[dobigstuff]

Are those GTB tall bottles ?.

Yes. So far they sound great.

 

[Scutey]

Yes. So far they sound great.

You're making me jealous! lol

 

[sahmen]

I am sure that this has been addressed before, so bear with me... How much more powerful id the Little Dot Mk III SE version than the non SE version? Is the SE version capable of driving hard-to drive low sensitivity planars, such as the He-6?

 

[colgateam]

I am sure that this has been addressed before, so bear with me... How much more powerful id the Little Dot Mk III SE version than the non SE version? Is the SE version capable of driving hard-to drive low sensitivity planars, such as the He-6?

350mW vs 2.5W

SE will drive anything

 

[dobigstuff]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bozz_Keren /img/forum/go_quote.gif you can replace the stock tubes with this: EF95, M8100, CV4010, 6J1 -- all with jumper off

Yes, all the tubes that can be used with the MKIII are listed on the ebay site. What I want to know is what tubes have people used with their MKIII and which configuration do they like the best...and why.

RogerB:

Here is what I have finally settled on for my Little Dot MK III:

USA NOS Tung-Sol Tall Bottle 6SN7 Power Tubes w/ Adapters and Siemens C3G Driver Tubes w/ Adapters. Gain is 5. This setup has powerful Bass yet smooth Mids and the highs are not bright.
Welcome to the world of Rolling.

 

[Whelkie D]

Thanks to this great forum and the detailed reviews I am now broke, but also now the proud owner of a Little Dot MK III and a whole lot a tubes/valves...

Preliminary review, this is based on the tubes being burned-in for no more than a few hours.

Headphones: Grado Sr225s.
Source: Auzentech X-Meridian with TI Excalibur TLE2072IP Opamp (I'm waiting for my OPA627s to arrive)

Russian EF95 6Zh1P-EV Voshod 1974-1978 - I have seen some good reports about these but I don't find them to suit my tastes at all. They give a real vinyl quality to the music (the sound of a cheap record player). The bass is ok not great, but the highs seem harsh and a little tinny.

Mullard M8083/CV4014/EF91 small logo - Sound seems quite accurate although with a slight "tubeyness". Good bass, fluid mids, accurate highs, not harsh or smoothed-over.

Mullard EF91 M8083/CV4014 large logo - pretty close the small logo ones, can't really tell much of a difference. No distortion problems.

Mullard EF92 CV4015 M8161 9D6 KQDDK small logo - Very similar to the EF91s - sound seems quite accurate but with maybe a little more fluidity in the vocals, very slightly more "tubey" than the EF91s but otherwise very similar.

Mullard EF92 large logo - These have been getting the best reviews but I have to say that they are pretty similar to all the other Mullard EF91/EF92s that I have tried.

Mullard EF95 6AK5 - These are a little weaker than the EF92/EF91s. Lighter bass sums it up I think but quite a good sound nonetheless.

Mazda EF91 CV138 6AM6 B7G Pentodes - Now we're talking. These are really cheap on eBay UK. I have no idea who really made these, but it really does say "Mazda" on the tubes. No distortion problems to report. The sound is warm, round and "tubey". Liquid vocals, full bass, rounded smooth highs - very nice. I think these could be my favourite.

Osram W77 9D6 - The most expensive that I bought (around £20). These are vintage from around 1951 I think, and the boxes look even older. These give a very nice sound, a little warmer than the Mullard EF91/EF92s, and less accurate but a very pleasing "tube" sound. This is really what I think the whole point of buying a tube amp is - to get a tube sound...and these provide it. Along with the Mazda's these are my favourite.

This is also my first post and I'm probably not doing it right....but I promise I'll learn!

Have to agree about the Osrams - the warmest sounding so far. As you say, this is what the tube sound
is really all about.

 

[willne1]

I have one driver tube that glows on the top and one that glows on the bottom and not the top. Does anyone know if this is normal? It seems to be sounding fine.

 

[mordy]

Hi w1,
Perfectly normal - it depends on how the the pieces were put together or the construction inside the tube. Sometimes an identical pair shows different amount of glow in each tube but all this does not mean anything as long as the tube sounds good.

 

[willne1]

Thank you mordy

 

[crashtest33]

Hi all.
Excited to see this amp on Massdrop at the moment.
Has anyone used these with the LCD-2, 3 or 4 (Fazor original)?

 

[Andrew LB]

Now that i'm almost done replacing/upgrading all the power and signal capacitors on the MKIII, i've also been modding the face plate to accommodate an Alps RK271 pot I picked up from a reputable supplier (not ebay). For those of you who have done the mod, I will be required to cut and remove some material from the MKIII's PCB correct? Fitting the pot to the faceplate was a bit tricky. Enlarging the hole was simple, but i also had to put the knob in my lathe and turn out the hole for the shaft so the knob would sit closer to the faceplate. I also had to take a dremel and carefully shave down the height of the raised lip on the pot becuase it was higher than the MKIII's face plate is thick, causing it to be loose. Its rock solid now and the knob doesn't have a gap between it and the faceplate like i saw earlier in this thread. Now all thats left is to solder up the harness and tomorrow my tubes as well as all the 16v 220uf Panasonic FR series caps show up. I'll be able to test it out soon after.

edit\

Ha! I was just going through some boxes and came across a pair of tubes that say 6Ж1П-ЕВ with the sideways rocket symbol above it indicating they are Voshkod 6Zh1P-EV tubes which if i recall correctly are pretty good tubes for the MKIII.

 

[Andrew LB]

Well the amp is almost ready to power up. So far i've installed the following:

3x 330uf 250v caps B43540E2337M EPCOS (TDK)

2x 220uf 200v caps UCY2D221MHD6 NICHICON

2x 0.68uf 250v film caps ECQ-E2684KB PANASONIC

2x 0.047uf 275v interference suppression 2x caps 10% tolerance ECQ-U2A473KL PANASONIC

4x 0.22uf 250v film caps 2% tolerance F461BC224G250C KEMET CORPORATION

1x RK27112A00AK ALPS ALPINE CO., LTD

The only caps i have yet to install are the 4x small electrolytic 16v 220uf caps that are located along the signal path (please correct me if thats incorrect). The ones that came on the board are Nippon Chemi-Com and i had ordered some Panasonic FR series caps to replace them but after reading a thread on diyaudio regarding them and how they are super low ESR caps designed for swtichign power supplies, and how using them may ruin high frequencies if used in the signal path, i may just try things as they are and order some Nichicon FG (fine gold) caps and not have to worry about it. Only a few bucks for the 4 of them. I should also get a replacement for that solo (where the PCB shows 2x caps) cap rated at 33uf 250v thats smack in the middle of the board at the same time.

Also, today some tubes arrived. 2x 6N6P platinum grade NOS tubes and 2x GE JAN 5654w platinum NOS tubes, both from Riverside Audio. Yeah, i spent too much on them but i wanted to make sure that i had properly working tubes with little to no variation since i was going to recap the amp and thought it might be best to take the tubes out of the equation if i have to troubleshoot.

Here is the PC with almost all new caps. I will be cleaning all the flux marks, etc once i get everything finished.



And here is how well the knob fits with the alps pot installed. (still has back cover on, which will be removed so it fits)

 

[gkprabhu]

Hello everyone. Just ordered a LD MkIII and would appreciate advice on tube rolling. I know that there are a lot of posts here, just don't want to go through every single one of them. I would like to get some tubes that are better than the stock ones. Please recommend some tubes that sound really good and are not priced too dearly. I am new to this tube rolling thing, so please help me out. I appreciate any help.

Thank you
Gopal

 

[gkprabhu]

Hello everyone. Just ordered a LD MkIII and would appreciate advice on tube rolling. I know that there are a lot of posts here, just don't want to go through every single one of them. I would like to get some tubes that are better than the stock ones. Please recommend some tubes that sound really good and are not priced too dearly. I am new to this tube rolling thing, so please help me out. I appreciate any help.

Thank you
Gopal

Could someone be kind enough to help me out ? I would appreciate it.

Thank you

 

[mordy]

These are considered among the best drivers for the LD MKIII:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/EI-6HM5-EC...m5d4fdb1092:g:prcAAOSwDk5UEhHk&frcectupt=true
You can start with these - not expensive. Then for power tubes buy a pair of inexpensive 6SN7 tubes and a pair of adapters for the LD MKIII and you are set.
Good luck!