Eddie Current Balancing Act - Page 75

If you haven't tried it, you may want to try your J2 in unbalanced mode, as many people report preferring their First Watt amps unbalanced :)

Thanks.  I'll have to try that configuration some time.

I really can't catch a break lately...

 

I just put my headphones on, and low and behold, I'm getting a sporadic staticy hiss from the left driver. It's a 4-5 second hiss that ends with a static 'click,' then it stops.

 

This noise still persists intermittently when the volume is set to the minimum (with no discernible pattern).

 

I posted a while back, when I first got my PX4s, that the left tube itself emits an audible pinging sound for the first 5 minutes or so, during warm up. I just find it coincidental that I'm now hearing static through the left headphone driver now.

 

The PX4s are a month shy of a year old.

 

Any advice or insight would be highly appreciated.

Could it be interference?

 

Can you reposition the amp further away from the power supply?

It's already about 2 1/2 feet away, so I don't think it's the PSU. Could it possibly be cell phone interference?

 

As luck would have it, I haven't heard the noise since I made the post.

Can you please activate your phone again and see if it comes back?

I tried sending a few texts, making a phone call, and browsing the web over wifi, but it didn't replicate the noise. Hopefully it was just a fluke, or some external interference, and won't happen again.

GMF2010, I had this happen - you're lucky it's only intermittent.  Mine nearly deafened my left ear with a sudden blast of interference.  I emailed Craig at the time and he said a bad 6x4 could definitely cause this problem.   I replaced the pair and it all went away.   It was the pair that Craig supplied too -- you just never know with tubes...

Now I have my own question - I used the RCA loop-outs before and I don't remember them shutting off the headphone amp section.  But now whenever there's an RCA cable attached to the loop-outs, I get no sound out of the headphone outs even when the dial is on "cans."  Wondering if anyone has experienced this problem or if I blew a switch.  Thanks for any insight.

People who claim the BA can't drive the HE-6 are, as my daughter would indicate, full of poopie.

I'm quite satisfied with the output quality. While other amps will sound different, there's nothing "wrong" with the HE-6/BA combo.

That's only until you hear them through good speaker amps..

I strongly recommend you don't try one, coz you know what you'll have to eat.

Same with the K1000's imho. I don't use my BA to drive my K1000's as i don't believe there is enough grunt/gain - call it whatever you like. It doesn't sound nearly as good as say using the speaker connectors of my Nelson Watt F5 clone with the K1000's. Just about everything else is fine (i haven't tried every single model of headphone). All of the other headphones i own the BA is sublime. If there is something special one must do to get more from their BA to drive a set of K1000's adequately then i am all ears .. :-)

You could use a 6SL7 for more gain...

 

I happen to agree, I think there are better amps out there for the hardest to drive cans - but its a pick and choose thing, and I'm very happy with an amp that drives everything up to and including the HD800 sublimely.

As opposed to a 6SN7? Do you need an adapter for a 6SL7 to fit into the 6SN7 socket? Have you tried this personally?

Yes, as opposed to 6SN7.  No adapter necessary.  I've tried it personally, as have a few others on this thread.  If you search the thread for 6SL7 you should find some posts relating to it. 

 

The other option (which is more costly) is to use a source which outputs higher voltage.  I recall seeing some that can do 2.6/5.2V which would be pretty darn loud with the HE-6/K1000, with the sacrifice being how much you can play with the BA's volume for more efficient headphones (with the source volume set to max.)