The Mighty MC30s

Thanks Yves for his lovely works! I really enjoy my first vintage Mac. I also emailed him about 350B, see what is his opinion. Also thanks others for the advices.
 
Why? You are currently running the best there is with NOS GE being pretty equal as well. They will last a loooong time in those amps.

Your quest for 350B's (Valve Art makes a nice one) might yield sonic improvement in those amps, but the current draw is higher in the 350B. @ 1.6A vs .9 for a 6L6GC. It would put some strain on the PT, not sure if it'd be too much.

There are some nice new issue tubes that sound glorious in these amps - Tung Sol 6L6G Coke Bottle & Tung Sol 6L6GC STR Black plates being two of the better examples. Though I have NOS RCA & GE stashes, I actually prefer the coke bottles in my MC30's. In my MC240's I love GE & RCA.
FWIW:
https://www.audioasylum.com/audio/tubes/messages/2/29702.html
 
Here is the reply (within a hour) from Yves:
"
DEFINTELY NO to the 350B. All the voltages will be way off due to different current draw. Same for rectifiers. use the tubes specified by McIntosh. Any variant will screw up internal voltages, biasing, etc.

12Ax7, 12AU7, 12BH7 12Ax7 5u4GB and either 1614 or 6l6gc. NOTHING ELSE! KT66 no good, 5881 no good, 6L6 no good, etc."

I guess so much for my drama, no 350B......money saved, wallet is......phew!
 
Yeah, thought so.

BTW, the NEW Tung Sol 6L6G is made to exact 6L6GC spec. No electrical differences and not to be confused with vintage 6L6G tubes.
 
Brave is the man who tries to outdo McIntosh at its own game.

As my grandfather used to be fond of saying, "When in doubt...don't."

Cheers. :)
 
Brave is the man who tries to outdo McIntosh at its own game.

As my grandfather used to be fond of saying, "When in doubt...don't."

Cheers. :)

I was brave enough to sale my MC75 for MC30, haha. The military taught me when in doubt, shoot again, haha

Cheers
 
I also acquired a pair of MC30's from Yves, and then an MC225 from him as well. The man does beautiful work, and I am extremely happy with all of the units.
 
After owning the MC30 for sometime now, never looked back for selling my 2015 MC75. The level of musicality of MC30 is in an another league by far (to me). BUT, for some of you are looking for modern Hi-Fi sound, MC30 is not your game.
 
After owning the MC30 for sometime now, never looked back for selling my 2015 MC75. The level of musicality of MC30 is in an another league by far (to me). BUT, for some of you are looking for modern Hi-Fi sound, MC30 is not your game.

They really are wonderful amps. Glad you're enjoying yours.

I do think there is great variation to the sound that can be extracted from MC30's. So much now depends on the choice of components used in the circuit rebuild/restoration. For instance, I've used a combo of film & foil and PIO caps along with metal film resistors.

My power supply and bias supply caps are bypassed with very low value film and foils as well. It's a simple and effective way to enhance HF response w/out circuit changes. I did an a/b comparison of this when I rebuilt my set and I did hear a significant difference - for the better.

Yves aim, if I'm correct. is to restore the original sound of the amp and not to tweak. Add tube choices to the mix and another level of variation is there.

This thread has strayed from 62caddy's original post. Hope it hasn't been hijacked too far. :)
 
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I don't have lack HF problem in my system, if I need more HF energy, Tannoy speakers have a simple HF level adjustment switch to boost or subtract HF energy. Or one could by super tweeters.

One thing that bothers me is why McIntosh does not reissue those wonderful amps?
 
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This thread has strayed from 62caddy's original post. Hope it hasn't been hijacked to far. :)

A-okay with me.
ok.gif
Enjoying the proceedings & comments.
 
Likely to do with power more than anything else. Today's loudspeakers simply are not efficient enough to be driven with 30W amplifiers. Part of the magic of the MC30s and MC60s is the tube rectification. More glowing orbs in the dark to gaze upon ...
 
Why? You are currently running the best there is with NOS GE being pretty equal as well. They will last a loooong time in those amps.

Your quest for 350B's (Valve Art makes a nice one) might yield sonic improvement in those amps, but the current draw is higher in the 350B. @ 1.6A vs .9 for a 6L6GC. It would put some strain on the PT, not sure if it'd be too much.

There are some nice new issue tubes that sound glorious in these amps - Tung Sol 6L6G Coke Bottle & Tung Sol 6L6GC STR Black plates being two of the better examples. Though I have NOS RCA & GE stashes, I actually prefer the coke bottles in my MC30's. In my MC240's I love GE & RCA.

OK, a quad new production Tung-Sol 6L6G are on the way, BTW, do you have reliability problem with them? I mean, should I order extra just in case? Thanks.
Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 8.22.55 PM.png
 
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No problems with reliability for me. If you bought from a reputable vendor - not eBay- you'll be fine.
 
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Dropped in Tung Sol new production 6L6GC, they sound great indeed like others mentioned, but I have not critically compare them to the vintage RCA black plate yet.

I changed Telfunken in P1 with 60s Holland made Miniwatt, it is a positive change, less dryness. I don't really feel they give up anything to Tel.

I tried Mullard M8136 and Brimar big yellow T in P2 then went back to RCA black plate for more smoothly sound. Big T is too bright and M8136 has some grains in the vocal, not the best Mullard of this type. On the other hand, M8136 has better bass than RCA. Big T is best sounding with much more extended on both end with very punchy bass and sparkly HF and vocal, excellent 3D feel, but too bad, they are too bright for my taste in MC30 + Tannoy speakers.

P3 tubes do affect the sound of the amp even though not as much as P1 and P2. I replaced the RCA with Miniwatt long plate that made the amps more transparent and helped the RCA with lack of bass issue, vocal temperature stayed about the same but more clarity with the Holland tubes.
 
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