[VanHai]

In the past with other amps I liked the 6BL7 better than than the 6BX7. I do have around 6 6BX7 tubes - do you think they will sound better than the 6BL7 in the Ultimate? The mu is 10 vs 15.

I have tried both in the UltimatE and i prefer 6BL7 over 6BX7.

 

[UntilThen]

In the past with other amps I liked the 6BL7 better than than the 6BX7. I do have around 6 6BX7 tubes - do you think they will sound better than the 6BL7 in the Ultimate? The mu is 10 vs 15.

6BX7 and 6BL7 are both good. Try it for yourself and see. I don't have preference one over the other.

 

[VanHai]

I do not see anybody using this power tube. Russian 6P3S (6L6GC), nice vocals, a bit forward, warm and dynamic. If you like bass, it hits hard and a very reasonable price.

 

[UntilThen]

I did look at the 6P3S sometime ago but decided I have enough tubes.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/272324027188?

 

[VanHai]

See the EL12N in the picture - top right? On the left of it are the EL12 - the coke bottle shaped ones. That's the good stuff. The ones on the left with the top cap - that's the holy grail EL12 spez.

You do have enough tubes. Look at those EL12 spez.

 

[UntilThen]

You do have enough tubes. Look at those EL12 spez.

I was going to have Glenn build me the Berlin amp using EL11 and EL12 spez. So I make sure I have enough of those tubes. In the end, the amp built was commissioned to Tomas of UltraSonic Studios and Odyssey was born. However Tomas said why built it to accept just EL12 spez. Why not have octal base to accept KT88, EL34 as well as EL12 spez. So that is how Odyssey was finally designed for.

 

[mordy]

Hello,
thanks for the report on the TS 6SL7 GT vt229.
Regarding the 6SL7 current tubes, I would simply try out what suits your taste.
As EL12,32,6K6,6V6 are a bit weak in Mu factor these would be good candidates.6550,KT88 could also be a nice ear opener.
KT63 as well if you can find some.
But in the end it also depends on how many ohms the headphones have, for 300 ohm headphones these are good output tubes with the driver tube.

Mostly, I use the Ultimate as a preamp and listen through speakers powered by a solid state amp.

 

[UntilThen]

Mostly, I use the Ultimate as a preamp and listen through speakers powered by a solid state amp.

I get great result using Ultimate as preamp to either Odyssey or Redgum. listening to the speakers on my head - Susvara.

 

[M3NTAL]

In the original post - can some links be added to information about specific models. I have a hard time reading through the pages of tube rolling and looking more for technical / design information and possibly 'review' links?

This thread is getting pretty heavy for a single man operation.

 

[UntilThen]

In the original post - can some links be added to information about specific models. I have a hard time reading through the pages of tube rolling and looking more for technical / design information and possibly 'review' links?

This thread is getting pretty heavy for a single man operation.

I'm not the author of this thread so I can't edit the original post, short of starting another thread.

This is a McChanson's amp thread so there are many models. From full fledged speaker amps to mini to micro headphone amps. There's push pull EL34 / 6L6GC models, 300b amps, KT170 amps, parallel 6as7, 6bx7 amp, etc, etc.

Someday I might start another thread and provide all the information with the help from Eric of course.

Eric in the past have several models for sale on ebay but he has now streamlined them down to just UltimatE models. Of course he is open to custom amps. Question is for how long. His retirement is way overdue.

 

[mordy]

In the original post - can some links be added to information about specific models. I have a hard time reading through the pages of tube rolling and looking more for technical / design information and possibly 'review' links?

This thread is getting pretty heavy for a single man operation.

Here is a link to some models:
https://www.ebay.com.au/usr/mcchanson

Most of us on the thread have the standard Ultimate E or the same amp in a larger chassis (see 300B amp chassis). The amps can be custom made with many different upgrades.

 

[UntilThen]

Naturally the source of information is from the Australian McChanson's thread. Lots or personal impressions and photos. He has quite a fan base downunder.

https://www.stereonet.com/forums/topic/326048-mcchanson-valve-amp-owners-thread/#comments

 

[Deleeh]

@mordy @UntilThen

My Junior Ultimate has no preamp output and cannot be used as a preamp, only the other way round.
I once connected the Euforia with its preamp but it was really marginally better what came out of it.
It probably doesn't make much sense as the Euforia preamp is supposedly only driven by the 6SN7 to run 4 additional tubes and a 6SN7 or 12At7 on the Ultimate would then be 3 6SN7's. I don't think it gets any better than that, Eric's concept with the 6SN7 as a double triode is really excellent.
Better than in the Euforia where 2 6SN7s are needed.
Well, the amplifier design is 2 different concepts and so on.
Conversely, I could attach an SS amplifier to the Ultimate and that wouldn't be a problem.
But I actually use the Ultigreg as it was built by Eric and I wanted it.
Eric said that 3 watts for 4 Ohm speakers is completely sufficient.
He should be right, it is.
I'm currently using the EL12 RSD and 6201 to drive my cats away when I want to and the flat actually shakes very well, but not so much that the walls have to shake.
I can't get past 12 o'clock with the potentiometer on the tubes. 10-11 o'clock is enough to hear music in the whole flat. 11 o'clock means I have to make sure the windows are closed because of the neighbours .

 

[mordy]

@mordy @UntilThen

My Junior Ultimate has no preamp output and cannot be used as a preamp, only the other way round.
I once connected the Euforia with its preamp but it was really marginally better what came out of it.
It probably doesn't make much sense as the Euforia preamp is supposedly only driven by the 6SN7 to run 4 additional tubes and a 6SN7 or 12At7 on the Ultimate would then be 3 6SN7's. I don't think it gets any better than that, Eric's concept with the 6SN7 as a double triode is really excellent.
Better than in the Euforia where 2 6SN7s are needed.
Well, the amplifier design is 2 different concepts and so on.
Conversely, I could attach an SS amplifier to the Ultimate and that wouldn't be a problem.
But I actually use the Ultigreg as it was built by Eric and I wanted it.
Eric said that 3 watts for 4 Ohm speakers is completely sufficient.
He should be right, it is.
I'm currently using the EL12 RSD and 6201 to drive my cats away when I want to and the flat actually shakes very well, but not so much that the walls have to shake.
I can't get past 12 o'clock with the potentiometer on the tubes. 10-11 o'clock is enough to hear music in the whole flat. 11 o'clock means I have to make sure the windows are closed because of the neighbours .

IMHO the preamp out is the same as the headphone jack. All you have to do is to hook up the amp to the headphone jack to use the Ultimate as a preamp.
It is powerful enough to drive both the headphones and the preamp output at the same time - you could cable up something with a Y splitter. Or get an adapter for the 4pin XLR to female TRS 6.3 mm jack. Such an adapter is around $11 shipped on AliExpress when bought on sale.
Not sure if I understand correctly what you wrote above, but my experience has been that two preamps hooked up together always degrades the sound- not a good idea.

 

[UntilThen]

This time , due to popular request, I put in the the oldest 6SL7 tube I have - a VT-229/6SL7GT:

BGRP with Signal Corps designation. Date code is 2 8 which I think is August 1942 (?)
This tube with the SYL 6BL7 sounds very good - in Eric's words: It sings.

This is the tube I cannot afford. You've some nice tubes there Mordy.