Which version of the dampers did you get and which size?
Thanks
It's not so straight forward, and these deserve a mini review anyway, so here goes:
I chose the Halo-III's because:
- They look the most attractive of all the ones I've seen in photos - the only ones that had the potential of improving the looks of my BHSE
- Their (almost) all-titanium skeletal design should result in better heat dissipation and a long trouble free life (Herbie reckons that most soft polymer/rubber-style dampers will, at best, change elasticity on a hot power tube over time.
- Herbie reckoned that all his damper models are in the same SQ ballpark - just different flavours. For every person that likes one model, someone else prefers another. The (almost) all-titanium HALO III's cost around twice as much as the other models - this is just a reflection of manufacturing costs and is no guarantee that that they will sound any better in individual circumstances. I'm guessing the HALO III's probably don't provide as much damping as the softer versions - they are primarily in existence to handle hotter power and rectifier tubes - i.e. well above the 250 C rating of the soft ones.
Initial impressions
- They do look quite cute, but the overall effect on the BHSE is no better or worse than the naked tube. It's visually more fun to have the open end of the ring facing front, which gives the impression of "frog eyes" when positioned near top of tube, or "put your hands on your hips" when lower down.
- I mistakenly ordered the next size up model 35 (for tube diameters 33-36mm), whereas the PHs are 32mm diameter (and JJs 30mm), so overall model 30 is best (fits 28-32mm tubes). So, as delivered, they were too loose, but it's possible to bend them into shape up to a point, which is just as well because ordering mistakes are potentially very costly - more about this later
- Adding the dampers made no difference whatsoever to the rattle and whine sounds I've mentioned before - whereas simply holding the tube (with cloth protection) did dramatically reduce these noises. In the meantime, those rattles have gradually faded away of their own accord after a few hundred hours.
Sound impressions
I wasn't really sure what to expect, maybe a touch smoother sound because, well, that's what dampers do don't they?
But that's not what I heard in practice. In fact, the Halo's took all the good bits of the BHSE/PH combination… and made them a bit better. The improvement was complicated by the sound characteristics changing with the vertical position of the dampers. I hate too many variables, but eventually settled on the dampers placed one third from the top of the tube. This gave a significant increase to the focus and dynamics of the sound. Transients in particular became sharper. In total, it's rather like increasing a hypothetical Contrast control.
Depending on mood and the specific track chosen, sometimes this Contrast effect seemed huge, and sometimes it didn't seem much at all. But overall, whenever I went back to non-dampers, it wasn't long before I wanted them back on again.
Start of mini rant about extra costs:
The list price of 4 HALOs is about $180 depending on size. The shipping cost within US is just a few $ which is great.
But Herbie charges $43 international shipping to most other countries, and always declares the full value on the customs form. Resulting in me being charged $65 import duty & admin fee. Adding the bank exchange rate charges, then the total shipping cost comes to around $120. If I was to return the HALOs within the 90-day trial period, then it would probably cost me a further $20, i.e. I would have lost almost the entire list price of the product for a "free trial". So a total price of $300 seems poor VFM compared to the PHs themselves, currently $360 including free shipping and typically no import charges.
I should stress that Herbie is doing nothing wrong and everything is clearly described on the website, and I'm aware that international purchases are inevitably more expensive. It's just that in this particular case, it's hard to stomach the relative proportion of extra costs for 4 tiny rings of featherweight metal delivered in an envelope.
End of mini rant.
Even including the extra costs, I feel the HALOs are still worth it in the context of the price of a BHSE or the PHs. The lower cost non-titanium models may well come in under the import duty radar, so these would be much better VFM. If I wasn't worried about the looks or heat, I'd probably go for the extra damping Guitar Amp version and save myself at least $100.