TUBE PreAmplifier - Educate/Guide Me

[Feanor]

I didn't know that NOS Genalex 6922 existed.

I thought it was entirely a modern Reflektor creation.

Sorry, please see my edited post. What I mean were Amperex 6922 PQ white labels. I bought mine used quite a few years ago. Last time I saw actual NOS copies, they were going for about 400 bucks a piece.

 

[SIY]

Sorry, please see my edited post. What I mean were Amperex 6922 PQ white labels. I bought mine used quite a few years ago. Last time I saw actual NOS copies, they were going for about 400 bucks a piece.

Tulip bulbs.

 

[MSTARK]

Sorry, please see my edited post. What I mean were Amperex 6922 PQ white labels. I bought mine used quite a few years ago. Last time I saw actual NOS copies, they were going for about 400 bucks a piece.

That's why I would invest in design that uses less hyped up/rare tubes and design that is principled on circuitry (Decware/LTA MicroZOLT) with some tube choice flexibility and tube longevity.

 

[Wagstaff]

"De gustibus non est disputandum" is a fascinating aphorism. Most think it's a Latin proverb, but really it seems to be cod-Latin coined in medieval times. Classical Latin would more likely render it as "De gustatibus non disputandum" (but only after endless discussion whether the noun should be "gustus" (>gustibus) or "gustatus"(>gustatibus)).

More significantly the medieval usage seems to have been the opposite of how we take it today. It seems to have been used as meaning, "Surely we fine scholars know what good taste is; therefore no one of lesser status should argue with us; therefore it's a settled matter."

Sorry for the nerd attack!

I want to hear you say this on tubes.... already sounds good, though!

 

[Feanor]

Tulip bulbs.

SIY's moto, "Don't believe anything you hear".

BTW, guess who the guy is who's pictured in my current avatar.

 

[Wes]

Tulip bulbs.

aren't those pentodes?

you really need triodes

 

[cistercian]

I loved tubes so much. I built many tube transmitters and power oscillators. My audio amps and
radios were all tubes...glorious. Then production ceased...and semiconductors caught up.
I used to have a Hammarlund SP-600 receiver. It was a masterpiece and just incredible in performance.
Even today it is a fantastic AM BCB receiver. It covered up to 54Mc and up there was not so great.
It is such a quintessential epic grade tube receiver I was delighted to own and use it. I met a fellow
enthusiast who had never used one and considered it his grail SW receiver. I gave it to him...because tubes
for it have not been made for decades and the clock is ticking. I wanted him to experience it while there is
still time. He is as amazed as I was at it's performance and is really glad to own it. And I am happy I could help him.

In time a tube in it will fail...and there will be none to be had. That makes me sad.

I don't use tubes anymore. My modern gear performs fantastically and this site will point out the best SOTA audio
gear you can get...and a lot of it is not expensive for what you get.

Tubes were really cool though!

 

[watchnerd]

because tubes
for it have not been made for decades and the clock is ticking.

What tubes did it use?

Lots of tube types are still being made.

 

[cistercian]

What tubes did it use?

Lots of tube types are still being made.

It used over 20 tubes. Some were gas filled VR tubes...extinct. Many metal tubes, some in places
a glass tube won't fit. All the tubes in it were military because it was ex Navy. I don't think penta grid convertors for it
are made anymore either. There are some tube sets for it around...they are expensive and there is no way
to know if the tubes are all good.(pulls) Some of the tubes it uses I could not find 20 years ago.

 

[cistercian]

Found a tube set on ebay for 129. All NOS. Nice. The boxes sure look wrong though.
Very wrong. Nothing like getting a tube and finding out it is worse than what you had.

 

[watchnerd]

SIY's moto, "Don't believe anything you hear".

BTW, guess who the guy is who's pictured in my current avatar.

Julian Hirsch

 

[Feanor]

Julian Hirsch

BINGO !!

The quip about Julian Hirsch was that he never heard a component he didn't like.

 

[Sal1950]

BINGO !!

The quip about Julian Hirsch was that he never heard a component he didn't like.

Same goes for most all the current reviewers, when have you read a negative subjective review in Stereophile or TAS?
I've been told there's too much good sounding gear available to bother with the bad.

 

[watchnerd]

BINGO !!

The quip about Julian Hirsch was that he never heard a component he didn't like.

I thought at first it was an avatar of @Sal1950

 

[Sal1950]

I thought at first it was an avatar of @Sal1950

Close, but I'm much younger and better looking.

 

[Feanor]

Close, but I'm much younger and better looking.

I hope so; Julian Hirsch passed away a number of years ago.

 

[mhardy6647]

I thought the 12AX7 was the Camry of small sig tubes.

Too much gain -- the 12AX7 has a personality.

 

[watchnerd]

Too much gain -- the 12AX7 has a personality.

Ouch!

Thankfully, I'm not a Camry owner.

 

[mhardy6647]

Ouch!

Thankfully, I'm not a Camry owner.

I used to have a RAV-4, which is actually even blander than the Camry.

View attachment 77172
https://www.decware.com/newsite/ZTPRE.html

Steve Deckert certainly has always had a very high opinion of himself & his products.
My first modern piece of vacuum tube hardware was his early SE-84B "Zen" amp. It's not bad - and it was (then) very cheap - but it's nothing like the sine qua non that his purple prose promised. It was also drastically less powerful than he (originally) claimed.

DSCN5766 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_9988 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Truth be told, Deckert/Decware has turned out some good products, but I think it's more of the monkeys & typewriters thing -- and, for the past 20 years or so, his stuff is (in general*) vastly overpriced for what it is.

I'd strongly recommend looking elsewhere (FWIW).

Just my opinions of course -- but rather firmly held ones.

_____________________
* and, of course, all generalizations are false, including this one.

 

[watchnerd]

I used to have a RAV-4, which is actually even blander than the Camry.




Steve Deckert certainly has always had a very high opinion of himself & his products.
My first modern piece of vacuum tube hardware was his early "Zen" amp. It's not bad - and it was (then) very cheap - but it's nothing like the sine qua non that his purple prose promised. It was also drastically less powerful than he (originally) claimed.

DSCN5766 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
DSC_9988 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

Truth be told, Deckert/Decware has turned out some good products, but I think it's more of the monkeys & typewriters thing -- and, for the past 20 years or so, his stuff is (in general*) vastly overpriced for what it is.

I'd strongly recommend looking elsewhere (FWIW).

Just my opinions of course -- but rather firmly held ones.

_____________________
* and, of course, all generalizations are false, including this one.

Nice A77!

(I've got 2 x PR-999 MK II)

Are you using the Decware as a tape head amp?