GotNoRice
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2003
- Posts
- 439
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- 57
Back in 2006 I got a Little-Dot II+, which is a predecessor to the current Little-Dot MKII. I liked it quite a bit. It was a DHT design using 4P1S/4P1L pentodes running as Triodes for power tubes and EF92 tubes as driver tubes.
A year or two later they came out with an updated model, the Little-Dot II++, which switched to 6C19 power tubes (not DHT). I got one and when I compared it to my older II+ it didn't seem to have the same magic. At the time I attributed it to the switch from Directly-Heated power tubes to an indirectly-heated design. I ended up selling the II++. Then a year or two after that the MKII came out and has remained a current model ever since. I never got a MKII because it seemed to be very similar to the II++.
One of the big reasons I recall that the II+ was replaced by the II++ and then the MKII so quickly was because the 4P1S/4P1L power tubes in the II+ have a tendency to arc on power-up, and the units also run very hot. I recall a lot of concerns about reliability, etc. Well 15+ years later my unit is still going strong, and I've never had a power tube fail, so I guess that wasn't an issue after all.
I'm feeling the itch to try a newer MKII or maybe a MKIII. While I was hesitant to get the MKII because it seemed a lot like the II++ (which I did not care for), the fact that they stuck with the MKII for so long makes me think that maybe it got something right.
Any recommendations? Does anyone by chance have experience with the older little-dot models from 2008 and earlier such as my II+? I really wonder how the newer designs compare to the older DHT-based designs.
Picture is II+ on the left, II++ in the middle, and I+ on the right.
A year or two later they came out with an updated model, the Little-Dot II++, which switched to 6C19 power tubes (not DHT). I got one and when I compared it to my older II+ it didn't seem to have the same magic. At the time I attributed it to the switch from Directly-Heated power tubes to an indirectly-heated design. I ended up selling the II++. Then a year or two after that the MKII came out and has remained a current model ever since. I never got a MKII because it seemed to be very similar to the II++.
One of the big reasons I recall that the II+ was replaced by the II++ and then the MKII so quickly was because the 4P1S/4P1L power tubes in the II+ have a tendency to arc on power-up, and the units also run very hot. I recall a lot of concerns about reliability, etc. Well 15+ years later my unit is still going strong, and I've never had a power tube fail, so I guess that wasn't an issue after all.
I'm feeling the itch to try a newer MKII or maybe a MKIII. While I was hesitant to get the MKII because it seemed a lot like the II++ (which I did not care for), the fact that they stuck with the MKII for so long makes me think that maybe it got something right.
Any recommendations? Does anyone by chance have experience with the older little-dot models from 2008 and earlier such as my II+? I really wonder how the newer designs compare to the older DHT-based designs.
Picture is II+ on the left, II++ in the middle, and I+ on the right.
