[bcowen]

My attorney thanks you for being so honest and upfront. Your post above will come in handy in my counter-suit should you decide to pursue such a flawed strategy.

Oh, I love this part:

Google: directions to courthouse.

 

[bcowen]

You have a Vali 2 right? That is the amp I use before the tubes go into more expensive amps. That and an Aune or three. Built in tube DAC. I have repaired a couple so if they go down I will fix them again.

Not any more. I felt sorry for a new, recent graduate engineer at work and sold it to him for a good deal. He had one of those cheap little Chinese amps that blew up a month after he got it. He's been delighted with the Vali 2, especially since I gave him a nice Telefunken 6DJ8 to go with it. I'm down to the Lyr 3 now as the only headphone amp.

 

[bcowen]

Once Bill is done you will know it is safe for you to plug in the eight tubes. This is like giving a baby a bath, if you put it in the water and it turns red, you know it is too hot for your elbow. I think that is how you do that, it has been a while for me.

Bill will test all pipe bombs in either the Hickok or the Weston prior to plugging them into the Lyr. This is not a "trust of Tom" thing. It's a "Bill is anal" thing.

I may solder some wires between the pins before I send them to @Ripper2860 though....just for fun.

 

[Paladin79]

Not any more. I felt sorry for a new, recent graduate engineer at work and sold it to him for a good deal. He had one of those cheap little Chinese amps that blew up a month after he got it. He's been delighted with the Vali 2, especially since I gave him a nice Telefunken 6DJ8 to go with it. I'm down to the Lyr 3 now as the only headphone amp.

Well crap, I was considering building another Crack in solid Cherry with shiny copper, but you have to use an adapter. It will handle the 6sn7, and most anything else you throw at it. I will figure out something, I hate for you to risk the only headphone amp you own. Maybe I can find a nice Microzotyl cheap and send that along with the pipe bombs, er tubes.

OMG a guy I buy tubes from all the time lists a Marconi tube, it was GE after all, now I need to buy a Canadian Marconi tube if I want the real deal. I will call the guy up tomorrow, he even knew what I was doing and I had already purchased several GE from him lol.

Luckily a lot of what I buy is tax deductible, I may win the steak dinner battle and lose the war otherwise.

 

[Ripper2860]

I may solder some wires between the pins before I send them to @Ripper2860 though....just for fun.

Hah!! Nice try, I'm not participating in this little charade. My ego is far to delicate to risk the extreme humiliation. Besides, I need the time to add to my library of ridiculing posts in case you pick the GE as the best sounding tube!! So far I only have a selection of 132 posts in my 'Humiliate Bill' repertoire.

 

[Paladin79]

Hah!! Nice try, I'm not participating in this little charade. My ego is far to delicate to risk the extreme humiliation. Besides, I need the time to add to my library of ridiculing posts in case you pick the GE as the best sounding tube!! So far I only have a selection of 132 posts in my 'Humiliate Bill' repertoire.

Oh it would be fun, you could show Bill how it is done or not done as the case may be. You need not bet a steak dinner even.

 

[Ripper2860]

This is so cool! As Jesse Pinkman would say ...



SCIENCE!!!!

 

[Ripper2860]

I'll play the role of the accounting firm exec with the briefcase that holds the envelope that reveals the actual tubes ensconced in the numbered sarcophagi.

 

[TK16]

Lyr rolling thread is dead, think I'll hang out here awhile.

 

[Robert Padgett]

Those are not Badboys. Badboys have triple spiked top mica among other necessary characteristics. And there are no VT231 true Badboys.

@Ripper2860 is Brilliant. The Melz 1578 arrived and the pins are smaller than the sockets. On his advice I bent the sockets to a smaller diameter, and no contact issues now. MelzonianDreams... on the Vali 2, it has found a permanent home...

 

[bcowen]

One of my VT-192 Sylvanias from 1943 has a similar shiny/polished band at the top of the metal base. I have not seen a similar feature on any other Loctal tubes. Those Sylvanias from 1943 are perhaps the best sounding tubes to me that I have tried. Do you know the productionyear of your Hytron-branded 7A4s?

Well, the Hytrons were no help. Only intact lettering (beyond the logo) was on top, 7A4 XXL with GOB, HOB, and FOB which I believe were probably just lot numbers.

The Hytron matches identically internally to a Raytheon though that is mostly readable. The 280 in the first line is Raytheon's EIA code, and the number beneath it is 617. I'm no expert at reading these, but I believe the 6 is the year of manufacture, likely '46 but possibly '56 with the 17 denoting the week.

Then with entirely different internal construction than those (but matching each other) are a GE and a Philco. May be hard to see, but the diameter of the round part of the plate is much smaller in these than the Hytron/Raytheon.

Then there's the VT-192's. Same internally as the Hytron/Raytheon. Same size plates, 3/4round bottom mica, and large rectangular top mica:

Then I have a half dozen Sylvania and Westinghouse branded ones that are different entirely than all of these, mostly in the mica shapes and configs and also the length of the plates. So if I had to guess, I'd say these Hytrons were mid-40's production, but take that FWIW based on my limited knowledge here.

 

[bcowen]

Well crap, I was considering building another Crack in solid Cherry with shiny copper, but you have to use an adapter. It will handle the 6sn7, and most anything else you throw at it. I will figure out something, I hate for you to risk the only headphone amp you own. Maybe I can find a nice Microzotyl cheap and send that along with the pipe bombs, er tubes.

OMG a guy I buy tubes from all the time lists a Marconi tube, it was GE after all, now I need to buy a Canadian Marconi tube if I want the real deal. I will call the guy up tomorrow, he even knew what I was doing and I had already purchased several GE from him lol.

Luckily a lot of what I buy is tax deductible, I may win the steak dinner battle and lose the war otherwise.

I'll put a bid in on this. Guess I'll need to cut a hole in the top for a tube if I win though. ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schiit-Val...810874?hash=item2cedf4e5fa:g:-8sAAOSw8eBdGf1e

 

[bcowen]

@Ripper2860 is Brilliant. The Melz 1578 arrived and the pins are smaller than the sockets. On his advice I bent the sockets to a smaller diameter, and no contact issues now. MelzonianDreams... on the Vali 2, it has found a permanent home...

Glad you didn't follow his usual advice of using a hammer.

 

[Paladin79]

I'll put a bid in on this. Guess I'll need to cut a hole in the top for a tube if I win though. ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Schiit-Val...810874?hash=item2cedf4e5fa:g:-8sAAOSw8eBdGf1e

Lol you best hope for a B stock Vali 2. Tomorrow I will look around some, I would love similar amps so I can A/B test some 6sN7’s.

 

[bcowen]

Lol you best hope for a B stock Vali 2. Tomorrow I will look around some, I would love similar amps so I can A/B test some 6sN7’s.

No B-stocks at Schiit right now. Just emailed a guy on Audiomart that has one listed. We'll see what he comes back with.