MG Head Tube Reviews part 2: The Rayethon 5751 Windmill Getter (fairly long)
Sep 1, 2002 at 7:14 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 41

eric343

Member of the Trade: Audiogeek: The "E" in META42
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Rayethon Windmill Getter 5751:(blackplate, 2mica, "windmill"-shaped getter, red label) {$unknown/ultra-rare, eBay}
A bit longer on the decay than the Sylvie. More air, even after about 10min warmup vs. 4hours. Lots of authority... The bass just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. Definitely the deepest I've heard yet- cellos and double basses sound amazing. This tube makes the Head a much better amp. In fact, it's my new reference tube (NOT FOR SALE!). I really really love Dvorak on this tube.

Switching to Pink Floyd, this tube has the bass slam of the Rayethon 12ax7, without the treble distortion, although it has the same sensitivity to tape hiss. In fact, this is the FIRST and ONLY tube I've ever owned/heard where the schoolboy chorus in Another Brick in the wall pt.2 had no distortion whatsoever - even at the relatively loud "reviewing" volume I play it at! Guitar work is smooth and forward. In fact, this tube doesn't distort at all! This tube also has the best soundstage and openness of the bunch... After an hour or so of warmup, the vocals get a depth to them that I've never heard before, they sound *real*. Come to think of it, the guitar work gets this depth too - I guess it's something with the midrange. It's so 3-D!

Moving on to Elton John, the opening drum shots sound sharp and cutting - like the gunshots they're supposed to be. Everything has space around it, space I've never heard before. Definitely, definitely the best and most three-dimensional tube I've ever heard - it's almost like doing the Wing/NF mod. And the detail! The clarity! Listening to "Listen to the Music" by the Doobie Bros, I hear that same space around the guitars and voice - lots of air too. The vocals are a bit recessed - maybe it's the recording... But the vocals are pleasantly warm and smooth, with no loss of clarity or detail in the guitar/drum work. In fact, everything I throw at it has this really amazing blackness between the notes, and a palatable realism to the instrumental work.

Throwing on Art Pepper meets the Rhythm Section, a recording with stereo separation out the wazoo, I find it more listenable than I've ever heard it before - with a bit of crossfeed, it would sound like I'm listening to it live. The piano/drums/bass mesh so well, and the bass' bass goes and goes, while Art Pepper's sax is schweet.. the piano sounds so damn NATURAL! On "Jazz Me Blues", a track with lots of drums, the drums sound really fantastic, like real drums and not just a background beat. The detail of this tube is amazing - I can actually hear the attack and decay of the drumhead vibrations, the subtle variations of the the drumsticks while tapping the rims of the drums that tell whether the drummer is tapping on the snare or the floor toms. The cymbals don't sound like generic "cymbal" sounds, they sound like a Paiste (sp?) crash and maybe a Zildjan(sp, again? it's been ages since I played drums) ride, but not a terribly big one. Everything's natural, effortless - kind of like the various R10 review/descriptions I've read, just with better bass.

Switching to a German recording of various Bach bits ("Johann Sebastian Bach: edition bachakademie", Hanssler-Verlag), I hear the most liquid-sounding horns I've ever heard in my life. I'm a big fan of horns (what can I say, I play trumpet) and I didn't know they could sound so good.
Overall the choral voices are smooth and liquid. Flute work is CLEAR and absolutely beautiful, with air out the wazoo. Dainty and precise? Definitely. But not laid back at all.
Organ work is absofriggenlutely amazing. You like organs? You'll like this tube. It reproduces perfectly the combination of the treble work and the deep harmonics of the "big tubes"... Schweet midrange, and as clear as Waterford crystal.

Does it beat the Sylvie? Yep. Definitely. The ultra-clear, undistorted highs, the deep bass, the AIR and clarity, the SPACE, the WAY shorter warmup... I just wish this wasn't my only one and that it was NOS. This tube IMHO is equal or better to the ETA42 I use as a solid-state home amp.
 
Sep 1, 2002 at 7:45 AM Post #2 of 41
Just goes to show that the Raytheon 5751 and Sylvania 5751 deserve their reputations!

It's a good thing that you prefer the Raytheon since it is usually half the cost of a Sylvania.

Since you like horns so much, and since you and I seem to have similar viewpoints on things... do whatever it takes to demo an Oris setup. Horns sound exactly like horns on... well... horns.

By the way, I KEEL you with heap-o-flames in Half Life: Team Fortress. Ever play against "Firebug" or "Wabbit"?
 
Sep 1, 2002 at 8:02 AM Post #4 of 41
Nick: If I had the space and cash, I'd buy the Oris just on your recommendation, but I have neither the space nor even a sixth of the money needed.

And I haven't played TFC in years... in fact, I don't even have an installed copy of HalfLife at the moment (come to think of it, I don't have installed copies of ANY computer game, apart from Minesweeper and Solitaire)...
 
Sep 1, 2002 at 3:54 PM Post #6 of 41
Okay. I want one of these right away. Eric?!?
very_evil_smiley.gif


NGF
 
Sep 1, 2002 at 5:29 PM Post #7 of 41
Sorry, I only have one. If you know of anyone selling two or so... (one for the amp, one for the backup, and one for the little headfier who lives down the lane- err, one to sell)
 
Sep 5, 2002 at 5:22 AM Post #8 of 41
I found a guy selling 6 Raytheons that fit the description to this original post. He is selling them at about $16 a piece. If anyone can verify that these 6 that are left (I just bought 2 myself) are the real deal, there are still six more available!!
They are listed as REd label, 2 mica, blackplate Raytheons!!

http://home.att.net/~chimeraone/tubelist5751.html
 
Sep 5, 2002 at 5:33 AM Post #9 of 41
Could someone please post a photo or a link to a photo of a tube with a "windmill" getter?

Thanks!
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Sep 5, 2002 at 1:25 PM Post #11 of 41
I emailed the guy for a pair. Hopefully he still has some!

BTW, I'm fairly new to the wonderful world of tubes. Though I've figured out most of the terminology, I still don't know what a "getter" is. Can someone explain what the getter is and what it does?

Thanks... KJP
 
Sep 6, 2002 at 1:20 AM Post #13 of 41
Tadah! Here is a link to a photo of a tube with a windmill shaped getter.

http://www.buybeach.com/tubes/5751_rtn_westinghouse.htm

The tube in the photo is a 5751 tube labelled Westinghouse. If you look closely you can see the double mica spacer on the top of the black plates, and the fan shaped getter at the very top.

As far as I know, only Raytheon manufactured 5751 tubes with this odd shaped getter, so this tube is almost certainly a Raytheon tube that has been rebranded. If you happen upon some 5751 tubes branded Westinghouse, make sure they have the black plates and especially the windmill getter, otherwise you could be buying recent production chinese 5751 tubes branded as Westinghouse, which some enterprising importer has decided to do by licensing the name. I have read that these chinese 5751s do not have the windmill getter.

As to what the getter actually does, I was told by a friend who is a retired radio engineer that the getter is there to catch any stray air (oxygen) molecules that might escape the vacuum sealing process during the manufacture of the tube. The first time the tube is powered up, by the manufacturer during quality testing not by the buyer, there is a coating on the getter that flashes and burns off, effectively binding up any remaining O2 inside the tube. That is why tubes that are supposedly NOS seem to have some carbonized soot inside the tube, this is from the getter burn during the initial power up. He maintained that after this crucial burning during initial power up, the getter is done and serves no other purpose. Most getters seem to be loops of wire, either round, square, or D shaped. If anything, the windmill getter has more surface area exposed, the better to attach any molecules floating by. If anyone would care to dispute any of this, have at it, I won't be put off.

After a number of weeks searching out NOS USA made 12AX7 tubes for my Fisher 400 receiver, and wondering if a 5751 could be substituted for a 12AX7 in the Fisher but not finding any information on whether this was a good idea with the Fisher unit, (which BTW uses a total of (9) 12AX7 tubes for everything from the voltage amp (1), tone control circuit (1), line stage (2), phono preamp (2), and FM multiplexer circuits (3)), I finally got around to pulling my Fisher out of the wooden case where it had been since I first set it up last winter. Guess what, four of the tubes that I had assumed would be 12AX7s were Raytheon 5751s.

Sometimes I feel like such a dope, here I had gone and spent time and money tracking down some vintage 12AX7 tubes and the tubes that give my Fisher their special magic are these very same 5751s. The 5751s are installed in the voltage, tone, and line stage sockets and they sound great.
 
Sep 6, 2002 at 2:02 AM Post #14 of 41
Quote:

Originally posted by mkmelt
Tadah! Here is a link to a photo of a tube with a windmill shaped getter.


Thanks!
 
Sep 6, 2002 at 2:26 AM Post #15 of 41
Good luck with the Chimera site. I've never received any replies to my emails. And his tube list hasn't been updated since June. I wouldn't be surprised if all those tubes are long gone.
 

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