It is February 2016 and we have added more new products, as part of our commitment to our customers to greater choice and they are all in stock in the UK. This month’s introductions are : Two new suppliers of the 6V6GT which was highly favoured in the Fender Tweeds and amps like the Fender Deluxe Reverb. I have a vested interest here as I have a Fender Deluxe Reverb ! We are stocking the […]
Why did that valve suddenly stop working? I thought it might be useful to look at what the common failures in valves are as they age. I have had a number of folks ask me why their amp suddenly started blowing fuses. My first recommendation is to replace the fuse , unplug the valve rectifier and see if it still blowing fuses. More often than not, the amp stops blowing fuses when the rectifier is
~EL84 ( 6BQ5) This blog article is about how to get a clean sounding amp and excellent hifi performance. The ideal valve for the hifi amp is one that has low distortion, excellent power handling and a long life. The ideal output valve for the guitar player that likes the ultimate in clean sound also needs the same characteristics. If your amp uses the EL84 ( US number 6BQ5), then please read more……. Hi-Fi amps
I thought I would re-fresh this article because as you do listening tests you learn more and I thought you might like to here the updates .The updates are in bold . On one evening this week, I was at a friend’s house and we had some listening tests preamp valves in the V1 position in an amp. Here is a short summary of what we found. The test amp was a Belcat and this
Here is more on valve matching. Most valve manufacturers will match output valves in pairs and quads with varying degrees of accuracy. I have written about this previously here. Also you might about to read our thoughts on why do matching in the first place and click here for the article! Valve manufacturers in general do not provide matching of pre-amp valves like the ECC81, ECC82, ECC83 ( 12AT7, 12AU7, 12AX7). You might be asking how
A number of customers have asked us about new EF86’s. This a famous high gain audio pentode from the 1950’s and 1960’s. There are a lot of used EF86’s on well known auction sites that are unboxed with big prices. My own experience is that many of these original valves are well used and not worth the money. The alternative has been to buy NOS original boxed units but these are vintage and command high
Setting the Bias There is a lot of discussion on the black magic of setting the bias on the output valves in your amp. This is also related to the matching of the valves. There is talk of setting the bias “cool” or “hot” and the effects on output valve life. I am attempting to write this so as the musicians can understand and so the idea is that I make it hopefully simple to
The Black Magic of Setting the Bias make your amp sound its best Read More »