[JKDJedi]

Hah, I'm just trying to find a pairing that pleases my ears (within budget of course) and then buy a few backups because you never know if prices will increase in the future. I doubt I'll ever cough up the funds to purchase NOS Sylvania '52 (early) 6SN7GT 3-hole "Bad Boys" (the prices and hype for these are unreal), NOS Tung-Sol 5998's and NOS Western Electric 421A's.

Its not hype, hence the prices. but yeah, 3 hole bad boys are up there, and the rare Mullard CV181 even more so, and rated high for sound and build. Wouldnt mind having all of them, #someday #we'llbetogether

 

[JKDJedi]

The Holy Trinity

Westinghouse421a
Tung-Sol 7236
Phillips/Mullard 6080

 

[dobigstuff]

JKDJedi:

Now your talking. Stick with that 421 A Power Tube and Just Listen for a while.

 

[dobigstuff]

Driver is always NOS USA Tung-Sol 6SN7

 

[JKDJedi]

Still super early to tell, maybe let the Tung Sol 7236 settle down? But..not getting this bass slam it's known to have. Am I jaded? Am using the super mid HD6XX.. gonna switch over to the Fedelio real quick... and nope..no bass slam Oh wait!!! Just flipped on A Lot by 21 Savage.. yeah, gonna give her another 48 hours... the Darkness will be left on till Sunday midnight! "I love You..... For so many reasons......"

Edit: Mates really well with the Black Treasure, kinda figured it would since both seem faster than must tubes I've tried so far. (from my little collection)

 

[laurianmoga]

Guys, I'm really sorry for posting this here, where I'm pretty sure my issue does not belong, but this being the "richest" thread on the 336SE and read by a lot of people, please bear with me. I had to give it a try...
Here's my problem: I got my Darkvoice a couple of days ago and it's already driving me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of it, the fact that it's completely silent (no hums or hisses between tracks), etc., etc. BUT, I get a static-y noise in the left channel, even with volume turned all the way down and no input cable attached. The noise is pretty random, in terms of "shape" (for lack of a better word) and volume; it gets louder and then disappears completely for a few minutes, just to be back again the next moment. It sounds somewhat similar to the wind blowing on a microphone. Just like some kind of static charge accumulates somewhere in the circuits and then gets discharged into the headphones. I don't know, does this make any sense? And, by the way, it's still there one or two seconds after I turn the amp off. I'm not a native English speaker, so my description might seem a little odd... sorry for that.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

 

[JKDJedi]

Guys, I'm really sorry for posting this here, where I'm pretty sure my issue does not belong, but this being the "richest" thread on the 336SE and read by a lot of people, please bear with me. I had to give it a try...
Here's my problem: I got my Darkvoice a couple of days ago and it's already driving me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of it, the fact that it's completely silent (no hums or hisses between tracks), etc., etc. BUT, I get a static-y noise in the left channel, even with volume turned all the way down and no input cable attached. The noise is pretty random, in terms of "shape" (for lack of a better word) and volume; it gets louder and then disappears completely for a few minutes, just to be back again the next moment. It sounds somewhat similar to the wind blowing on a microphone. Just like some kind of static charge accumulates somewhere in the circuits and then gets discharged into the headphones. I don't know, does this make any sense? And, by the way, it's still there one or two seconds after I turn the amp off. I'm not a native English speaker, so my description might seem a little odd... sorry for that.
Any ideas?
Thanks!

Could be anything, the tube and/or Darkvoice unit itself. If it's the tube the noise should be gone 48 hours of use, if it's the unit...get a replacement asap.

 

[laurianmoga]

On another forum, somebody suggested me to swap the tubes (to one another), in order to see what's wrong. Could I damage my amp by doing so (since the two tubes don't have the same specs)? One more thing: can I safely power up the unit without any tubes installed (just to take them out of the equation)? Next thing would be to take the amp appart, looking for bad solders and stuff like that...
As I bought this from an online shop in Hong Kong, simply sending it back and ask for a replacement might be a little tricky.

 

[JKDJedi]

On another forum, somebody suggested me to swap the tubes (to one another), in order to see what's wrong. Could I damage my amp by doing so (since the two tubes don't have the same specs)? One more thing: can I safely power up the unit without any tubes installed (just to take them out of the equation)? Next thing would be to take the amp appart, looking for bad solders and stuff like that...
As I bought this from an online shop in Hong Kong, simply sending it back and ask for a replacement might be a little tricky.

I don't know about the swapping tubes, maybe try a different power outlet or source. If you have some Xtra tubes try them, but it sounds like you don't. Try pulling one of the tubes out at a time, power tube only test, preamp tube only test, and then no tubes...and test, but before that make sure it's plugged into it's own power source and not on a power strip. Test it in a different room too.

 

[laurianmoga]

Thanks, Jedi, I'll do just that and let you know.

 

[laurianmoga]

By the way, sorry for my ignorance, but which one is the power tube? Just curious. I'd put my money on the big one ...

 

[laurianmoga]

And yes, I don't have any extra tubes yet.

 

[laurianmoga]

Well, no tubes - silence; small tube only - silence; large tube only - noise. Interestingly enough, I forgot to take the headphones off while removing the 6AS7 (amp turned off, of course) and, when wiggling the tube just a little bit in order to release it from the socket, I could clearly hear the same kind of static noise. So, I guess it could be the tube itself or the socket contacts.

 

[sennfan83261]

It could be that the 6N5J power tube (the larger one that goes into the 6AS7 socket) that came with your Darkvoice is bad: https://blog.thetubestore.com/how-to-tell-if-your-tube-is-bad/

The burn-in that others told you about (https://blog.thetubestore.com/burning-in-6sn7-tubes-for-the-dark-voice-336se-headphone-amp/) is directed towards reducing/eliminating the humming or buzzing of relatively new/unused 6SN7 tubes (the smaller one).


Fortunately, the Chinese 6N5J tube is pretty much crap and replacements can be had: 421A, 5998, 6080, 6AS7, or 7236. The latter three being the more affordable kind.

 

[laurianmoga]

Thanks, Sennfan. Actually, I decided to order a NOS 6AS7, just to take one of the potential culprits out of the picture. I'll be back after replacing the tube, in a few days.