[gibosi]

In my opinion the Elise and the MK9 are not directly comparable. The Elise is designed to use the 6SN7 (with a gain of 20) as the driver, whereas the MK9 is designed to use the 6SL7 (with a gain of 70). Evidently, it is possible to use the 6SN7 in the MK9, but given that the circuit was designed for a tube with a much higher gain, I doubt that it would sound nearly as good as it would in an amp explicitly designed for the 6SN7. 
 
Therefore, if one decides to purchase the MK9, it would be best to stay with 6SL7s and other high gain tubes, such as the 12AT7, 5751 and ECC808.  And if one purchases the Elise, it would be best to stay with 6SN7s and other medium gain tubes, such as the 12AU7, ECC40 and 5687. From this, one factor to consider is how these two amps will work with an existing tube collection.
 
For example, I have accumulated several hundred medium gain tubes and maybe a half-a-dozen high gain tubes. On this basis alone, I eliminated the MK9 from consideration. The Elise, based on the 6SN7, would allow me to roll all my favorite tubes, and thus is a much better fit for my collection.. And this same line of reasoning was a major factor in my decision to purchase a Glenn OTL.

 

[hypnos1]

  It's like buying a new model car you dont buy it the first year its introduced you wait till the bugs are ironed out ,a bit like the Chevrolet Cruze well not really ,because there up to  9 or 10 recalls lol

 
Hi M.
 
Well mon ami, I've a good few hours (to say the least) on my Elise...and not the slightest hint of a bug, lol! On the contrary, it just keeps getting better and better...
 
I understand your comments re new models (of cars at least!), but this is slightly different territory methinks

. Especially as we aren't talking Chinese here! These Polish guys obviously take MUCH greater care with quality of components and circuit design, which makes for much better reliability of course.
 
You know how much in praise I have been of my MKIV SE for a good while now, but she just does not compare to the Elise - even though modded to the nth degree!...And as for the MK9 using the same case - it may well have been very good for the modestly priced MKIV, but I would not be so happy for a 'higher' grade unit....Plus, as an example, just look at the difference in the all-important transformer! (And as for David Zhe Zhe saying ALL transformers make non-electronic noise...well all I can say is he should source his from Poland, lol!

).
 
As mordy says, it's gonna be REALLY interesting to see what Nic makes of them, if he does get both...can't wait...(come on Nic!!

).

 

[Rossliew]

Thanks for the advice guys. I did contemplate the Elise but thought that the waiting time for the Mk9 would be shorter. But i would love to try both though. Lets see what Nic says when he has had the time to listen to both. I may spring for the Mk9 first in the meantime.

 

[Rossliew]

@gibosi , how long is the build time for your Glenn OTL? That would be another option for me if it does not take half a year or more to build..

 

[bbmiller]

 
For example, I have accumulated several hundred medium gain tubes and maybe a half-a-dozen high gain tubes. On this basis alone, I eliminated the MK9 from consideration. The Elise, based on the 6SN7, would allow me to roll all my favorite tubes, and thus is a much better fit for my collection.. And this same line of reasoning was a major factor in my decision to purchase a Glenn OTL.

 
Hello
what gibosi has stated above has given me food for thought. Quite a while ago I posted that I leave my little dot MK IV amplifier on 24 seven because I noticed such a large improvement in the sound running this amp 24 seven. At that time I was warned that perhaps doing this can result in me burning me and my house down. Consequently I did the above Modification shown in pictures above to install a computer fan that will blow directly into my little dot MK IV amplifier.
 
Well I still think the difference between normal operation and 24 seven operation is phenomenal, but now think it's more phenomenal that I have ever thought it was before and all I could say is with the tubes I am now rolling its wow wow wow wow in terms of sound. I am presently using Russian NOVOSIBIRSK  plant late 70s vintage 6N8S as power tubes and the 6HM5 EC900 Yugoslavian triode's (often recommended on this thread) as driver tubes.
 
Once I leve my amplifier on for 24 hours the sound gets just phenomenal. Consequently I've stocked up on these tubes owning 24 of the power tubes and 10 of the driver tubes. I think I will always, as long as I can still hear, want am amplifier which can use these double triode's 6SN7 family tubes as power tubes and the 7 pin Yugoslavian 6HM5 EC900 as driver tubes.
 
So the reason I bring this up is I found doing this mod so difficult I think I would want to buy another amplifier other than the little dot MK IV amplifier before I would ever want to go through doing that mod again. So do any of you know of other amplifiers with just readily available adapters or fully ready to go tube sockets could use these tubes I love without modifying the amplifier. And be good to run in 24 seven operation out-of-the-box? I am thinking perhaps the amplifier mentioned earlier in this thread called La Figaro 339 could do it as least as far as the power tubes were concern, but I do not know if there is a driver tube adapter available to use that amplifier with seven pin Yugoslavian triode's. 
 
So is there any amplifier which will let you use 6N8S power tubes and 6HM5 EC900 driver tubes immediately without modifying it for 24 seven operation?

 

[bbmiller]

  Duplicated an above post somehow and do not know how to delete a post.

 

[sgbwill2]

  So the reason I bring this up is I found doing this mod so difficult I think I would want to buy another amplifier other than the little dot MK IV amplifier before I would ever want to go through doing that mod again. So do any of you know of other amplifiers with just readily available adapters or fully ready to go tube sockets could use these tubes I love without modifying the amplifier. And be good to run in 24 seven operation out-of-the-box? I am thinking perhaps the amplifier mentioned earlier in this thread called La Figaro 339 could do it as least as far as the power tubes were concern, but I do not know if there is a driver tube adapter available to use that amplifier with seven pin Yugoslavian triode's. 
 
So is there any amplifier which will let you use 6N8S power tubes and 6HM5 EC900 driver tubes immediately without modifying it for 24 seven operation?

The LF 339 has 2 design options. Both use 6AS7/6080's as power tubes, so 6N8S/6SN7 wouldnt be very effective here as their draw up is so much lower (0.6A compared to 2.5A). As for driver tubes you have the choice of either 6J4P, 6SJ7, 5693, 6Ж4С (+ all equivalents e.g. ef80/ef86) or 6C5, 6J5, 6J5G, 6J5GT, L63 (+ all equivalents) so 6HM5/EC900's cant be used here either. And I would never run the LF 339 24/7 as the metal case is designed to be a heatsink meaning it runs really hot. To be honest I wouldn't run any tube amp 24/7 even with fans as components are likely to burn out sooner as well as this the tubes life will be greatly reduced in the long run.

 

[bbmiller]

  Duplicated an above post somehow and do not know how to delete a post.

 

[bbmiller]

  To be honest I wouldn't run any tube amp 24/7 even with fans as components are likely to burn out sooner as well as this the tubes life will be greatly reduced in the long run.

obviously if you run tubes 24/7 they are likely to burn out three times faster than were you to only run them for eight hours a day. But if the tubes are cheap enough like $15 for a set of four tubes which is about what it will cost me with the tubes I am talking about bought in bulk I think it is well worth it since the improvement in sound is so phenomenal. As for other components perhaps if I get another amplifier it should be one with highly accessible components much more so than a little dot MK four design.

Back in the day phone companies and other commercial operations must've used commercial electronics 24/7.

 

[MIKELAP]

 

  It's like buying a new model car you dont buy it the first year its introduced you wait till the bugs are ironed out ,a bit like the Chevrolet Cruze well not really ,because there up to  9 or 10 recalls lol

 
Hi M.
 
Well mon ami, I've a good few hours (to say the least) on my Elise...and not the slightest hint of a bug, lol! On the contrary, it just keeps getting better and better...
 
I understand your comments re new models (of cars at least!), but this is slightly different territory methinks

. Especially as we aren't talking Chinese here! These Polish guys obviously take MUCH greater care with quality of components and circuit design, which makes for much better reliability of course.
 
You know how much in praise I have been of my MKIV SE for a good while now, but she just does not compare to the Elise - even though modded to the nth degree!...And as for the MK9 using the same case - it may well have been very good for the modestly priced MKIV, but I would not be so happy for a 'higher' grade unit....Plus, as an example, just look at the difference in the all-important transformer! (And as for David Zhe Zhe saying ALL transformers make non-electronic noise...well all I can say is he should source his from Poland, lol!

).
 
As mordy says, it's gonna be REALLY interesting to see what Nic makes of them, if he does get both...can't wait...(come on Nic!!

).

Maybe i didnt say this right ,I am not saying its not a good amp i like this amp very much . it just  a question of getting some reputation ,credibility first because i never heard of Feliks audio before the Elise,so a more indept look of the amp is warranted i would say before committing to buying  the amp   and that starts with a look of  internal parts quality ects.fixing little thingd like the cover of the amp so it will accept 6080 tubes without extenders  that will come in time im shure .Bottom line is  if they want to sell there amp they wont have a choice but to show there stuff. .A good example  is our Littledot  amps at first im shure potential buyers were not to enthusiastic about Littledot  amps but eventually they gain a good reputation and if you want to sell your amp its almost a shure thing .Thats the way i see it  .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               .

 

[mordy]

Hi Rossliew,
 
When I asked Lukasz about the availability of the new Elise amp he said that it should be available in January 2015.
 
Hi Mikelap,
 
The Feliks company is in business for 10 years, so it's not like a brand new company. I do agree with you about waiting for bugs/improvements to be worked out. As far as I know, the Little Dot MKIII that I have is v.2 which allows for more choices in tube rolling than the previous version.
 
On the other hand, it sounds very tempting to get the Elise amp....

 

[MIKELAP]

  Hi Rossliew,
 
When I asked Lukasz about the availability of the new Elise amp he said that it should be available in January 2015.
 
Hi Mikelap,
 
The Feliks company is in business for 10 years, so it's not like a brand new company. I do agree with you about waiting for bugs/improvements to be worked out. As far as I know, the Little Dot MKIII that I have is v.2 which allows for more choices in tube rolling than the previous version.
 
On the other hand, it sounds very tempting to get the Elise amp....

Yes it is very very tempting but as the saying goes ¨Good thing come to those who wait ¨

 

[TrollDragon]

  Yes it is very very tempting but as the saying goes ¨Good thing come to those who wait ¨

 

[TrollDragon]

  Hi all,
 
Where's the best place to buy little dot from the UK?
 
thanks

The best place is to get them from Little Dot directly or David ZheZhe's eBay site. Everyone else is an unauthorized reseller.
 
Little Dot Driect
http://www.littledot.net/forum/viewforum.php?f=9&sid=7744aa7d0637f11f23b9ee67f0b9b864
 
eBay
http://www.ebay.com/sch/davidzhezhe/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

 

[MIKELAP]

 

  Yes it is very very tempting but as the saying goes ¨Good thing come to those who wait ¨

Time will tell .