You were a trouble-maker the minute you started this thread about Little Dot tube amps!! You got me hooked!!
Still can't thank you enough. For just under 2 and a half bills I got a great piece of gear that I'm using, and more importantly loving every day. As of yet I have not tried rolling any tubes yet, but I would love to start now. I don't have ANY clue about which tubes to get so let me just throw out there what I want and maybe you can help to narrow the field down a bit for me. As you know I have AKG K601's - not very bottom heavy, but just perfect on the mids on up. So the next tubes would maybe have to add some bass. Current tubes have the sound at a very pleasing soundstage, but if I could add more then it would be a bonus. Also, and this has nothing to do with the sound, but i like the looks of those big ol tubes, the kind that fatten up towards the top. A nice looking tube with those added sonic benefits would be great. Any ideas? :scratch2:
Jimmy
Ok, a few things - first, don't expect dramatic changes with different tubes, although I'm wondering if your model might respond more noticeably since it's an all-tube circuit, and my I+ only uses tubes as a buffer.
Second,
please be very careful to follow the directions about changing out the internal jumpers when using different types of tubes, otherwise you'll likely end up burning up a resistor - not the end of the world, but then you could end up being without the amp for a long time if it's not something you can identify and fix on your own.
Third, you have a boatload of options, seriously, because the list of compatible driver tube types is long. Therefore, if you spend some time on ebay, especially looking for very specific types - like the cv4010 for example - you're probably going to come across some good deals because there's not a huge amount of "competition." By that I mean there aren't many hi-fi components that use these tube types, at least to my knowledge - just Little Dot, the Yammamoto headphone amp, and I think some Yaqin models.
If you find something you're desperate for based on feedback you find on the internet (head-fi is the best place to look for that, or my thread here, taken in context since we have different models), you'll notice there's one or two sellers on ebay who usually have them (the more popular tubes), but often at about $50 a pair, and that's steep. IMO, it's not that they're necessarily
not worth that much, but in general you should find used and NOS examples of the types you need for $15 a pair or even less, with some exceptions. I personally wouldn't pay $50 for a pair of any of these types of tubes unless they're guaranteed "new-old-stock."
Next: it's going to be tough to know exactly what results you'll have with any given tubes in your amp, in your system. You can get an idea based on internet feedback, but you might not find tube X, for example, warm and rolled off on top like somebody else did.
Lastly: I don't know how much, if any, difference you might hear trying different power tubes, since of course the I+ does not have those. That's probably worth looking into over at head-fi.
Oh wait, one more thing - you may also want to consider the Herbie's Audio Lab tube dampers. I use them on everything I own that utilizes tubes, and most people seem to like them, but occasionally you'll see feedback that's not so positive, it's a case by case thing, just like it is with tubes. However, Steve Herbelin has a great return policy, so if you don't like them you could just send them back.
You've already got the cable thing covered; IMO a good power cable for these amps is important here. These things aren't power by wall-warts.
