Yes, this is the 1st gen.
Woo Audio WA6 + WA6SE: Tubes, Comments, Pictures, and Advice
- Thread starter Ahzari
- Start date
Depends on the tubes and the sound signature you are looking for. It can get pricey. There are tube rolling threads here on head fi for most amps.
It can be a bit of an addiction.
That's great question.
For the WA6-SE gen 1 I'd honestly say that for a $150.00 budget you can get yourself to 95% of the amps capacity.
iamcustomer
New Head-Fier
yes. you are right. I keep thinking about upgrading devices after I have this hobby. I guess I should keep away from tube amp to save money.Depends on the tubes and the sound signature you are looking for. It can get pricey. There are tube rolling threads here on head fi for most amps.
It can be a bit of an addiction.
iamcustomer
New Head-Fier
Thanks. This seems not too bad. I don't think my ear can find out this 5% improvement.
The nice thing about the WA6 SE is you don’t have to spend a fortune to realize most of the amps’ potential. You definitely should plan on spending $100-$125 to upgrade the rectifier tube. That will make the biggest difference in sound. Read through this thread and you’ll see a lot of recommendations, most of which are going to make quite a noticeable improvement over the stock rectifier. The driver tubes make an audible difference, but for a giventube model number the difference is small.
jonathan c
Headphoneus Supremus
The combination of Mullard GZ34 rectifier tube and a pair of Tungsram ECC81 (12AT7 type) on the Woo WA6 (1st gen.) produces thrilling realism! on so many counts! (Plus, the Gjallarhorn JM Edition really delivers). Being swept away cannot get easier…
Has anyone tried the Linlai e274b rectifier? Thinking of trying one for my wa6se 2nd gen.
I am interested in this tube as well so any experiences and impressions are welcome.
I have a 1st gen. WA6-SE (about 3 years old with a lot of hours on it) running 6FD7's and RCA 5U4. I've lately noticed a dropoff in sound quality after the amp is on for a few hours. Has anyone else noticed this, and might it be due to a component degrading, like an electrolytic cap or wirewound resistor? It runs rather hot due to the 6FD7's.
It's really hard to say for sure. Any of those parts you mentioned could be getting old. I also thought you may be getting to the end of the life on the driver tubes or maybe even the rectifier.
Parts as you mentioned go bad and get old. A year ago I had three capacitors go bad on the WA6-SE gen 1. I shipped it back to Woo Audio and they replaced the old caps and also preformed a full service and testing. I'm not sure what they did, besides replace the bad caps because the amp has never sounded better. In my book it was money well spent. You may want to replace your tubes or reach out to Woo Audio about maybe sending your amp in for service.
Does everyone else's amp make little metallic clicking sounds on warm up and cool down when turning your amp on and off?
I've always assumed this to be normal.
I've always assumed this to be normal.
I can't be absolutely sure of the sound you're hearing. But it sounds like what you're describing are the clicks and pops that the tubes make during the start up and cool down phase in relation to powering up and down. Totally common and totally normal.
Thanks, I'll have to pay more attention to where it's coming from more closely but I think you're right.
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