[L0rdGwyn]

It has been very quiet in this thread, I think it is in part because much of the tube rolling discussion has moved since 6J5 are in vogue.

I do have many pictures of my old amp, looking through them I thought this one turned out well. The Toshiba 6BX7GT heaters have a very prominent glow, made more prominent in a long-exposure photo.

 

[Karnicopia]

I have really been all about the GEC 6080 and Fivre 6j5. I've been a pretty devout Bendix guy but I really love the sound of the GEC and I actually like the Fivre with them it adds nice high end detail and the GEC just seem really well balanced, spacious and dynamic but add a nice warmth so really liking this balance.

I also picked up a Pi2AES as a source and am really enjoying that so if anyone is interested it's basically an audio board that connects to a raspberry pi and provides a low noise AES source into your DAC that you can stream to or have it host local storage or act as a roon endpoint etc. It was really easy to put together, reasonably priced and improved the sound of things when I had already done a lot of work isolating things through optical so I thought it was a great piece of equipment. They have a nice thread on it on a webpage I think I'm not supposed to link to but it's probably one of the better investments I've made in audio because it just sounds amazing and is really convenient and flexible as it seems like there are a lot of people writing audio OS on the platform.

 

[DecentLevi]

Me and a few users have been trying to reach @2359glenn . I've waited over a year now with the build date for my SET amp pushed back substantially and no updates for quite a while. With all these rare and special tubes I got for it and $500 of adapters I've already had handmade for it, I'd really hate to jump ship now - plus I would be honored to give some recognition to Glenn's fine works on his lesser known but highly acclaimed SET amp builds! I know he's been in a hard spot lately but I really need a definite timeline to continue the course.

 

[ashwinvyas1981]

Me and a few users have been trying to reach @2359glenn . I've waited over a year now with the build date for my SET amp pushed back substantially and no updates for quite a while. With all these rare and special tubes I got for it and $500 of adapters I've already had handmade for it, I'd really hate to jump ship now - plus I would be honored to give some recognition to Glenn's fine works on his lesser known but highly acclaimed SET amp builds! I know he's been in a hard spot lately but I really need a definite timeline to continue the course.

My amp built is also in queue after yours, I have been trying to reach @2359glenn from some time now to get some timeline as well as discussion over the design of the amp, last I heard from him was on 1st Sept 2020. It seems his new job is quite demanding. I was planning to buy tubes & adapters but kept it on hold due to the delays. I would wait like I have waited so far but yes a timeline on built & some updated would really help in passing this period. Hope he is safe & doing fine. Hoping to hear from him at the earliest.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

I think Glenn has been very busy at work, long hours and little personal time, it has been a strange year with COVID shaking everything up, many job and lifestyle changes for everyone, hopefully things will improve in 2021.

 

[maxpudding]

I got in touch with him a couple of days ago, his new job is very demanding as you guys have heard, but he's slowly building amps again. As LG said, he has little personal time due to the nature of the new job. I guess we all need to be a bit more patient. I for one have no idea where I am at in the queue, but in the meantime, I've started exploring other tube amps and collecting tubes. Hopefully, I'll also get a chance to own a GOTL somewhere in the future.

Keep safe, everyone.

 

[audiofest2018]

I am in a similar boat but I know my order is on the very top of the queue now ( I think!). With more than a year of waiting, I don't mind continue to wait as I know how things are these days and how busy Glenn has been these days. I have made several audio purchased this year and almost in every case they all end up being delayed for a long time. Seem like a new norm for 2020 but do hope 2021 will be better. Last time I talked to him regarding my order was back in August. He said the same like @maxpudding said in his message. I have also purchased some tubes and adaptors for my upcoming Glenn amp and have to put a hold for now. I also understand how people feel unease for waiting a long time and had put some significant investment in for the amp. Luckily I do have other tube amps that I can play with while I am waiting mine to be built...

Sincerely hope things will work out eventually for Glenn and everyone like me waiting for Glenn amp.

 

[raindownthunda]

I have been waiting in Glenn's queue for 11 months now and am fine waiting for as long as it takes. I feel like this thread, and pretty much everyone I've PMed asking for advice, has consistently done a good job of setting expectations for interested newcomers that Glenn's studio is a one-man-show and a side project, and that time to deliver can vary widely. I was cautioned by many people to expect over a year wait before I put down a deposit. I would hope one would know what they are getting into as they are planning their build and learning what the process is like working with Glenn.

I can empathize for Glenn... This is his passion and he wants to build amps... As we all know, life has an unfortunate way of getting crazy sometimes with very little personal time. From my correspondence with Glenn (and what others have said) he has a lot going on in life right now - it's not like he is scamming us. I admire the way he values his work-life balance and would rather him not be on here if he needs to take care of stuff in his personal life

 

[leftside]

I also picked up a Pi2AES as a source and am really enjoying that so if anyone is interested it's basically an audio board that connects to a raspberry pi and provides a low noise AES source into your DAC that you can stream to or have it host local storage or act as a roon endpoint etc.

That's a great option to turn a DAC into a Roon endpoint/streamer. There are companies out there that will add a fancy box and brand name to such a device and add a 0 or more to the price.

 

[whirlwind]

I think Glenn has been very busy at work, long hours and little personal time, it has been a strange year with COVID shaking everything up, many job and lifestyle changes for everyone, hopefully things will improve in 2021.

Amen brother, I just want to forget 2020...A lot has to change for next year to be a huge step up...I sure hope we make progress.

You have always needed to have patience and other gear to listen to when waiting for one of Glenn's amps, trust me I know , I own two of them....but eventually you reap the reward.

The way the world is now and the way Glenn's life got turned upside down with his job, life definitely is not as normal as it once was.

Glenn may have more people wanting amps now than ever before so who knows how long the queue is...plus everybody may be wanting a different build ect...ect...

 

[2359glenn]

Trying to get back to normal building but this new job is killing my life.
These 50 to 60 year old machines are killing me at least the updated ones.
The really old machines with tubes give no problems. I can bring my noisy 6SN7s to work and use them in a machine.
two 6SN7 driving a 6012 thyratron tube that drives the Eddie current coil in the motor to control the speed. https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/077/6/6012.pdf/
I don't think anyone knows about a Eddie current drive is anymore except a old fart like me, They are tube and give me no problems.
Knock on wood. I shouldn't have said that.
The ones that were upgraded to SS PLC are another story problems. But the very old SS DC motor drives are better then the new ones
for not having problems.

 

[gibosi]

Trying to get back to normal building but this new job is killing my life.
These 50 to 60 year old machines are killing me at least the updated ones.
The really old machines with tubes give no problems. I can bring my noisy 6SN7s to work and use them in a machine.
two 6SN7 driving a 6012 thyratron tube that drives the Eddie current coil in the motor to control the speed. https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/077/6/6012.pdf/
I don't think anyone knows about a Eddie current drive is anymore except a old fart like me, They are tube and give me no problems.
Knock on wood. I shouldn't have said that.
The ones that were upgraded to SS PLC are another story problems. But the very old SS DC motor drives are better then the new ones
for not having problems.

More information on the 6012:

https://www.radiomuseum.org/tubes/tube_6012.html

http://tube-data.com/sheets/049/6/6012.pdf

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Trying to get back to normal building but this new job is killing my life.
These 50 to 60 year old machines are killing me at least the updated ones.
The really old machines with tubes give no problems. I can bring my noisy 6SN7s to work and use them in a machine.
two 6SN7 driving a 6012 thyratron tube that drives the Eddie current coil in the motor to control the speed. https://frank.pocnet.net/sheets/077/6/6012.pdf/
I don't think anyone knows about a Eddie current drive is anymore except a old fart like me, They are tube and give me no problems.
Knock on wood. I shouldn't have said that.
The ones that were upgraded to SS PLC are another story problems. But the very old SS DC motor drives are better then the new ones
for not having problems.

I know what Eddie Current is Glenn, those guys who make the really expensive tube amps, right? https://eddiecurrent.com/

Just kidding, sounds like a very specific skillset to service these machines, you are the right guy for the job, just don't work too hard. Hopefully there is an end in sight where the machines are running as well as they can.

 

[Karnicopia]

That's a great option to turn a DAC into a Roon endpoint/streamer. There are companies out there that will add a fancy box and brand name to such a device and add a 0 or more to the price.

I agree and it's just remarkable how much you get for so little the whole thing is like $250 to put together you can download whatever software you like and change things as needed it's convenient and it improved the sound. I don't know how many times you can say that kind of thing in audio but I think it's pretty amazing. As far as audio quality you can power the audio board separately from the PI board (I am doing this since it's really easy to do) and then the AES connection can reject noise so it's a great source. I guess you can even run it off of battery power if you are really worried but I have no problems with it as is and I'm just really enjoying the convenience of being able to use anything as a interface, phone computer ipad really anything can control it but at the same time it improved the sound of things.

It isn't a drastic improvement but I noticed a big improvement going from USB to isolating using optical and this may not have been as big of a jump as that was but it was a similar one where it felt like it removed a layer of distortion, blackened the background which created better separation. It felt like more spaciousness but I think it was more that each note was more distinct type of thing than the soundstage was bigger but the effect was it felt like the soundstage was bigger. If people have a quality source maybe you don't hear this kind of difference but for me at this price the thing is amazing.

 

[MIKELAP]

You know those pictures on the internet - somebody taking a picture moments before the accident....
Here is such a picture:

Switched the voltage switch to 12V since I am now trying a 1962 Sylvania 12AU7 (branded Baldwin) supported by a small army of Foton 6H8S tubes - sounds very good. And look at that beautiful tube glow!
I usually leave the GOTL on for many hours; with fans it runs very cool. The amp played for an hour or so and I went outside for an errand and came back inside: Horror! A terrible room shaking hum!
Threw myself on the blue halo elevator power switch - the hum went away but it continued playing for a little while. Never a dull moment! What's going on????
Yanked out the adapter with the 12AU7 - could it be a bad adapter? Nothing smells burnt...
Switched back to 6.3V and put in a known working adapter w/ tube - everything is fine! Big sigh of relief....
But what happened? I have this box of tubes with the same pinout and using the same adapter:
12AX7, 12AU7, 12AT7, 12AZ7, 12BH7, E180CC (courtesy Phantaminum), 5693.
Let's see, 6SN7 is 6.3V, 12SN7 is 12.6V - let's check these tubes:
Why in the world would a 12AU7 be 6.3V and all the 12s listed are 12.6V??? (The only other tube listed above that is not 12V is the E180CC).
So the nice tube glow came from a tube struggling with a tube-lethal dose of voltage....
Luckily I have a spare.
All is well again.
Did I mention that it sounds very good?

Took a bit of a break from tubes and now slowly returning to tube rolling only to find that i kinda forgot stuff over time but luckily i took notes on what tube goes with what adapter because it can be problematic so i need a good refresher lol . By the way tonight's setup . 5998 as power tubes , Ken Rad 6SN7GT VT-231 as drivers and a Philips Miniwatt GZ32 Rectifier .Sorry not a Glenn Amp but tubes are tubes lol .