[nwavesailor]

That's great info. Thanks! I had looked at the 596 early on when I first ordered the amp, but haven't really went back and read about it since the amp arrived. I know they're getting rare these days, but I'll see if I can find one.

There are some 4, 596 listed on the classified right now.

 

[WillieB]

I've always liked the the Raytheon 'house sound' using their 6SN7 and 5687's over time so I bought the Raytheon 12BH7 based on the guys using them in the Pendant. I have many 12A** and variants as well as octal 6 volt tubes so I can't say what the very 'best' is since there are way more that sound good than just so-so in the BB. Like @DenverW I find the GEC KT-88,(KT-66 in his case) and USAF 596 pair well with quite a lot tubes.

Well, I found a 596 so that will be nice to try in a couple of days.

The 12BZ7, on the other hand, is a bust at this point. The Sylvania that arrived today is noisy as all get out with the 6L6GC. It has a loud hum. It's quieter on a lower impedance tap, but still unbearable. I tried it with KT88-WCs and it is bearable on the lowest 2 impedance taps. Spectacular mids there as well, but at a large cost in low end performance. I am listening with VO today so very sensitive HPs to start with. I have another 12BZ7 coming. It's NOS and American made, but that's all I know until it gets here. Ordered it from a TFA grab-bag for $10 last night just to see what I get. Either way, so far it looks like the 12BZ7 might be reserved for use with the larger of the power tubes, but it's possible that the one I have just has a bit of gas. I have it aging and will try it again in a day or so.

Also, I didn't feel like changing power tubes again so I just swapped in the ECC803s that I had been using before. It's the first try with it while using the Winged C KT88s. I have to say it's pretty good after listening for a couple of hours now.

 

[DeweyCH]

@ampsandsound is there any reason I should be cautious with a pair of 6AR6 in my Mogwai? I've got the proper adapters, and they sound OUTSTANDING. But my electrical engineering knowledge could maybe fill a thimble, so wanted to see if you had a recommendation one way or the other.

 

[DenverW]

I've never tried a 12bz7 but ran through quite a few 12bh7s in some bottlehead amps as a semi replacement for the 12au7. There are some great slyvania types, and I liked a tung sol black tube. Another alternative was the e80cc, which I liked more (phillips/amperex sq) but these are creeping up in price. For my ZMF headphones I am enjoying some lower gain tubes like the 12au7 and 6sn7 on the bigger ben. With more power I'm not even hitting 9 pm on the volume knob so I need to back it off a bit .

 

[DeweyCH]

What taps do you prefer for both the VC and Susvara? Also do you have to roll power tubes at all to get the most out of the Susvara?

I have the Mogwai SE and I’m wondering if my 6L6s with a 6SL7 would be enough to power the Susvara or if I would need KT88s

They're plenty powerful. I'm listening right now to my Susvaras from the low-Z (32 ohm) tap on my Mogwai SE with a pair of Tung-Sol 6AR6 power tubes. It's phenomenal. Running at about 10 o'clock on the dial, and damn this sounds amazing. My other main driver for the Susvaras is my Burson Timekeeper 3iR from the speaker taps. It's better - 100 WPC at 8 ohms, no clue what that translates to at the Susvara's 60 ohms, but probably about 10 WPC? - but there's a lot of really excellent sound the Mogwai drives with these cans.

With the VCs I always use the 300 ohm output on the Mogwai. It is of course phenomenal.

I'll have to try some decent KT88 tubes, but with the 6AR6 there's more than enough power to drive the Susvaras to a great sound.

 

[WillieB]

I've never tried a 12bz7 but ran through quite a few 12bh7s in some bottlehead amps as a semi replacement for the 12au7. There are some great slyvania types, and I liked a tung sol black tube. Another alternative was the e80cc, which I liked more (phillips/amperex sq) but these are creeping up in price. For my ZMF headphones I am enjoying some lower gain tubes like the 12au7 and 6sn7 on the bigger ben. With more power I'm not even hitting 9 pm on the volume knob so I need to back it off a bit .

Is your BB a Rev2? I bought an adapter so that I could try some of my 6SN7 tubes, but the heater doesn't power. Perhaps the adapter is relying on pin 9 and the amp just uses 4&5 to connect the heaters in parallel or maybe something of the sort. I haven't tried extensively to trace it out. My question is can you recommend an adapter that is known to work with the Rev2?

Also, my amp is not loud at all at 9PM Even with 12AX7/ECC803 it is typically past 12 before it starts to get loud(and that's more like typical listening volume). I don't really listed that loud. I thought this was weird early on. It will still get insanely loud, but you'll be well around and closer to 3 o'clock before that happens. I am using a passive switcher box between my sources/Amps that converts XLR to RCA in this case. I wonder if I am losing voltage at the cross over to RCA. It's never been a thing with any of my other SE amps. They go through the same switch, but they also don't have input transformers. I haven't really questioned it up to this point, but your comment makes me wonder. I was definitely expecting more volume at first considering the power this thing has. Especially with sensitive HPs like the VO. I may just bypass the switch and see what I get.

 

[bdh]

Hi I'm interested in knowing more about the Kenzie Ovation's sound profile(tone, transients, technicalities like layering and texture rendition etc) and it's noise performance especially on 100 and 300ohm taps. I'll be using this primarily with my VO and Atrium with occasional senns and focals headphones slot in from time to time. I've not found much info in general regarding this amp so I figure I'd just ask here. The higher output of other amps does concern me with noise performance so I think the Kenzie line up will probably best serve my usage given my tendency to prefer dynamics over other driver types and I'm kinda interested in the tubes used for this setup and how it sounds.

I posted a review of the Kenzie Ovation over on the Summit-Fi board a few days ago because I thought it should have representation there:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rev...ayon-ha-3-mkii-and-merason-frérot-dac.962911/

With the right tubes, it really is an amazing amp that will compete against anything. Assuming you're not using headphones that need a lot of power.
With the right tubes, all of those profile aspects you listed are spot on. Better than my Balancing Act I paid more for over a decade ago.

I was recently reading an article about the recent CanJam where AmpsAndSound amps tied for best sound of the show in that author's opinion:
https://headphone.guru/canjam-nyc-2022-coverage-sponsored-by-underwood-hifi-part-2/

Why so many people who buy these expensive things don't post reviews of them, I don't know. It's the only way I know how to make purchasing decisions, since I can't hear anything before buying it.

 

[DeweyCH]

Can the Mogwai base be reversed? Mine is cracked at the two front corners. Nothing terrible or anything, but I'd like to flip it so they're in the back.

 

[helljudgement]

I posted a review of the Kenzie Ovation over on the Summit-Fi board a few days ago because I thought it should have representation there:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/review-of-ampsandsound-kenzie-ovation-mogwai-se-ayon-ha-3-mkii-and-merason-frérot-dac.962911/

With the right tubes, it really is an amazing amp that will compete against anything. Assuming you're not using headphones that need a lot of power.
With the right tubes, all of those profile aspects you listed are spot on. Better than my Balancing Act I paid more for over a decade ago.

I was recently reading an article about the recent CanJam where AmpsAndSound amps tied for best sound of the show in that author's opinion:
https://headphone.guru/canjam-nyc-2022-coverage-sponsored-by-underwood-hifi-part-2/

Why so many people who buy these expensive things don't post reviews of them, I don't know. It's the only way I know how to make purchasing decisions, since I can't hear anything before buying it.

Thanks for the feedback I’ll definitely find time read thru your thorough review. While I kinda understand why people might not have the ability to put their thoughts to words it is still disappointing to see very little impressions on a fairly popular brand of amps with as big a lineup as ampsandaound.

The ovation and kenzie in general seem to be the ideal design for the dynamic only user crowd like me and you which is becoming rarer these days.

 

[DenverW]

Is your BB a Rev2? I bought an adapter so that I could try some of my 6SN7 tubes, but the heater doesn't power. Perhaps the adapter is relying on pin 9 and the amp just uses 4&5 to connect the heaters in parallel or maybe something of the sort. I haven't tried extensively to trace it out. My question is can you recommend an adapter that is known to work with the Rev2?

Also, my amp is not loud at all at 9PM Even with 12AX7/ECC803 it is typically past 12 before it starts to get loud(and that's more like typical listening volume). I don't really listed that loud. I thought this was weird early on. It will still get insanely loud, but you'll be well around and closer to 3 o'clock before that happens. I am using a passive switcher box between my sources/Amps that converts XLR to RCA in this case. I wonder if I am losing voltage at the cross over to RCA. It's never been a thing with any of my other SE amps. They go through the same switch, but they also don't have input transformers. I haven't really questioned it up to this point, but your comment makes me wonder. I was definitely expecting more volume at first considering the power this thing has. Especially with sensitive HPs like the VO. I may just bypass the switch and see what I get.

Yes, I’d say there is something going on there. I have a rev 1, so I use 6sn7 natively, but have no issues with an adapter for 9 pin such as 12au7. Also, with the exception of a hifiman planar I’m pretty much never over 10 pm without discomfort. It’s louder than I like, even with kt66 and 12au7. My auteur is at 8-9 pm.

 

[DenverW]

@ampsandsound is there any reason I should be cautious with a pair of 6AR6 in my Mogwai? I've got the proper adapters, and they sound OUTSTANDING. But my electrical engineering knowledge could maybe fill a thimble, so wanted to see if you had a recommendation one way or the other.

Any word? I’m curious on this too.

 

[gonintendo]

Thoughts on pendant vs kenzie for Zmf headphones? (Atticus, Aeolus, Verite closed) plus LCD-2). I have the quicksilver amp currently, and while it’s great, it’s not really better enough than my GS-X mini to warrant keeping it. That’s making me lean towards the Kenzie as it would probably be the most different. But the pendant is also appealing for the pre out for my speakers, as well as that I already have some el84s and 12ax7 tubes

 

[ampsandsound]

Can the Mogwai base be reversed? Mine is cracked at the two front corners. Nothing terrible or anything, but I'd like to flip it so they're in the back.

Should be able to without issue... 4 bolts to confirm. We have cleared some cases.... just depends. But so worth a try...also some super glue and a clamp camp fix.

 

[Rhinomyte76]

I have an old 60s telefunken ECC801s that I use with a converter in my old Kenzie.
Can anyone tell me whether this is compatible with the new input tube setup. (ie. Bigger Ben 2 / Agartha 2). I saw the list that appears to be expansive which had ECC803S on there, but not mine. Thanks!!

 

[ampsandsound]

I have an old 60s telefunken ECC801s that I use with a converter in my old Kenzie.
Can anyone tell me whether this is compatible with the new input tube setup. (ie. Bigger Ben 2 / Agartha 2). I saw the list that appears to be expansive which had ECC803S on there, but not mine. Thanks!!

Im not sure what you're asking. Are you asking is a ECC801 compatible with a Bigger Ben 2? - Sure it is.