Just picked up one of these!
@rrwwss52 Still have yours?
Tubes I have no idea. I believe the stock ones are pretty good.
From what you’ve said here, the 1626 you like are RCA Brown Base?
And the 12Sxxxx one you’re using an adapter and something else?
I have a Kenzie Ovation paired with a ZMF Aeolus, a Focal Clear MG and, very soon, a VC in Olive. The amp drives them perfectly and sounds great, particularly with the 32-ohm and 100-ohm taps and with acoustic-based recordings. One of the qualities Justin emphasized to me was the happy-out-of-the-box nature of this amp, as opposed to the tube-rolling-friendly Mogwai SE. I am using mine with the stock tubes and the amp sounds magnificent.
I have the Encore as well and have been only using european 12AX/T7 tubes with an adapter. In my opinion they sounded much better than the 12SL7s.
Some examples of your favourites ? And adapters required?
An adapter like this
My favorites are Telefunken ECC83 smooth plate, Mullard long plate and Tungsram 12AX7. The 12AT7 Telefunken was also very good (and usually cheaper than the 12AX7).
I’d suggest starting out replacing the input tube with a standard octal Raytheon 2C52. It will outperform 12SL7.
RCA 1626 output tubes are readily available and work as well as any.
If you want to use an adapter, the input tubes are nine pin 12A_7 family. 12AX7, 12AT7 and variants.
So the single centre tube. Replace it with a Octal Raytheon 2C52? And I assume that needs an adapter too?
Lets start there.
No adapter is required for the 2C52. It’s an octal (eight pin) tube just like the 12SL7. The adapters are specific to 12SL7 octal to 12AT7 novel (nine pin) conversion. You can also adapt the output tubes. 1626 to 12B4A. It doubles the output power, but IMO, the 1626 is a better sounding tube. Below is a ebay adapter from China. @PaisleyUnderground had suggested someone who makes them on head-fi.
Thank you.
So find one of these " Octal Raytheon 2C52" and plug n play?
Yep, no adapter required. Here are the spec sheets. Pull up both sheets and notice the difference in amplification factor. The 12SL7 is like a 12AT7 and the 2C52 is like a 12AX7.
Octal just means eight pin and the tube base design. Brand is Raytheon.
Thanks mate.
Any of these tubes in current production, or all just NOS?
EDIT: Ha. Just glanced at the tube in there at the moment (what it came with) and its the Ratheon 2C52 already.
Right.
And the 1626 are “National Union” ones. Brown base. “JAN” also written on them.
The National Union JAN 1626 are military tubes, probably WW2 era. The 1626 was used in a 1940s era radar installation.
I have a couple of pairs of NU 1626 myself. These are all NOS…You’ll see them in Tung Sol, RCA, Hytron, National Union, Sylvania, and Ken RAD. Having two of these amps, I collect a few tubes. I have all of the brands I mentioned. TBH, the 1626 output tubes all sound about the same to me.
The nine pin tubes (used with adapters) are a bit more modern…
NOS is still readily available. Might choose to buy a few spares.
Read: You have essentially the best setup currently, sit back and be happy.
The Kenzies are no where near the top of the heap, but do good on the tube front. They are a little noisy audibly. Tube buzz…
I also have Solid State Burson Conductor 3XR and Headamp GSX-mini amps. It’s a money pit hobby. That is for certain.
Oh yeah, some seriously high end amps you can get
I have it fed by a Chord Qutest into a SparkoS Labs Aries.
Have a iFi AC Purifier with a grounding RCA plugged into it, then set its volume pot where the noise is silent and then let the Aries preamp do the rest. So noise floor is very low at the moment. Without the extra grounding and if you were forced to use the inbuilt volume control, you’d be in for a shit time.
I looked at the Sparkos. It’s a dandy amp. I also have a Qutest in the office rig. It feeds a PS Audio Gain Cell DAC (used as a preamp) which feeds the Burson, and the Kenzie.
Ifi makes good wares.
Have you ever considered a small regenerator like a PS Audio Stellar P3. Clean power is a big factor in improving sound. More noticeable on solid state gear.
I have a P12 (2019) in my main rig, and a P5 (2012) in the office rig.
I have a pretty good power feed in Southern California. THD% is only 2 percent, corrected to 0.1%
A friend has one of those. Says its good. Ain’t cheap though.
What do you plug into it?
I have two active monitors (plug each), Qutest, Aries and Kenzie. So 5 plugs total.
I’ll PM you the details…
the 2C52 is such good sound.