[Covenant]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baimi /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have already got a WA6SE and I will receive a Raptor in a couple of days' time; time to determine which amp is better suited for me

I'd be very interested in reading your comparison

Quote:

Originally Posted by WittyzTH /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol! He was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I did the comparison of those 2 too before went for the WA6SE.

And yours too

Did you post it anywhere?

 

[s1rrah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Covenant /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'd be very interested in reading your comparison

I too have both amps here in the house (Raptor and a Woo 6 SE) ...

I've only managed a 30 minute side by side so far and my findings are too preliminary to make any certain comments.

I'll try and do a proper couple hour listening test soon.

But safe to say ... they both sound like 12 to 1300 dollar amps to me ... with a few nitpicky things I liked regarding one or the other. What I did find surprising though and feel safe in saying ... the Woo 6 SE, which I'm much less familiar with since it's my roomies ... did not at all sound overtly tubey or too tubey ... in fact, it was the equal to the Raptor in regards to cleanliness, detail and articulation. Neither sound overtly tubey to my ear and neither did one sound more "lush" than the other.

But more later. I need much more time to draw any accurate comparisons.

 

[s1rrah]

I have three NOS Tung Sol 12AU7 "black glass" tubes coming in this weekend.

I'll be selling one of them and so I thought I'd put the word out here before posting it to the for sale thread on the chance any Raptor owners might like to give one a shot.

...

...

No hurry.

Just thought I'd mention.

PM me if your interested in one.

Best.

.joel

 

[gooky]

I think it is a great idea to trade tubes on the thread; it's like a clubhouse. But is it allowed?

 

[gooky]

Hey does anyone have any experience with the reissued Genalex B749 from Russia?  I tried a quick search, and didn't find much. They are about $40-50, so they can't be terrible, right?

 

[SoundApprentice]

I'm going to be that guy that bumps a thread from several years ago, but this is the most thorough one I found about tube rolling with The Raptor.
 
I just picked up a used Raptor... I believe I am the third owner of the unit now. It came with several tubes, but none of them have measurements on the boxes so I don't really know how good any of them are still. I'm also new to tube amps, so I don't entirely know what to expect yet.
 
Anyway, my question is if any of you still own this amp, have you tried any more tubes in recent years that you think work well with this amp?
 
I have a new Genalex Gold Lion 12au7 coming in to try, for example. And I see that some Electro Harmonix are rather affordable new.
 
Thanks!

 

[s1rrah]

I had a Raptor for about three years and really loved it. I rolled tubes extensively and don't recall too many of the details as I haven't had the amp in some time.

Some of the 12AU7's I liked were from Brimar and also RCA ... some of the 5687's I liked were the Tung Sols and Amperex variants.
 
BTW: I have a few extra, nearly new tubes still in a drawer some where if you want them. I'll just give them to you as I don't have any amp to use them with and would love to donate to a Raptor owner. 
 
PM me your mailing address and I'll put them in the mail for you ... a few 12AU7's and 5687's ... not sure of the variety but I'll let you know once I'm home and can look at them.
 
...
 
Oh yeah ... a little word of advice ...
 
Be VERY CAREFUL you keep your 12AU7 tubes identified and separated from your 5687 tubes ... they look the same (except for any branding/labeling) and they use the exact same pin configuration so the the 12AU7's will easily plug in to the 5687's sockets and vice versa. If you accidentally do this (as I once did) ... you will MELT your power supply in a matter of about 5 seconds.
 
I found out the hard way during a massive tube rolling evening with a bunch of tubes that had the labels worn off...
 

 
Have fun and let me know if you want me to mail you my extra Raptor tubes ...
 
Joel

 

[SoundApprentice]

That's incredibly generous to offer. I'd love to roll in some tubes from a clearly trusted source here. Like I said, the tubes I received have no indication of life left in them and the person I bought the amp from seemed to know little about it.

I'll try to take a picture of the tubes and maybe some of you here can help me identify if they are anything special.

 

[SoundApprentice]

I have this bad boy warming up in the Raptor now. Arrived today, new issue Genalex Gold Lion ECC82 matched triodes. Read some good reviews on this tube in other forums and thought I would pick it up to use as my starting point for future tube rolling comparisons since it is new and I don't have to question its quality, unlike the used tubes that arrived with the used Raptor I just acquired. 

 

[IFoundFate]

Hey SoundApprentice, it looks like we are in the same boat. I just bought a used Raptor (I'm the second owner though) from a moderator here at Head-Fi. I also bought a pair of HE-500s to go with it and it all sounds amazing. Still breaking in though.
 
Anyways, I only have the "upgraded" tubes from Ray that I got with my purchase (it also has the upgraded PSU), I'm not sure if I should upgrade my AC power cable, RCA interconnects, headphone cable, or roll tubes first. Spent a lot of money for this setup so it may be a little while before I go off the deep end into tube rolling. Currently I know almost nothing about them, I'll have to do some research soon.

 

[SoundApprentice]

  Hey SoundApprentice, it looks like we are in the same boat. I just bought a used Raptor (I'm the second owner though) from a moderator here at Head-Fi. I also bought a pair of HE-500s to go with it and it all sounds amazing. Still breaking in though.
 
Anyways, I only have the "upgraded" tubes from Ray that I got with my purchase (it also has the upgraded PSU), I'm not sure if I should upgrade my AC power cable, RCA interconnects, headphone cable, or roll tubes first. Spent a lot of money for this setup so it may be a little while before I go off the deep end into tube rolling. Currently I know almost nothing about them, I'll have to do some research soon.

Awesome! We can start this journey together. I actually just received the HE-500s today, so haven't been able to try them with the Raptor yet. I discovered my head is a bit too small and I need to modify the stock pad with some extra padding to get the cups in the right position. Sigh.
 
Anyway, what tubes did yours come with? 
 
As for the cables.... I already have nice cables, but I did try the Raptor with the stock AC first. I then switched to my Shunyata Diamondback. The difference, to my ears, was present but very minimal. I'd say the Shunyata eliminates some noise for a darker background, but because of the design of this amp I don't expect any AC cable to make a significant difference. The Shunyata on my Grace Model 901 made a huge difference on the other hand. I can't comment on the RCAs since I have a pair of Linn Silver connected and haven't tried anything else yet. I generally use DH Labs Air Matrix interconnects in my system, which I think are excellent and you can find them used for a decent price quite often, they really don't color the sound of your equipment at all. A noticeable upgrade that I do suggest, cover the second set of inputs with RCA caps if you aren't using them. I noticed a huge drop in background noise after doing so. I thought it was tube noise at first, but then found out that the open inputs were picking up some sort of noise from something else in my system (many devices surround my amp currently, this may not be an issue for you).

 

[s1rrah]

I found AC power cable changes to make very little sonic differences with the  Raptor as well ... certain cables, like a  Black Sands Violet that I had made a dramatic difference when used with my DAC but with the Raptor I could tell very little difference among power cables ... I suspect it has to do with the external power supply ...
 
BTW: for a neat example of how the Raptor handles it's power provision, ... start some music and while the music is playing (don't take off your headphones) ... unplug the power from the Raptor ... then listen as it takes about 20+ seconds for the music volume to very neatly and slowly and evenly trickle into silence ... pretty cool ... 

 

[SoundApprentice]

  I found AC power cable changes to make very little sonic differences with the  Raptor as well ... certain cables, like a  Black Sands Violet that I had made a dramatic difference when used with my DAC but with the Raptor I could tell very little difference among power cables ... I suspect it has to do with the external power supply ...
 
BTW: for a neat example of how the Raptor handles it's power provision, ... start some music and while the music is playing (don't take off your headphones) ... unplug the power from the Raptor ... then listen as it takes about 20+ seconds for the music volume to very neatly and slowly and evenly trickle into silence ... pretty cool ... 

I also like the sound of the tubes cooling down; sort of sounds like a rain stick. 

 

[IFoundFate]

  Awesome! We can start this journey together. I actually just received the HE-500s today, so haven't been able to try them with the Raptor yet. I discovered my head is a bit too small and I need to modify the stock pad with some extra padding to get the cups in the right position. Sigh.
 
Anyway, what tubes did yours come with? 

 
Let's! I'm just over 70 hours into the HE-500s. I have both the copper and silver cables, and I prefer the copper one over the silver, the soundstage and instrument separation is a tad bit better IMO. Have you tried upgrading the headphone cable before? If so, how much does it change in SQ? Also, the earcups on the HE-500s are pretty big, they don't fully cover my head (there are air gaps) because they're so big, but I'm not sure if that's a bad thing.
 
As for the tubes, I have no idea. They are not marked, @immtbiker , the original owner marked the positioning of each tube (ie: front left & right and rear) but the tubes don't have a brand name on it. So I'm not sure, but I haven't asked him. I could post a closeup picture though. I'd like to buy some decent tubes and start rolling soon.
 
My setup right now:

 

[SoundApprentice]

OMG dude, this is tooooo funny. I was in line right behind you to purchase his Raptor. Those blue LEDs look great, I'm a bit jealous. The stock ones are said to be red, but to me they look more orange, but it actually matches the color of the warm tubes.
 
I can tell you that the Genalex tube is very nice compared to the used Telefunken that came with my Raptor. Much quieter, better dynamics, tighter bass. But, again, I have no idea how old that Telefunken is. 
 
Any chance you're willing to open up the lid on the power supply? I want to see the internals to compare to mine to know if I have the updated PSU. Mine doesn't make any noise, but the kid I got mine from really couldn't answer any of my questions about the amp.