Danny provided me all original tubes as before except for a General Electric 6SN7 made in 1960. That tube went in the front row center position. This sounds better than what I remember from my previous incarnation of the VM-1a.
BTW - I am finally getting the PeachTree GAN1 setup. Doing it in the office and will give it 12 hours before I listen. Take a look at the crazy looking mods. Going to compare with the Schitt stack and the VM-1a.
It somewhat depends how hard the amplifier has been designed to run the tubes. If the push on the tubes is fairly benign, in my experience, somewhere between 2000 to 3000 hrs before an output tube starts to exhibit noticeable degradation of the sound you are used to hearing from it. If the amp designer is pushing the tube to operate close to, or at its limits....then those numbers will decrease. There really is no hard and fast rule as to lifespan.
Once you get a handle on the sound of the Mullard EL34 output tubes, try some Tung-Sol EL34B's in there. I think they are the best current EL34 tube out there....very even handed, they do everything VERY well. Better, more defined bass than the Mullard's....slightly less warm.
If money doesn't matter, the Shuguang Black Treasure 6CA7-Z's are the very best EL34 variant there is....mind blowing, but pricey.
I find the Mullard's to be middle of the road sonically, but to an amplifier manufacturer, they are a popular choice because price and availability are of utmost importance, so they leave to the exotic tube rolling to the enthusiast.
That PC cable is a Benchmark cable for the AHB2. For the AHB2 you can spend as much money as you want, and it won't make a difference (I tried a few). I have some 'better' PCs but there are used on other gear. Ric Shultz who did the mod insists that I use a better cable. I will consider that, but it is not a high priority. Saving up for the new RAAL gear is #1 priority.
It somewhat depends how hard the amplifier has been designed to run the tubes. If the push on the tubes is fairly benign, in my experience, somewhere between 2000 to 3000 hrs before an output tube starts to exhibit noticeable degradation of the sound you are used to hearing from it. If the amp designer is pushing the tube to operate close to, or at its limits....then those numbers will decrease. There really is no hard and fast rule as to lifespan.
I do remember Danny saying that the amp is not pushing the tubes too hard. I have the designer of the amp on my email somewhere. I will ask him by email.
Ouch....that's no good. It's been awhile since I ran them, but I fortunately didn't have any issues. Good to know that QC might be suffering from their factory these days.
I do remember Danny saying that the amp is not pushing the tubes too hard. I have the designer of the amp on my email somewhere. I will ask him by email.
Danny would certainly know. He builds pre-amp's and the like. That's good to hear. Nothing beats a great sounding tube amp designed so the tubes that are barely loafing along. Lots of available headroom on tap.
I had an amazing convo with Danny. We talked about metaphysics and the universe. It was awesome
@Aleksandar R. Danny mentioned a 300B amp you were working on. That sounds very intriguing. I'd love to learn more. I think Danny said it was still in the development stages, but it would be cool to hear your headphones outta a 300B. I'm not 100% convinced of the 300B sound like others might be, but I do like the sound. I guess Elrog is gonna be happy...
danny is a great guy to speak with about most anything...I have ended up on the phone for an hour with danny when calling for a question about an issue with headphones or amps etc...a real pleasure
I had an amazing convo with Danny. We talked about metaphysics and the universe. It was awesome
@Aleksandar R. Danny mentioned a 300B amp you were working on. That sounds very intriguing. I'd love to learn more. I think Danny said it was still in the development stages, but it would be cool to hear your headphones outta a 300B. I'm not 100% convinced of the 300B sound like others might be, but I do like the sound. I guess Elrog is gonna be happy...
What is going on is that Solaja Audio is working on it, and I've got the chance to listen to that prototype for two days, to give my impressions to the maker.
I don't know the timeline, the details, when, how and what...
I had an amazing convo with Danny. We talked about metaphysics and the universe. It was awesome
@Aleksandar R. Danny mentioned a 300B amp you were working on. That sounds very intriguing. I'd love to learn more. I think Danny said it was still in the development stages, but it would be cool to hear your headphones outta a 300B. I'm not 100% convinced of the 300B sound like others might be, but I do like the sound. I guess Elrog is gonna be happy...
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