[UntilThen]

but I am going GAGA over the sound

I heard that Lady Gaga is a new owner of Ultimate.

 

[UntilThen]

I'm still stuck on Brimar CV455 Footscray and RCA 6W6GT. The 6*6 family of tubes have great bass. Not surprising because one of the key attributes of Studio Six is great bass.

My 'from another era' Studio Six and my 'from another era' Verite LTD Open.

If only I had kept that pair of Brimar CV511 / 6V6gt.

 

[Deleeh]

Actually, I wanted to wait a little longer.
But I thought the offer was too tempting at 50€ when I just wanted to browse a bit.
They are Tung-Sol VT-152 6K6 New condition.
The print on the tube itself is not so great but better on the base.
Apart from that, I have had little to do with Tung sol so far.

 

[UntilThen]

Albert's Ultimate will be the 4th Super Ultimate with the same specs as mine but it will have a unique power on button. I'm excited for him.

My Ultimate has done 408 hours since 6th Sept 2023. I received the amp on the 1st of Sept 2023 but I was testing 2 other amps. For the purpose of burn in, this is sufficient. Someday I will have to write a summary for it. The amount of AUD$3200 isn't exactly cheap anymore but what you get is a complete package. I can't think of anything else to get. No other upgrades necessary too without spending more exorbitant sum of money.

My Ultimate tone has now matured. Makes my HD800 sound organic and natural. That says a lot ! In fact I think it's an amazing pairing. Likewise with Susvara too and my Grados. Occasionally I enjoy using HD650 with it too.

 

[crakers7]

Unfortunately I am back at work on an offshore oil rig , so my UltimatE's burn in and listening sessions has come to grinding halt for 4 weeks , I will have to live vicariously through you all and your Amps

 

[UntilThen]

Unfortunately I am back at work on an offshore oil rig , so my UltimatE's burn in and listening sessions has come to grinding halt for 4 weeks , I will have to live vicariously through you all and your Amps

It's ok. You can just churned more money for an Ultimate 300b.

 

[crakers7]

lol , don't tempt me

 

[UntilThen]

Yeah I'm trying to get hold of the next Ultimate 300b/2a3/45 for an audition.

 

[Deleeh]

Hello,

Let's do a little 6bw4 comparison for the Ultimate.
I have taken all the ones I have in my possession.
I'll just give you a small sound impression of the ones I've been listening to for a while.
Today I added a new one to the collection.
Since I write with Albert from time to time and have talked to him, he has 2 6bw4 Rca's in his possession and I have 2 Sylvania's and have swapped each because neither had the respective manufacturer.
Thanks again to Albert at this point.

What I know about 6bw4 is that Rca had the main hand on it at the time, then came General Electric and Sylvania.
I also almost suspect that Rca did the main production for both of them.
And everything else you find about manufacturers is branding.
You will see the difference in the photos.
Rca used blackplates, everything else is greyplate.
The structure of the plate is visually 100% the same.
The only difference is the upper getter.
Rca and Dumont have a straight one, while the other 2 have an angled one.

See photos:

In All

The structure of the plate

Getter describtion:

Getter near:

Mordy sent me a picture of his Tungsol and I compared them and it looks very much like a Sylvania to me.
Since it's also his photo, I thought I'd be fair enough to let him have it.
Even though it probably wouldn't have been a problem.

In terms of sound, I have found Dumont and Sylvania to be the warmest, lush, well warm and also punchy.
The Rca is just a few minutes in and I can say that it is less warm than I thought with its blackplates, but has a very good resolution, the mid and upper range seems to be a bit more dominant here and less bass focused than the upper 2 tubes.
I have to say that I have hardly paid any attention to the General Electric so far.
And I can't say anything about it.
The rest of the setup is EL34 Sophia Electric,12At7 Sylvania JHS,and switched to Mundorf.
All in all, all 4 are great and fit the Ultimate.
So here too I would like to say that, similarly to EZ80/81, you shouldn't be lazy about brands.
Don't pay a lot of money for Telefunken, Macroni, Gec as these constructions mostly fulfilled the purpose and did not give any exceptional ones.
The price for 6bw4 is reasonable, for Ez80/81 sometimes exaggerated.
Since here mainly only Mullard,RFT,Brimar and Tungsram had produced.
A Telefunken Ez81 was made by Mullard and the Ez80 by RFT.
And if you take a few minutes and compare the designs you will find out very quickly.

 

[mordy]

Sometimes your amp smiles to you:

This smile comes from a RCA 6Y6G from 1957.

 

[UntilThen]

Awesome I'll get to audition and test the Ultimate 300b/2a3/45 after Albert's Super Ultimate. Lory's Ultimate will be delivered to Eric today. Lots of stuff happening !

 

[UntilThen]

Sometimes your amp smiles to you:

This smile comes from a RCA 6Y6G from 1957.

Haha Mordy. The smile has been happening a lot lately.

 

[mordy]

Hello,

Let's do a little 6bw4 comparison for the Ultimate.
I have taken all the ones I have in my possession.
I'll just give you a small sound impression of the ones I've been listening to for a while.
Today I added a new one to the collection.
Since I write with Albert from time to time and have talked to him, he has 2 6bw4 Rca's in his possession and I have 2 Sylvania's and have swapped each because neither had the respective manufacturer.
Thanks again to Albert at this point.

What I know about 6bw4 is that Rca had the main hand on it at the time, then came General Electric and Sylvania.
I also almost suspect that Rca did the main production for both of them.
And everything else you find about manufacturers is branding.
You will see the difference in the photos.
Rca used blackplates, everything else is greyplate.
The structure of the plate is visually 100% the same.
The only difference is the upper getter.
Rca and Dumont have a straight one, while the other 2 have an angled one.

See photos:

In All


The structure of the plate



Getter describtion:


Getter near:



Mordy sent me a picture of his Tungsol and I compared them and it looks very much like a Sylvania to me.
Since it's also his photo, I thought I'd be fair enough to let him have it.
Even though it probably wouldn't have been a problem.

In terms of sound, I have found Dumont and Sylvania to be the warmest, lush, well warm and also punchy.
The Rca is just a few minutes in and I can say that it is less warm than I thought with its blackplates, but has a very good resolution, the mid and upper range seems to be a bit more dominant here and less bass focused than the upper 2 tubes.
I have to say that I have hardly paid any attention to the General Electric so far.
And I can't say anything about it.
The rest of the setup is EL34 Sophia Electric,12At7 Sylvania JHS,and switched to Mundorf.
All in all, all 4 are great and fit the Ultimate.
So here too I would like to say that, similarly to EZ80/81, you shouldn't be lazy about brands.
Don't pay a lot of money for Telefunken, Macroni, Gec as these constructions mostly fulfilled the purpose and did not give any exceptional ones.
The price for 6bw4 is reasonable, for Ez80/81 sometimes exaggerated.
Since here mainly only Mullard,RFT,Brimar and Tungsram had produced.
A Telefunken Ez81 was made by Mullard and the Ez80 by RFT.
And if you take a few minutes and compare the designs you will find out very quickly.

Compared the GE 6BW4 tube that came with the Ultimate to the Tung Sol 6BW4 tube. Except for the gray plate color being slightly darker in the TS tube everything is identical.
Have to chalk up the punchiness of the TS tube to expectation bias.
The GE labeled tube has a date code 113 - March 1951. The TS tube has a code of PA3 after the 322 EIA letters. The GE tube also has the letters SX on it - cannot find such a RCA or GE code ATM.
If you want a backup pair a reputable seller has the Tung Sol for $1.88 each plus shipping.

 

[Deleeh]

Once again a big praise to @UntilThen for his fine ear and recommendation.
My Tung sol 6K6 VT152 arrived today and big wow in terms of sound. Matt I don't know where you get such great treasures.

The 6K6 really sounds great, money well spent.
The setup is 6bw4 Rca,6K6 Tungsol 12At7 Thomson,with Vcap and Zmf Atrium open.
The way the instruments come to the fore is not only entertaining but very nice to hear.
It has a touch of 6v6 but a little better, nice and delicate with a lot of feeling behind it and the necessary punch. The electric guitars are in place, the piano is clean and correctly presented as are other instruments.
The vocals seem to have moved back a bit, but enough to get it, maybe due to certain recordings and the positioning of the microphone at the time.
With Alicia Keys, Vivian Green I hear it strangely in the right place and there is also a lot of feeling behind it.
Purely from the sound in the signature warm but not too warm, but still neutral in a way.
Overall, the rest is very well dosed bass, midrange treble are enough and nothing sounds too thin neither flat or too thick nor exaggerated.
From the feel of it, I'd say it's the most honest tube I've heard to present music.
Everything else always went a bit in a certain direction that you could clearly hear over time.
Details reach deep and come across well, timbre is a good deal better with the Zmf.
All in all, I don't know what tubes I should buy anymore.
I know that I am very much behind and am still chasing various 12AT7s that I really want to have, because there are still some that are very good.
Every tube in its class always sounds very good or damn good on the Ultimate.
But this 6k6 is really holy crap on the Ultimate and makes the Ultimate a holy crap amplifier for me again. Which again every owner must have at least a pair of and to believe it must have heard it first.
I'm sure I'll buy another pair or two, I know I will.
Last but not least, something like this makes you love the Ultimate even more and more. Not only the tubes are endless in the Ultimate, but also the sound is always worth a new journey. I hope the amp will sing forever.

Side note:
Because of the 6k6's good representation of the instruments, everyone's music genre is catered for, be it old rock classics, jazz, 80's music and higher, hip hop, R&B.
I can't say for sure about classical music, but I think the instrumentation could also be used to bring more of the inner music to the fore.
Simply red,Genesis,Ariana Grande,Alicia Keys,Vivian Grenn,Kandance Springs are definitely something that will take your breath away,of course other great singers as well as bands.

@UntilThen thanks for this recommendation as always you know how to help others spend the money.but it was worth it as always.
And finally we have to thank Eric who not only built the amp but his wealth of experience is huge.

 

[David A Silva]

Once again a big praise to @UntilThen for his fine ear and recommendation.
My Tung sol 6K6 VT152 arrived today and big wow in terms of sound. Matt I don't know where you get such great treasures.



The 6K6 really sounds great, money well spent.
The setup is 6bw4 Rca,6K6 Tungsol 12At7 Thomson,with Vcap and Zmf Atrium open.
The way the instruments come to the fore is not only entertaining but very nice to hear.
It has a touch of 6v6 but a little better, nice and delicate with a lot of feeling behind it and the necessary punch. The electric guitars are in place, the piano is clean and correctly presented as are other instruments.
The vocals seem to have moved back a bit, but enough to get it, maybe due to certain recordings and the positioning of the microphone at the time.
With Alicia Keys, Vivian Green I hear it strangely in the right place and there is also a lot of feeling behind it.
Purely from the sound in the signature warm but not too warm, but still neutral in a way.
Overall, the rest is very well dosed bass, midrange treble are enough and nothing sounds too thin neither flat or too thick nor exaggerated.
From the feel of it, I'd say it's the most honest tube I've heard to present music.
Everything else always went a bit in a certain direction that you could clearly hear over time.
Details reach deep and come across well, timbre is a good deal better with the Zmf.
All in all, I don't know what tubes I should buy anymore.
I know that I am very much behind and am still chasing various 12AT7s that I really want to have, because there are still some that are very good.
Every tube in its class always sounds very good or damn good on the Ultimate.
But this 6k6 is really holy crap on the Ultimate and makes the Ultimate a holy crap amplifier for me again. Which again every owner must have at least a pair of and to believe it must have heard it first.
I'm sure I'll buy another pair or two, I know I will.
Last but not least, something like this makes you love the Ultimate even more and more. Not only the tubes are endless in the Ultimate, but also the sound is always worth a new journey. I hope the amp will sing forever.

Side note:
Because of the 6k6's good representation of the instruments, everyone's music genre is catered for, be it old rock classics, jazz, 80's music and higher, hip hop, R&B.
I can't say for sure about classical music, but I think the instrumentation could also be used to bring more of the inner music to the fore.
Simply red,Genesis,Ariana Grande,Alicia Keys,Vivian Grenn,Kandance Springs are definitely something that will take your breath away,of course other great singers as well as bands.

@UntilThen thanks for this recommendation as always you know how to help others spend the money.but it was worth it as always.
And finally we have to thank Eric who not only built the amp but his wealth of experience is huge.

Excellent review, well described! Thanks @Deleeh