Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by khashmi

Thanks nhparrot! There are an overwhelming # of choices with this amp. Somebody also pointed me to Brimar 6V6GTs. I know their 6SN7’s are very famous so probably their 6V6 variant isn’t too far behind.

Keep hearing good things about the Genelex KT-77 (also known as the EL 34 I believe), so will definitely check it out.

The KT77 is out of my price range though I managed to acquire some e3375 GEC tubes that have an identical plate structure. I can’t say if they sound the same or similar to the KT77 but I can say that they sound amazing.

I really like how the JAN Sylvania 7c5 tube sounds in the amp. Don’t have any of the fancy/expensive 6v6 tubes… yet. The GE 6k6gt tubes (labeled CBS) sound great IMO and are super cheap. I’m getting in a bunch of them from other companies to compare. Should have more soon. Others have raved about metal 6f6, another super cheap tube. I tried some RCA and found them a bit bright but I will try them again tonight. I have accumulated quite a few different driver tubes since I tried them last. I’m thinking the BL63 might be a good match.

[OldTube Guy]

Originally Posted by PaulInWA

I have the Dennis Had Universal SET amp. I tried searching on this without any luck. Has anybody tried the 6Y6 tube with Had amps? It seems similar to a 6F6 but with a much higher current draw for the heater. Not sure if that would fry the transformer or not?

I tried them and was not impressed. YMMV.

[OldTube Guy]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

The KT77 is out of my price range though I managed to acquire some e3375 GEC tubes that have an identical plate structure. I can’t say if they sound the same or similar to the KT77 but I can say that they sound amazing.

I really like how the JAN Sylvania 7c5 tube sounds in the amp. Don’t have any of the fancy/expensive 6v6 tubes… yet. The GE 6k6gt tubes (labeled CBS) sound great IMO and are super cheap. I’m getting in a bunch of them from other companies to compare. Should have more soon. Others have raved about metal 6f6, another super cheap tube. I tried some RCA and found them a bit bright but I will try them again tonight. I have accumulated quite a few different driver tubes since I tried them last. I’m thinking the BL63 might be a good match.

Someone here had the original GEC KT77 and preferred the new GL's.

[khashmi]

The pair of Pope6V6 GT’s arrived today and seem to be in good condition, including the boxes (looks almost brand new). At first, I was alarmed to see 7 pins since I’m so used to seeing 8 pins for the all of the 6SN7’s I’ve acquired, but a little googling put my mind at ease. In fact, I learned that some of the more recent 6v6 tubes have 6 pins.

Two questions:

The seller said it wasn’t cryo’d but the Upscale Sticker on the box says “Cryogenically Treated”. I recall speaking to an Upscale sales person when I initially got my CBS Hytron 5692’s and he said that they have different stickers to describe the grade of the tube. So for example, the original Zalytron box does not say cryogenically treated but it does say Kevin’s Stash, which is supposed to be their cream of the crop and would have indicated it on the sticker if it was cryo’d. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the seller mis-remembered this and it is in fact cryo’d?

The measurement label mentions 1960’s tube. Is is possible to gauge a more specific date (or at least the year). Only ask because I’m a date nerd.

Totally unrelated but is there a certain point in time (or posts), where replies on this thread, are posted immediately and don’t need a moderator to go through them?

Amp is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday!

[Isaacc7]

Tried the RCA 6f6 again and they were still too bright even with the bl63. Oh well. I'll have some other brands coming in at some point and will try again.

[OldTube Guy]

Originally Posted by khashmi

The pair of Pope6V6 GT’s arrived today and seem to be in good condition, including the boxes (looks almost brand new). At first, I was alarmed to see 7 pins since I’m so used to seeing 8 pins for the all of the 6SN7’s I’ve acquired, but a little googling put my mind at ease. In fact, I learned that some of the more recent 6v6 tubes have 6 pins.

Two questions:

The seller said it wasn’t cryo’d but the Upscale Sticker on the box says “Cryogenically Treated”. I recall speaking to an Upscale sales person when I initially got my CBS Hytron 5692’s and he said that they have different stickers to describe the grade of the tube. So for example, the original Zalytron box does not say cryogenically treated but it does say Kevin’s Stash, which is supposed to be their cream of the crop and would have indicated it on the sticker if it was cryo’d. Therefore, it is safe to assume that the seller mis-remembered this and it is in fact cryo’d?

The measurement label mentions 1960’s tube. Is is possible to gauge a more specific date (or at least the year). Only ask because I’m a date nerd.

Totally unrelated but is there a certain point in time (or posts), where replies on this thread, are posted immediately and don’t need a moderator to go through them?

Amp is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday!

Great, run it for 100 hours or so with the tubes Dennis included. Let the amp settle in before rolling a lot of tubes. Since you are new to tubes I highly recommend buying current production tubes that are well screened and tested. Amplified Parts sell Apex tested tubes Upscale and Viva tubes are good vendors also.

The amp can use almost any pentode but they all may not sound good in your system. The input tube has a big impact on the sound. The Pope 6V6 is a laid back tube and needs an input tube with sparkle on the top.

Enjoy the amp.

[khashmi]

Thanks OldTube Guy. Noted. Not necessarily fully new to to tubes, since I have been rolling 6SN7’s in my Freya Plus. Have collected over a half dozen NOS varieties . I was already planning to use Melz 5 hole (my current favorite) as it does provide good top end sparkle with perhaps the Sylvania VT-231 a close second. The good thing about this amp is that now it allows me to also buy single 6SN7’s, whereas I was forced to buy a pair before. Some good single tubes come on the market from time to time, so I’ll keep an eye out. The Tung Sol 6SN7 BGRP still eludes me though I’ve heard from multiple sources that the Melz is still better.

Dennis shipped the amp with Psvane KT-88c tubes, which I haven’t seen much reviews about compared to the GL KT-88’s. Based on Psvane’s reputation for longer burn in times, that 100-150 hrs is probably a safe bet though I’ve heard from Brent Jesse that you don’t necessarily have to run a signal through it—it just has to be powered on. I also noticed (as I am systematically combing through this thread page by page) that Dennis keeps his unit on 24/7 unless switching tubes. I don’t think I’ll be doing that. Even if it doesn’t negatively impact the amp, that is going to unnecessarily eat up a a lot of electricity. On the Freya, I typically do 8 hours a day or less with occasional 12-15 hour days.

[khashmi]

Update:

Received the amp on Wednesday and breaking/settling it in before I roll. I’ll probably have close to 50 hrs. logged by today.

Some very early impressions:

1) Had to increase the volume slightly on my tube preamp, compared to what I had on my monoblock solid state amps.

2) Experiencing more (satisfying) bass slam from the KT-88’s at what (10-12 watts—not sure what the exact wattage is) compared to 80 wpc on my SS amp. Was not expecting this.

3) Sound stage is larger

4) The tone seems more natural with some nice zing to it.

5) Vocals are clearer

6) Experiencing better channel separation, which is surprising considering I had monoblocks?

Will probably play this week out on stock tubes before I roll in the Popes.

Instead of uploading regular ‘ol pics of the unit, I decided to mess around and add some effects. Hopefully, it comes through—I just ponied up for the annual subscription.

[Isaacc7]

Congrats on the amp! Yeah, the relationship between watts/damping factor and tubes is more complicated than you’d think. I’ve heard people dismiss better bass with SE amps as being an artifact of low damping factor with under loaded woofers blah blah blah… I don’t really care why it “seems” like there’s better bass, I just enjoy it!

Which rectifier will you use with the 6v6 tubes? Or did I miss that? You shouldn’t use the 5ar4 with 6v6 tubes.

[Isaacc7]

I’m sure that the sound of output tubes will be heavily dependent on the speakers you use. I have a whole thread chronicling my tube rolling adventures. Weirdly, despite my speakers being a nominal 4 ohm load I did not like the sound of the kt88 as much as I have with lower output tubes like the 6v6 and now the 6k6gt. Someone earlier in this thread suggested using a 5w4 rectifier with 6k6 outputs. I can vouch that it a great combo.