Thanks. I had asked Antdroid as well. He offered good feedback too. I hadn’t used them before, so figured a little upfront research was prudent. Appreciate your feedback.
Sure no problem! A little upfront research is much better than a headache later on
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JoeyGun, I’d appreciate learning which Amp&sound amp you tested? I have heard the Donald North amps at meets years ago and eventually went for a Kenzie Ovation. The warm dark description aptly matches what I am hearing and why, for me, the Kenzie is the right amp.
Lots of very interesting and cool info here. I learned a lot. I have the Chord stack HMS/TT2/TToby for the SR1a and LCD-4 with 1266 TC coming soon but this thread already has me seeing these beauties hovering on the distant horizon. My experience with tube amps is strictly as a guitar player but that’s enough to know how they’ll sound compared to solid state. Nothing quite like those glowing bottles adding warmth, the tactile “bounce”, and fairy dust harmonics.
I see there are plenty of enticing options out there. I probably wouldn’t want to get anything that’s kind of on the massive side like the WA33 or the Cayin H300 but I guess space can always be made. Well, there’s still time. TOTL tube amps are definitely not something I can get into in the near future - more like 3~4 years down the road after I settle on a certain number of headphones and a dedicated SS headphone amp. That being said, I’ll definitely keep my long-range radar scanning for these beauties for sure.
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@Torq I searched a bunch but couldn’t find any solid information about Glen Custom you mentioned on the list other than a few old posts and comments on head-fi. Have they stopped making amps?
Same with Eddie Current amps, looks like only Studio B is available right now but couldn’t find a thread here or on head-fi. Any opinions on the studio b?
I am not Torq, figured I would lend a hand here.
The Glenn Custom, or GOTL, GEL3N, or Glenn 300B can be found here in all 2560 pages of posts:
Eddie Current Studio B:
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I’ve got a Studio B on order, I’ll let y’all know more about it next month. 
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He wasn’t building for a while, I know he went through some personal issues, last exchanged IM’s with him he was just starting to build again, so my guess is wait time are probably over a year at this point if he’s taking orders.
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When did you last hear from Glenn? Last I heard from him was last November and he said he was hoping to build again soon but was still dealing with a lot in his personal life. I think the wait would be much longer than a year at this point. I’ve been waiting on an amp that I sent a deposit for in November 2019, so almost 1.5 years so far waiting. There are a few people ahead of me in the queue that haven’t gotten their amp yet either. It’s a shame as Glenn has a lot going on and his queue has gotten so big, I’m not sure how he is going to ever fulfill all of the orders.
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I am sending an email to them asking if they are still taking orders, did you change up anything in your order besides what is default? The 300B tubes look super expensive.
Pretty sure he’s still taking orders. I went with the stock configuration per the advice on SBAF. It doesn’t come with 300b’s, so I bought some EML Mesh Plate tubes to use with it. 300b tubes can get exorbitantly expensive, but from that same thread they’re saying it really sounds great with whatever tubes you use. I think the Genelex/Gold Lion tubes do a good job, I’ve seen them recommended a number of places. They’re at a great price point and may be worth a shot.
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The Glenn Custom is just that. Custom. So how it is specifically configured, and what tube/socket options you have (or which tubes you then choose to run with the options those choices facilitate) mean no two amplifiers are necessarily going to sound the same, or even similar.
I believe a number of such options exist for the “Glenn OTL” version as well. Though that’s not something you’d want to run with planar cans (possibly excepting the LCD-4) since OTL amps need higher impedance headphones (typically at least 150 ohms, often more) in order to properly load the tubes.
That’s a question for Glenn himself.
The last I had heard, he wasn’t planning on doing any more 300B-based models at all, builds were taking more time/delayed due to life-issues and that his backlog was significant. But I have no idea if that truly was/is the case.
Nope, never heard one.
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End of February, he stated that he could move forwards with my order, but I’ve been discussing it with him since April 2020.
I’m in no rush for the amp, but people need to be aware how long the waits are, and go in with eyes open.
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I got in touch with Craig and looks like there are a few more units of the Studio B available. When I asked him, if there are any upgrades or changes he would recommend with the base configuration, he said I could change up the coupling capacitors and the volume pot but I would have to find the parts myself and send him. If I was to go down this route, does changing up the coupling caps make any difference?
When I ordered mine Craig gave me the same option. On the advice of the SBAF guys I chose to leave it as it comes. It’s my understanding that it can be done relatively easily on your own later, provided you know what you’re doing. Did he give you an ETA on when the second batch will be shipping?
No I didn’t ask him about the ETA yet, since I didn’t put an order yet. One interesting bit he told me is that he doesn’t have the time and space to buy upgraded parts and if I wanted to change the sound I should know exactly what parts I want, etc, which makes me feel like this might be his last batch of amps so I would assume that they should be shipped out relatively soon? Just speculating. I am still trying to gather some more information about how does this compare with the Decware Taboo and the A&S Mogwai SE, asked on the SBAF thread also.
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To my knowledge he’s closed down his shop and is finishing this last batch in his garage. Wish I could help with info on those other amps, but I’m coming up dry. No experience with any of them. There’s an A&S thread around here somewhere though.
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Here’s a Link to the A&S Mogwai thread. From there it’s easy enough to find the others.
A&S
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Thanks, yeah I have been following it for a while now.
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FWIW, Donald shipped me my Stratus about two months ahead of schedule. Not sure what his ETA is like now, though.
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