[maxpudding]

I was chatting with Deyan the tube adapter guy the other day. Says he has slimline 2 * 6BL7 to 1 * 6080 adapters these days. I have lots of 6BL7 and 6BX7 that are doing nothing sitting in storage, so 6 adapters are on their way to me. Kind of ridiculous I know, but I want to use those 6BL7 and 6BX7 tubes... and they are cheap.

Please take a photo of the 12x6BL7s on your amp once you received those adapters nothing is ridiculous in this hobby, you should know that

 

[mordy]

The NU 12J5 on their own definitely have more clarity and hi-fi sound. Running the 12SX7 in addition to 12J5 smooths out the edges and add a slightly hazy layer over everything (like an extra warm fuzzy blanket). I just tried the 12SX7 by itself and noticed the same thing - more clarity when run alone. Compared to the NU 12J5 on their own, the RCA 12SX7 is slightly warmer/slightly less clarity but more 3d sounding. I'm honestly surprised how much clarity/detail there is in general with these 6BL7 in RES mode.


Wow - so are you going to be running 12x 6BL7/6BX7 at a time? The 6BL7 I'm listening to right now sound pretty great. Definitely going to stay in the amp for the next few days as I try some other driver tubes. I need to give the 6BX7 another shot at some point too. The 6BX7 I tried had a fairly noticeable noise floor (unlike these 6BL7) so didn't stay in the amp for very long. It's a little hard to troubleshoot noise when there's 6 tubes IIRC, Glenn mentioned at some point that it's best to find NOS/NIB tubes if you can since they were run pretty hard in old TV's. Can't wait to hear what you think in your amp.

In my Glenn OTL I can run three driver tubes as well. After the first impressions wear off I found that in general it was more satisfying to listen to just one set of driver tubes.
Regarding finding a noisy tube from six in use I found that I could identify the offending tube by listening to each channel separately - now down to three tubes. Then I would carefully tap on each tube or move it slightly in the socket and listen for increased noise.
Not sure if tapping on hot tubes is the best thing but works for me (with a cloth to avoid burning my fingers).

 

[raindownthunda]

In my Glenn OTL I can run three driver tubes as well. After the first impressions wear off I found that in general it was more satisfying to listen to just one set of driver tubes.
Regarding finding a noisy tube from six in use I found that I could identify the offending tube by listening to each channel separately - now down to three tubes. Then I would carefully tap on each tube or move it slightly in the socket and listen for increased noise.
Not sure if tapping on hot tubes is the best thing but works for me (with a cloth to avoid burning my fingers).

More does not always equal better!

Went in the opposite direction today and am only using 1x 12SN7 (TS BGRP) as both the driver and power tube in Blue Halo mode.

It's extremely convenient to be able to leave the power tubes in while being able to switch between modes. Having the separate switch for the power tube heaters means one could leave the heaters on just for looks (& warmth?) without the tubes adding to the sound. It doesn't make sense to me to put more hours on the heaters than necessary, so I leave the power tube heaters switched off. With so many tubes in the amp, it seems counterintuitive to be getting sound this good from a single tube. The Blue Halo+ really is two amazing amps in one.

To my ears, BH mode has clarity, speed/immediacy, texture, and treble presence that rivals a really good SS amp. This is what I think of when I hear the words "high-fidelity". Doing some back to back comparisons with my Jotunheim 2 and BH mode. While the Jot2 is not a high end SS amp, I have spent quite a few hours listening to my VC when I didn't feel like firing up tubes. I feel the biggest differences between BH and Jot2 are in sound stage, timbre, and amount of detail + realism I'm hearing with the BH.

During the intro to "Harmony Hall" by Vampire Weekend, the guitar notes cascade down a three-dimensional waterfall. With BH, there is a clear sense of depth and height where each note feels like it's in slightly a different x,y,z position. With the Jot2, each note sound like a slightly different x position. The Jot2's stage sounds like you're looking at a narrow hallway projected in front of the listening position. With BH, it feels like you are immersed in the space where the band playing with notes flying all around you - coming much closer, much further away, much lower, and much higher than the Jot2. The Jot2 is significantly more congested during busy passages. BH allows you to discern all of the different instruments/vocals with ample space around them at the same time. With BH the busy passages sound more fluid and captivating - not overwhelming! At this point I feel like the Bifrost 2/64 is the bottleneck in my system and can only wonder what a higher-end DAC would sound like with this amp.

There is significant difference in timbre as well. In the same song, with the Jot2, the guitar notes are crisp and fast but have a sharp cutoff. With the BH, there is a subtle resonant trailing edge. Similarly, the the piano notes around 3:02 sound more pointed, sharp, and one-dimensional with the Jot2. With the BH, the piano notes hit just as fast and clear (no haze) but with a more organic and softer tone. The added nuance creates a much greater sense of realism. Listening to "Impossible Weight" by Deep Sea Diver ft. Sharon Van Etten, the smack of the drums at @ 0:55 have visceral body with BH. You hear the same sounds with the Jot2, but you can't feel it with the same level of realism. The Jot2 is definitely not a harsh amp, but vocals seem thin and lacking smoothness and body compared to BH.

BH brings that neutral high-fidelity OTL tube sound but with some of the best qualities of a really good SS amp. And with BH+ mode, you can tilt towards a warmer/more analog tube sound - or somewhere in-between (depending on the tubes used). With my previous tube amp, there were some genres/moods where I felt I was getting more out of listening to the Jot2 in terms of speed, clarity, and impact. At this point it seems like BH mode will fill that role and improve on it substantially - without the compromises that come with SS sound.

 

[raindownthunda]

Happy Easter Weekend

 

[maxpudding]

Happy Easter Weekend

Nice....

Is that the Atrium Closed?

 

[raindownthunda]

Nice....

Is that the Atrium Closed?

No, this is the Verite Closed "Aegean" from the first stabilized run a few years ago. It's what I listen to 99% of the time I hope to try an Atrium / Atrium Closed on BH+ someday...

 

[Zachik]

This is my 1st of several posts to tell a story about a journey... A journey that took 2 years! A journey that makes Lord of the Rings trilogy (the long extended edition) seem like a short hike in comparison
Mischa @A2029 and I embarked on this journey almost exactly to the day 2 years ago, and we had to endure and overcome:
Technical challenges, setbacks and frustrations - caused by COVID, supply chain shortages, suppliers screw-ups, Mischa completing his PhD (yay!!!), and so on.
When I say "we had to endure and overcome" - in reality, Mischa is the real hero who had to endure and overcome most of those...

So, let me introduce what I think is Mischa's most ambitious project ever! Mind you, it did not start like that, but the dangerous combination of my mind full of crazy ideas, and Mischa who is both accommodating and brilliant - paved the way for this monster of an amp. Before going on, revealing the MANY details of this amp - let's name it, shall we?

How did it start? In the beginning, all I wanted was a custom tube amp that uses 300B power tubes. Nothing too crazy or special so far - right?
That led to Mischa's first (of many) mistake - he asked me if I wanted CCS load or Resistor load... My response was: can I have both, with a switch? That was before Mischa's first amp with switchable CCS / Resistor load... So - we got that agreed upon:

Mischa's 2nd mistake? "Zachi, do you want it to have SET or Parafeed topology?"
My reply (did you guess it?): "Mischa, can I have both, with a switch?"
Spoiler to Mischa's response:

So... those of you who aced their math classes already figured out that between switchable topology and switchable load - this is already 4-amps-in-1.
But when I am sitting 5 feet away - how can I tell which of the 4 modes it is operating in? I wish there was a way to tell...
But wait! There is a way to tell: the power switch LED is an RGB LED, whose color is determined by the mode of operation:

...but wait, there is more...

(stay tuned for my next posts )

 

[jonathan c]

This is my 1st of several posts to tell a story about a journey... A journey that took 2 years! A journey that makes Lord of the Rings trilogy (the long extended edition) seem like a short hike in comparison
Mischa @A2029 and I embarked on this journey almost exactly to the day 2 years ago, and we had to endure and overcome:
Technical challenges, setbacks and frustrations - caused by COVID, supply chain shortages, suppliers screw-ups, Mischa completing his PhD (yay!!!), and so on.
When I say "we had to endure and overcome" - in reality, Mischa is the real hero who had to endure and overcome most of those...

So, let me introduce what I think is Mischa's most ambitious project ever! Mind you, it did not start like that, but the dangerous combination of my mind full of crazy ideas, and Mischa who is both accommodating and brilliant - paved the way for this monster of an amp. Before going on, revealing the MANY details of this amp - let's name it, shall we?


How did it start? In the beginning, all I wanted was a custom tube amp that uses 300B power tubes. Nothing too crazy or special so far - right?
That led to Mischa's first (of many) mistake - he asked me if I wanted CCS load or Resistor load... My response was: can I have both, with a switch? That was before Mischa's first amp with switchable CCS / Resistor load... So - we got that agreed upon:


Mischa's 2nd mistake? "Zachi, do you want it to have SET or Parafeed topology?"
My reply (did you guess it?): "Mischa, can I have both, with a switch?"
Spoiler to Mischa's response:


So... those of you who aced their math classes already figured out that between switchable topology and switchable load - this is already 4-amps-in-1.
But when I am sitting 5 feet away - how can I tell which of the 4 modes it is operating in? I wish there was a way to tell...
But wait! There is a way to tell: the power switch LED is an RGB LED, whose color is determined by the mode of operation:


...but wait, there is more...

(stay tuned for my next posts )

How many 9V batteries does it need to run?

 

[UntilThen]

Keep the story coming. It's getting interesting. Pass me the popcorn pls.

 

[Zachik]

How many 9V batteries does it need to run?

Only 1 battery needed

 

[mordy]

Should I stay up and wait for the next post, or is that first tomorrow?

 

[Zachik]

Should I stay up and wait for the next post, or is that first tomorrow?

@mordy next post will be tomorrow

 

[OctavianH]

...but wait, there is more...

(stay tuned for my next posts )

God dammit. I was waiting for you for years and never realized, until now! I guess you know that you will have to tell us every detail about every mode of operation and so on. This is something I always wanted to know, how the same amplifier can sound depending on these design choices. In other words, Mischa endured until now and from now on you will endure, more than George RR Martin, writing answers to all our questions.

 

[UntilThen]

He waited 2 years so you have to wait 2 years for his story.

This is the first 300b on this thread so it will be special. It will be more than a 300b.

 

[maxpudding]

I can't wait to hear how Mischa almost went mental designing this amp

BTW, cool name. Solar Flare, would burn you up (and your pockets) ROFLMAO