[Acapella11]

   
Glad to oblige, boys...I still feel it's like Christmas! (well, the good bits at least!!)...
 
A11....I think it's a trade secret re the noise suppression, lol!

...but the amp is PC based, not P to P...(doesn't seem any the worse for that though!

).
 
Have just completed one temp adapter for the 7N7s - and it works!

.. (still waiting for that slow boat, to make #2 unfortunately...), so will see how it fares partnering the Melz near the midnight
bell...
 
Will keep you posted...

 
Cheers H1. The 7N7-6SN7 adapter might be another one to add to the Feliks collection

 

[hypnos1]

   
Cheers H1. The 7N7-6SN7 adapter might be another one to add to the Feliks collection

 
Hi A11.
 
Luckily they're already available on ebay, and as good 7N7s are plentiful at very reasonable prices the added cost is well worth it - my currently single one paired with the Melz (and still driving the Chathams) has me scratching my poor head once again... how can they sound this good? Either I'm being extremely lucky and getting VERY well matched different tubes, or this amp is helping to break some previously held beliefs BIG time!
The sound is as well-balanced as the PsVane pair with four 'identical' triodes, and performing equally well if not better!
Plus they have more 'zest' and body - certainly with the Chathams at least... Every day seems to be bringing me more and more surprises with this new amp - and I'm loving every minute of it, lol! 

 

[Nic Rhodes]

re rolling on this amp, re the 6SN7GT the obvious alternatives are 7N7, 6F8g and 6CG7s all with adapters. That gives a mountain of tubes to try but if we know the current capability of the 6.3v heater then some fun ones to look at might be proper original CV181s and BL63 / BL63 PEN (the latter makes the 6F8G look a bably tube!).

 

[hypnos1]

  re rolling on this amp, re the 6SN7GT the obvious alternatives are 7N7, 6F8g and 6CG7s all with adapters. That gives a mountain of tubes to try but if we know the current capability of the 6.3v heater then some fun ones to look at might be proper original CV181s and BL63 / BL63 PEN (the latter makes the 6F8G look a bably tube!).

 
Hey Nic don't you think my poor wallet has already taken a big enough hit, lol?! 

....But I bet you've got a lot more than me - not to mention a bigger wallet?!!...

 

[gibosi]

  ................but if we know the current capability of the 6.3v heater then some fun ones to look at might be proper original CV181s and BL63 / BL63 PEN (the latter makes the 6F8G look a bably tube!).

 
The BL63 heater draws 1.3A, so a pair would draw 2.6A, whereas a pair of 6SN7 draw 1.2A. I doubt that Elise has enough current to run BL63s, but the only way to know for sure is to ask them....
 
The BL63 has the same pinout as a 6F8g. However, it is taller, so one cannot assume that a 6F8G to 6SN7 adapter will work. That is, the grid-wire may not be long enough to stretch from the pin adapter to the top cap.

 

[Acapella11]

Would the BL63 be the best substitute to your knowledge Nic and how does the gain compare Nic and Gibosi? Could both be driven using the same internal resistence?

 

[hypnos1]

Hi Nic, gibosi, Acapella11...in fact, everyone!
 
Lukasz should have the full tech spec info sheet out soon, but will try to find out the heater current draw in the meantime...
 
As for all these other tubes, unless one is a die-hard roller (with either a large stash of tubes already, and/or a very large wallet!), I am fast coming to the conclusion that one would have to spend a VAST amount of money to achieve any real 'improvement' here...I have now completed my second 7N7 adapter and, driving the Chathams, these tall-bottle 'chrome domes' are delivering a sound that IMHO should please any discerning listener. With the Melz replaced by the second 7N7, the only slight difference is perhaps a tad less body - but only because the Melz is a bit of an animal, lol!...in the nicest possible way..

.
 
I am also finally convinced that the tubes (as long as they are actually decent ones) do in fact come rather further down the list of importance than I previously thought in my Little Dot rolling days...the money IS far better spent on upgrading the source, headphones and amp. Certainly with this 6SN7/7N7 family (when driving the 6AS7Gs - have yet to try the 6080) their qualities are such that in a really good amp, it would appear the performance between different tubes is surprising more for their similarities than their differences...but perhaps those who have a far bigger assortment than I may find differently?...Time will tell...

 

[gibosi]

Would the BL63 be the best substitute to your knowledge Nic and how does the gain compare Nic and Gibosi? Could both be driven using the same internal resistence?

 
I doubt that it is the best substitute for the 6SN7 in the Elise. Even if the Elise has enough current, the bias points are different than a 6SN7, so it may or may not sound all that great. And further, it has a gain of 12 compared to 20 for the 6SN7.
 
That said, some report that it is a very good sounding tube. However, I do not know in which amps it was used...

 

[Skylab]

A pair of BL63 plus a pair of 6AS7G's is just over 10A total current draw...that would require a pretty beefy power trafo....

 

[i luvmusic 2]

What i really want to see is the GUTS of the Elise..........

 

[hypnos1]

  What i really want to see is the GUTS of the Elise..........

 
Hi ilm2...and all who would like a peek inside the gal...
 
Have asked Lukasz if there's any chance of some pics to at least show the quality of internals, and he is looking into the possibility of doing so without giving away design secrets...so fingers crossed, guys...
 
As for such as the BL63, apparently the trafo should have sufficient capacity to cope with about twice the stock driver current draw, but care would need to be taken that the trafo case doesn't exceed 60C...
 
Regardless of internals, the PERFORMANCE - which surely is what matters most anyway!

 - continues to be way beyond expectation, and now with a good many hours on her still without any glitches whatsoever.
 
ps. On the subject of internals, it's interesting to see that the very impressive-looking insides of the DV339 still haven't spared it quite a few problems with users, lol...

 

[sgbwill2]

ps. On the subject of internals, it's interesting to see that the very impressive-looking insides of the DV339 still haven't spared it quite a few problems with users, lol...

The only problems I have seen with the DV/LF339's are due to damage after transport.

 

[hypnos1]

  The only problems I have seen with the DV/LF339's are due to damage after transport.

 
Hi sgbwill2.
 
My searches appeared to indicate historical issues with, for example, resistors; volume pot; dust inside the amp causing a problem...but perhaps these were just isolated incidents?
 
You obviously have more personal experience with the 339, so I bow to your own understanding of the amp...

 

[Synthax]

OK Guys, who ordered 002 model? I have been asking Łukasz and he told me tham some units are going to be send, so I have to wait for mine for feb/march.

 

[sgbwill2]

   
Hi sgbwill2.
 
My searches appeared to indicate historical issues with, for example, resistors; volume pot; dust inside the amp causing a problem...but perhaps these were just isolated incidents?
 
You obviously have more personal experience with the 339, so I bow to your own understanding of the amp...

There were previous issues with the old (orange) power supply resistors but these have been replaced in the newer models so that's no longer an issue now

. I haven't heard about issues with the volume pot, there was a post on the Darkvoice 339 thread about a faulty volume pot but this was damaged during transit which caused the problem, maybe there have been other incidents I have no idea. And dust can potentially be an issue with any amp if you don't clean it out after a long period of time (that is if the amp has vents for the dust to get into 

). The only thing that I dislike about this amp is how hot it gets; Its designed for the case to be a heat-sink so it gets really hot which I wish it didn't but its all part of the design to reduce the heat of the internal components and transformers.