[humanflyz]

A while back I emailed Mikhail asking him if it's possible to use other types of tubes beside the 6CG7 tubes on my stock PPX3-6CG7. He didn't respond for almost a month, so I forgot about the whole thing. Today I received an email from him:

Quote:

We are now begining production of these adapters for the 6CG7 tubes. Please check with us next week as we are going to have them near completion. The 5687 tubes can be used in these amplifier as well. The projected price will be $99 for these. We may be able to provide them for a lower cost, but we have not set the price yet. Thank You, Mikhail

And here was my original email to Mikhail:

Quote:

Hi Mikhail, I bought an used PPX3-6CG7 from a member at Head-Fi. Recently I've come across discussions where some people have told me to try to use different tubes for the PPX3. I am just wondering if the PPX3 I have now is capable of using any other tube-class beside the 6CG7,because I'm interested in trying out different tubes. Does this also require some sort of tube adaptor as well?

Maybe this is old news, but it was new to me, so I thought I would share it here and let people who have the PPX3-6CG7 that want to try out the 5687 tubes and possibly turn their PPX3s into a SLAM. I'll certainly give Mikhail a call next week, since he took almost a month to reply

But I understand that he's a busy man, so calling is probably the best way to contact him.

 

[PFKMan23]

He's actually been making the tube adapters (for 5687s and other tubes) for a while now but thanks anyways.

 

[humanflyz]

Hmm, I was under the impression that this is a new tube adapter. But whatever the case, I am glad that I can finally try out the 5687 tubes on my stock PPX3, which up to this point has only seen 6CG7 tubes. From reading all of the impressions, I think the 5687 + 6CG7 combo has enough power to drive my K701 better than my stock PPX3 right now.

 

[PFKMan23]

that combo has the power to drive the k701s for sure. Honestly anyone who hasn't heard the lower impedence headphones out of the more power tubes has been really missing out.

 

[nmculbreth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PFKMan23 He's actually been making the tube adapters (for 5687s and other tubes) for a while now but thanks anyways.

Mikhail has been making the Slam adapters for use with octal sockets but I believe humanflyz is saying that Mikhail has come up with adapters which allow PPX-6CG7 users to use 6587 tubes. Atleast that is how I read the initial post.

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by humanflyz Hmm, I was under the impression that this is a new tube adapter. But whatever the case, I am glad that I can finally try out the 5687 tubes on my stock PPX3, which up to this point has only seen 6CG7 tubes. From reading all of the impressions, I think the 5687 + 6CG7 combo has enough power to drive my K701 better than my stock PPX3 right now.

These are new adapters. All the previous adapters worked only in octal sockets. These adapters are 9 pin mini to 9 pin mini. I have been waiting on these.

By the way, the 6cg7's do a decent job of driving the 701's. But the 5687's are not only more powerful .... I think the 5687 is a better sounding tube .... especially the improved dynamics and spaciousness of the 5687.

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[nmculbreth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacd lover These are new adapters. All the previous adapters worked only in octal sockets. These adapters are 9 pin mini to 9 pin mini. I have been waiting on these.

Inquiring minds want to know, how'd you and Mikhail work this out? I can't think of any 9 pin tubes with a base similar to the octals so what did you use to plug into the existing sockets?

 

[humanflyz]

Thanks nmculbreth and sacd lover for clearing that up. That was my impression that Mikhail is making a new adapter, because the last I heard, the original adapters only had 8 pins.

I for one am definitely getting the adapter, although I'm not sure how many I should get. Should I just get one for the 5687 to use on the gain slot on my PPX3?

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by humanflyz Thanks nmculbreth and sacd lover for clearing that up. That was my impression that Mikhail is making a new adapter, because the last I heard, the original adapters only had 8 pins. I for one am definitely getting the adapter, although I'm not sure how many I should get. Should I just get one for the 5687 to use on the gain slot on my PPX3?

Get two and use them for the outputs. Thats where the 5687's are at their best. The 6cg7/5687 x2 is an exceptionally dynamic combo and the 5687's open up the soundstage. This tube combo is made for rock.

 

[nmculbreth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by humanflyz Thanks nmculbreth and sacd lover for clearing that up. That was my impression that Mikhail is making a new adapter, because the last I heard, the original adapters only had 8 pins. I for one am definitely getting the adapter, although I'm not sure how many I should get. Should I just get one for the 5687 to use on the gain slot on my PPX3?

I'd get two and use them for the output which is the standard Slam configuration. I tried using multiple 5687 tubes in the driver position and I didn't care of any of them in my setup. To my ears the 6SN7 (and 7n7) sounded much better as the driver.

 

[humanflyz]

@sacd lover:

Thanks for the information. I'm so glad that Mikhail is coming out with the new adapters, because I was originally tempted to upgrade to a MPX3 SLAM. This will let me see if I like the sound and save me some money at the same time. Although a future upgrade to MPX3 is definitely something I'm thinking about...uh oh, better run before I do anything impulsive...

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmculbreth Inquiring minds want to know, how'd you and Mikhail work this out? I can't think of any 9 pin tubes with a base similar to the octals so what did you use to plug into the existing sockets?

There are no 9 pin mini bases .... that was the original problem. He has figured out a way to make the bases. I cant answer you how because I havent actually seen one of the adapters to know what he ended up doing.

By the way ... I just got my 12 volt 5687 adapters yesterday. Now I can use 5687's with my 12sn7's and my favorite tall bottle sylvania 14n7. The 14n7/5687 x2 is what I have tried so far and its an awesome pairing.

There arent any good high power 12 volt OUTPUT tubes .... except the 5687's .... so this was especially important for me. I had all these wonderful 12sn7's and the tall bottle loctals for gain but nothing with much power .... until now!

 

[nmculbreth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacd lover By the way ... I just got my 12 volt 5687 adapters yesterday. Now I can use 5687's with my 12sn7's and my favorite tall bottle sylvania 14n7. The 14n7/5687 x2 is what I have tried so far and its an awesome pairing. There arent any good high power 12 volt OUTPUT tubes .... except the 5687's .... so this was especially important for me. I had all these wonderful 12sn7's and the tall bottle loctals for gain but nothing with much power .... until now!

I'm choosing to ignore this tangent because I don't need any ideas.

OK, one question... Is it possible to use a 6SN7 or 7n7 in this circuit or do you have to stick with 12v tubes after the upgrade?

 

[sacd lover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nmculbreth I'm choosing to ignore this tangent because I don't need any ideas. OK, one question... Is it possible to use a 6SN7 or 7n7 in this circuit or do you have to stick with 12v tubes after the upgrade?

He can do it either way. The two original 6/12sn7 amps I have had to run ALL the tubes at either 6 or 12 volts .... and thats why I needed the 12 volt 5687 adapters. Now he is also doing a 12 volt option that runs only the gain tube at 6 or 12 volts and you use the 6bl7/6bx7gt's or 5687's run at 6 volts. My SLAM mpx3 is like the later.

Mikhail is one creative guy!

 

[BrianS]

is it 99 per adapter so 99x2? would i notice improvement with hd650? thank you