INSPIRE STEREO TUBE AMPLIFIER by DENNIS HAD

Saturday I swapped the rectifier in the LP-3a with a NOS RCA UX-280 globe shape. The LP-3a sounds better with the globe shaped RCA type 80 than the coke bottle shaped RCA type 80.

Tonight I put a pair of National Union 350B(made by Western Electric) tubes and a NOS RCA 6SN7GTB tube in the Inspire KT66 Hot Rod. The 350B's sound better with my Klipsch La Scalas than the KT66's.

Try some globe 56's in the pre amp....
 
I recently added this Dennis Had version of the Magnavox EL84 to my collection of SE amps. Really enjoying it paired with a Bottlehead Foreplay III as well as a passive preamp. One of the sweetest toned amps I've owned and a great combination with my OB speakers. From what I've read Mr. Had was so inspired with his Magnavox make overs he decided to use the name "Inspire" for his line of hand crafted amps.

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untitled.png 1.png Poulter, is that a amp 8 ohms by chance? My Maggie originally was 4 ohms but updated to 8. Great sound but not nearly as nice as yours. Looks great!
 
I recently added this Dennis Had version of the Magnavox EL84 to my collection of SE amps. Really enjoying it paired with a Bottlehead Foreplay III as well as a passive preamp. One of the sweetest toned amps I've owned and a great combination with my OB speakers. From what I've read Mr. Had was so inspired with his Magnavox make overs he decided to use the name "Inspire" for his line of hand crafted amps.

That is essentially correct. Wanna guess who turned him on to the old SE maggies?
 
Dave Gillespie redid mine, it really sounds great and I'm partial to the EL-84's. Still need a tube Pre... waiting on Dennis to possibly list one....
 
Dave Gillespie redid mine, it really sounds great and I'm partial to the EL-84's. Still need a tube Pre... waiting on Dennis to possibly list one....

I sent a message to Dennis Had thru Ebay and he responded with an email with the details of the LP-3a preamps he builds. After I paid him, he built my tube Preamp later that week and shipped it the following week.
 
The LP-3a takes 3 6SN7's and they are dual triodes. Type 56 tubes are single triode, so my preamp can not use globe 56's.

Dennis builds typically two types of preamps these days. One using 6**7 octals and one using 27/56 5 pin tubes. He used to build a preamp using 6DJ8 variants, but I don't think he's built many of those lately....
 
Photo Bucket took away the picture of my single ended Dennis Had Magnavox EL84 so here it is again. Love this amp with high efficiency open baffles.

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I own a couple of Dennis Had amps. The "Fire Bottle 2A3" SE and the EL84 SE. I was impressed with his choice of internal components (Jantzen Z-Caps, etc.) and the quality workmanship. I love the sound of both with efficient speakers, but I do prefer the 2A3 sound a little more.
 

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I have been trying different output tubes in my Inspire HotRod amp. The pair I am trying now is the new production Tung-Sol 7581a. I have about 20 hours on them. Their sound reminds me of the new production Tung-Sol 7591a’s that I use in my McIntosh MC225. The Tung-Sol 7581a’s are basically a 6L6 with more headroom. So far I really like the sound with my Klipsch LaScalas, detailed and very balanced with nice midrange, tight bass, and extended high frequency.
 
Indeed they are the Russian 6p14p-eb, hand selected and matched. Not knowing what Had's amp came with I bought a pair from mother Russia which I'm now running in a Rotel EL84 receiver. Lovely tubes they are.
 
Indeed they are the Russian 6p14p-eb, hand selected and matched. Not knowing what Had's amp came with I bought a pair from mother Russia which I'm now running in a Rotel EL84 receiver. Lovely tubes they are.

I put the 7189’s in the DecWare SE84UFO I used to own. They were a lot nicer than the tubes supplied by DecWare. 7189’s are nice sounding and I think they would be a good upgrade for any Dennis Had amp that used EL84’s.
 
I own two of Dennis' amps. In talking to other owners, it seems that he ships them with different tubes, even within the same type tubes. My SE EL84 came with new re-issue Russian Mullards EL84s, a TubeStore preferred 274b, and a JJ 6DJ8. I've rolled several different tubes in it. The Mullards are okay but I'm presently running vintage GE. The 274b is quite good and is still in there. The JJ was noisy and I replaced it with an Amperex USN 6922 which made a nice improvement.
 
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