AmpsandSound Amplifiers and Speakers builder

[Wes_S]

If I had kept all those tubes at a loss, that would most definitely be true.

However, I have sold off as many as I have bought, and have only kept a handful of backups of the best sounding ones (which ended up being the cheapest costing as well).

It was a blast and I learned how to get the most out of the amp, and I would do it the same way if I did it all over again.

If you could hear my Pendant SE with the tube combo I have landed on, you might think it was worth all the buying and selling of tubes (I sure do). This amp sounds crazy good with the tubes I have settled on, and much better than it did with all the other tubes I have since sold off. There is nothing better than finding that “Unicorn” tube combo, and I really feel every tube amp has one just waiting to be discovered.

My name is Wes, and I am a tube rolling addict.

[LE9000]

Hey @ampsandsound and Forum. Have been experimenting somewhat the last couple of days trying to get everything flowing with the Mogwai Se. Been fighting noise issues but had a significant improvement today. First I changed the 6SL7 to 6SN7 - and experienced a great improvement in noise. Changed the 6384 to Tung Sol 6L6GC STR. Sounds ok, but significantly less dynamic to me.
Back with the 6384s and the CBS 6SL7 - and 3 different rectifiers … Still a great deal of noise.
And then I try a Elrog tube I’ve not really had any synergy with until now. All of a sudden my amp is VERY silent and sweet sounding. What a pleasure.

I would love to understand the dynamics of this - will upload the tube specs (so Justin if you have a clue please let me know - what made the difference?)
Meanwhile I’m happy as can be!

[ampsandsound]

My answer wont likely satisfy. I think you’ve been struggling with tube synergy and or tube selection issues. Finding tubes that make the amp quite… shows the amp is quite but may benefit from careful selection. You have an earlier example of an SE, the power supply and refinements in wiring have further reduced the amps baseline noise floor. All that said, to me; it shows the importance of tube selecting.

Im sorry it took so much work… but really pleased you got there.

[eric75]

Gotta give Patrick over at Cullen Cables a shout out for making a nice 90 degree interconnect for me for my Ampsandsound.

[PaisleyUnderground]

@eric75

Gotta give Patrick over at Cullen Cables a shout out for making a nice 90 degree interconnect for me for my Ampsandsound.

Patrick is a really nice guy, in addition to making great cables. He made me a 90 degree power cable.

[Essentials]

Hello there!
Very much enjoying my mogwai se here.
Reading around about tube rolling the input tube 6sl7 to a 6sn7.

I know the 6sn7 lowers the gain compared to the 6sl7 but someone informed me the 6sn7 lowers the gain but has higher current.

Would I then be right in saying that the 6sn7 is be better suited for most planars?

Also would fitting a 6sn7 affect in a negative way dynamic driver headphones?

[monochromios]

6sn7 won’t negatively affect dynamic driver headphones, giving simply a lower volume reply that you can adjust accordingly.
I’ve tried 6sn7 with HD600 and other than lower volume I didn’t experience any loss in quality.

[bpcarb]

12AU7 was my preferred input tube for dynamics and planars, 12AX7 for speakers. I believe the updated models switched to 9 pin input tubes. You might want to consider trying the 9 pin tubes with an adapter.

[LE9000]

Is it ok to use the 9 pin tubes in the old Mogwai SE’s using an adapter? Do the small tubes have same values as 6SL7 and 6SN7?
Thanks

[bpcarb]

I have no reason to think otherwise.

I’m not able to speak to the values. 9 pins sounded better than 8 pins on my 2021 Mogwai SE.

[LE9000]

Cool. Any specific kind you could recommend?
I like the 6SL7 in my Mogwai but noise is often a problem. The 6SN7’s I have tried don’t have the same punch - in my setup.

[bpcarb]

I had to address noise also. See here: AmpsandSound Amplifiers and Speakers builder - #333 by bpcarb.

[Roikyou]

I have a Kenzie Ovation Rev 2 that I picked up yesterday. I was curious and here it is. Only 20 mins on the clock with it as it’s always busy during the week.

My first thoughts during that 20 minutes, the person I picked it up from had an ECC 802 S, a JJ 5751 and a Sylvania old stock 5751. So I started with the 5751. The 1626 doesn’t really vary, it came with two pairs of RCA, I set it up with one RCA pair. The rca cables that I used are a little short, so I’m going to pick up another longer pair, little better quality and keep them regardless of what I do with this amp.

To me, so far, it’s really quiet. I can hear the transformer hum but very mild and not through the headphones. I believe the Taboo is pretty silent on power up. The only 1/4 cable I have is a Meze 8’ silver. I’d say this is on par as far as being quiet with the Nautilus and if it stays this way, quiet than the first revision Bigger Ben and first revision Mogwai SE. The Taboo of course uses balanced between the May and balanced out to the headphone, not as high quality as the Meze cable but pretty nice and light, it’s a ZMF cable, one of the higher end.

Coming from the Decware Taboo MKIV, the Ovation is brighter than the Taboo but that could be the Sylvania tube also. Power seems to be about the same between the two but the Ovation is using a 5751 which is around 70% gain. The Taboo has a low/high gain switch, I believe it’s in low gain as the sound was more favorable to me. The Taboo is using an RCA 5AR4G and I’ll have to double check the input tube but i think it’s a bugle boy and the power tubes are Russian old stock which are suppose to be warm sounding. I’m thinking about finding a warm 12AX7 for the Ovation to help the comparison and decision which direction to go.

The Decware has an edge in size, it’s half the size, significantly lighter and the sound output is close to the same.

The Ovation has a step attenuator where the Decware has two volume pots. The recording I listened to this morning felt heavy on the right hand side where the Decware would have the advantage where you can increase the volume slightly on the left side. With the attenuator, fine volume control isn’t an option, it’s feels like larger steps.

The Taboo has Lucid mode but I think this is pretty minimal honestly, of an impact on the sound.

I think that kind of wraps up my first thoughts. I’ll update this post if I see anything I missed or possibly wrong.

[wgarbo]

I have the KO V1 with Jupiter caps. 200 hours. Two sets of tubes (thanks Justin!), six cans, And as much as I try I really can’t tell difference from my SS amp (Violectric). I’m going to attribute it to age.
It’s gorgeous to look at!
So, anyone in Minneapolis area wanting to buy one, please PM me.

[boombap]

Hey there - wanted to comment on the Kenzie Ovation’s capability as an integrated speaker, which isn’t really mentioned much. Recently purchased a set of Overnight Sensation MTM speakers direct from Justin, with custom crossovers he made himself, and they sound exquisite running off the Ovation - powerful (amazing bass for such a compact design, yet smooth and detailed, with no hint of shrillness or exertion. (Source is Roon/Qobuz through a Chord M Scaler and Qutest.) Not a ton of wiggle room on the volume switch, but that’s to be expected, I gather - certainly doesn’t affect its ability to handle anything thrown its way. Point being, it’s more than just a headphone amp. Just my two cents.

[tranqfx]

My friend and I purchased amps (2021) at the same time from Justin. Me, a modified Mogwai OG and my buddy a bigger ben. I can’t say enough good things about Justin. The man loves talking audio and was a massive help to both of us prior to purchase, during, and after.

[ampsandsound]

Thats some serious tubes there!

[LE9000]

Thanks - The big inspiration is of course You.
The current and preferred tube combination is:
6384, CEI 6SL7GT and a Elrog 5U4G rectifier.
Sounds wonderful.
The TungSol 6L6gc str also do a great job.

[monochromios]

Tung Sol 6L6CG STR sound really wonderful to my ears, I really love them

[Grover]

I can second the 6L6 recommendation. The tung-sol are a solid modern option, though old GE versions are very special in my opinion. I was surprised by how much rolling the rectifier tube made a difference too, I wasn’t expecting to hear much.