Little teaser (Photo credit to @TylersEclectic )
21 Likes
That is just a naughty looking combination. Canāt wait to hear about it!
This is my first journey into tube amps and OMG!!!
Thank you so much to Marcello for selling me his amazing Mogwai OG with upgraded Jupiter caps. Marcello is a super cool guy, and his youtube channel and reviews have given me something to look forward to throughout this pandemic. It is because of Marcelloās Live Stream (with Tyler and Elnrik) that I first got interested in tube amps, and it convinced me to save up more money and take the plunge on the Mogwai OG: Headphone Tube Amplifiers under $1000 Live Stream - YouTube
A super thank you to Justin Weber for his patience and for all of the time he spent answering my all of my noobie questions. I know it has been said over and over, but Justin really is one of the nicest guys ever, and anyone who talks with him will instantly understand what Iām talking about. There are good people, there is great customer service, and then thereās Justin. I wonāt mention all that he did to help me decide which amp is best for me (he knows), but it was beyond what anyone else would do. Thank you again, Justin. Youāve earned a customer for life.
All I can say is that my music is so ALIVE now. Hereās a list of cliche audiophile adjectives to describe what Iām hearing: three-dimensional, live, sharply defined midrange, separated images, amazing tonality, warm, euphonic, smooth, and rich like butter. Iām in the middle of the music now, and the instruments are floating all around me. I donāt know what else to sayā¦itās simply like experiencing a beautiful work of art, and thatās just with my 6xx headphones.
I purchased a pair of Verite Closed headphones and they are coming soon. I canāt even imagine how good it will sound. Right now, taking off my 6xx headphones feels like forcing myself out of a warm bed on a cold morning. Iām blown away.
I was really on the fence about getting 32 ohm and 8 ohm taps, but my LCD-X sounds delicious on the 8 ohm tap as the bass is tight and eveything seems more defined than the 32 ohm tap. For anyone with planar headphones, getting the 32 ohm/8 ohm combination is the way to go, and you still have the speaker binding posts as an option too. Justin tells me that efficient speakers with the Mogwai is incredible. This amp is very versatile and seems to have the power to drive everything. You can see that I barely turn the volume knob to about 8 oāclock and itās already loud enough for me.
This picture is completely unedited. All around the edges of the Tungsol 6L6GC STR tubes, there is a deep blue haze that is amazing to look at while listening to music.
-Ray
14 Likes
@ampsandsound Hey Justin. Any plans to create something to sit below the Kenzie OG in terms of price?
Love the look and form factor of your amps, just very expensive in Dollaroos (AUD).
Did you get your power conditioner from Walter yet? Iām still on the fence.
Supposed to arrive today actually.
1 Like
That looks incredible!
1 Like
Awesome. Mogwai OG with upgraded Jupiter caps is quite the splash for a first tube amp. Enjoy.
2 Likes
Found these if anyoneās interested. Not endorsing them as Iāve never used them, but in looking for 90-degree connectors on Amazon, these are the first from āan audiophile companyā that Iāve found.
1 Like
@ktc I have a few of them. The AQ IEC 90s are handy little plug adapters. Good quality. I have places where I use both the #1 and #2 adapters.
Iād be interested in this comparison too. Is the power output of 6384 more similar to 6L6GC or KT88?
Relatedly, setting aside sonics, is tube life shorter with the lower powered tubes with certain A&S amps? Thatās a question I was intending to ask Justin the next time we speak.
Moving from Box to this thread. @ktc.
3 Likes
the 6384 outputs similar power to a 6L6GC tube which is why I like using it on my dynamic headphones like hd800 and when it comes to tube life the bendix 6384 has an incredibly long tube life so I wouldnāt be too concerned about shortened tube life especially when you consider the fact the original design of those tubes was for ICBM missiles so I doubt any amp would be putting more stress than what it was originally intended for.
4 Likes
Do you prefer 6384 sonics over 6L6GC? I try to avoid using tube adapters unless necessary. It is for the input tube where I prefer 12AU7 over 6SN7 with my Mogwai SE and high sensitivity ZMF and Sennheiser headphones.
Itās possible to survive a missile yet have shorter duration than KT88 when used with a tube amp. Whether consequential is TBD.
2 Likes
I do have a set of tung sol 6L6GC str I can compare to the 6384 and I think the bendix 6384 is rated to have a life of 10k hours so even if thatās shortened it will still last for an extremely long time and I would be willing to buy another set when it dies out eventually because it sounds very good for dynamics personally.
That would be great, thanks.
10k hours of life on the 6384 does render it inconsequential.
For high sensitivity headphones, Iāve preferred 5AR4 (over 5U4G), 6550/KT88 (over 6L6GC), and 12AU7 (over 6SN7 and higher gain tubes also) - based on sonic presentation and noise floor. I hesitated to get 6384 where I prefer 6550/KT88, but perhaps I should reconsider.
3 Likes
I will say that the 6384 has more noise floor over the kt88 in fact for me the kt88 is dead silent while the 6384 fully warmed up has a small amount of noise that lingers around but I just got this NOS set of 6384 tubes and was told to give it around 100 hours of burn in which should reduce the noise even more.
2 Likes
That is helpful. The 6384 with the Mogwai SE is highly recommended, as you know. Using 12AU7 and only 12AU7 has solved any noise floor issues for me, with flexibility to swap the other tubes based on sonics.
3 Likes
when I use gold lion kt88, 5691 rca red base and tung sol 5u4gb it is completely quiet but that might be from the fact that I also have Jupiter caps in my mog se
2 Likes