while of playing. The other Amperex tubes did not do this at all.

Chris

[427rs]

The best amperex are from the Holland Plant by far. My tube balances out perfectly left and right at about 10 oclock. You will be very pleased when you get this tube. I hated to put the dampers on the tube because the lettering is absolutly perfect! The pinch waste design probably does not need the dampers but I run them anyway. I have my bar/sound room in an addition above a two car garage and this time of year I have a propane heater hanging from the ceiling down there that kicks on and off occasionally. Since switching to this tube in V1 and using the dampers I have zero harmonics. You wont be sorry!

Brian

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Brian,

I just received my pinch waist tube from the tube depot yesterday. I noticed a few things about it:

1) The top halo is weird in that it is about a 2/3rd halo with a little "bar" completing the circle. Eveything else mechanically appears to be a true Amperex (4 slits in the top, the mica arrangment, pinched waist, etc.)

2) The tube is in too good of shape. The box is perfect and so is the lettering and the tube. Were these things kept is a vault for 45 years?

3) It is made in Holland and I thought that all Pinched Waist Amperex tubes were made in the USA.

Well, I installed it and it sounded about the same as my Yugo tube. Nothing too special. Oh well. Then, as always, after heating up for about 45 minutes to an hour, WOW. Just like the other one. Detail beyond belief! So smooth. I had to turn the gain on my LF drivers down too because it was just too boomy the way that it was set for the Yugo tubes.

This is the really amazing part. I was listening to FM for a few hours and kept thinking that I was listening to a CD through the Benchmark DAC1. This thing is so detailed it kept fooling me. Pretty impressive.

What is the advantage to using the LoZ mode and another set of tubes? I have a set of Philips in there now and it does make the midrange louder. What is the effect with a second set of tubes?

Has anyone ever heard of Pinched Waist Amperex tubes made in Holland? I know that 6922's are made there, but did nto know about the Pinched Waist tubes.

Thanks,

Chris

[tigerwoodKhorns]

Thanks Mark.

The new pinched waist tube is for HiZ is the same for both channel now with the new tube (in the HiZ mode). Thanks for your help with that.

I knew about the long cable run aspect, was just wondering about other aspects (like teh tighter bass that you mentioned).

I am running a Pro Yamaha D2040 crossover from the Peach out. I always use the HiZ. The HiZ also sounded very good with my QSC which as I understand has a relatively low input impedance. Should I switch to LoZ for tube life or any other aspect? I will check the input impedance of the Yamaha tonight, but I imagine it is low as it is a pro unit.

Chris

[BiggerIsBetter]

I have tried a lot of different 6922 in my Audible Illusions L-1 and AR amps, including 6H23 from upscale audio. I could not tell that big of a difference between any of them.

I would be very cautious of the amperex. There are a lot of different variations and maybe I am just unlucky but I have had terrible success with them. Most all were from ebay, but from a number of different sources. Of the 30 or so that I have had, around 25 have ended up gassy after a short amount of use and I have had one major circuit failure that I believe the tube accounted for. And, I did not hear anything special to warrant the risk.

Again, most all of mine had questionable backgrounds so I am not condemning the entire brand...but don't expect to get ones of ebay that are cheap and will last. It may be that there are of lot of used amperex tubes that had a hard prior life in HP scopes.... If you do use them, make sure you have a tube tester and test them often.

P.S. I am aware that the AI runs the 6922 hot and the amperex is not recommended. Most of the tubes/failures I am referring to occur in my amp and phono preamp, in addition to the AI preamp.

[427rs]

The Getter in the top of the tube is the venerable "D" getter. The best. Rare. I knew once you got a little time on the tube you would love it. The pinch waste tubes from holland are very rare. I felt the same way when I saw how nice the tube was. Someone had taken very good care of them. I run the Peach in Hi Z mode and love it. Wait till you get about 50 hrs on it. It gets really smooth.

Brian