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Another Pilot thread tonight.

Leland47

Leland47

Super Member
I just got a Pilot 210 preamp....and for the first time listened to my Pilot 232, with the attached via umbilical cord....210 4 tube pre.

WOW...just amazing.

Prior, I had been using a SS Sansui CA2000...which is phenomenal...but the all tube 210.....just amazing. Really a totally different sound. Very full. Very round.

I can imagine the engineering that went into these two pieces of Pilot gear...the 232 amp and 210 preamp.....they were made for each other. They complement each other.

They will be my first "all tube" set-up. :music:
 
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I'm glad to hear that as I also have a 210 preamp as well as 232 and 260 amp.

I also have their first mono combo which is the PA-911 preamp and AA-901 amp.

All still need to be rebuilt, but the AA-901 is first on the list. I have a pair of them. I'm going to build a separate power supply for the 210 as there are threads on AK for that.
 
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I have had all of their tube gear, and still believe that the SP-210 is one of the best sounding vintage preamps ever made. I don't know why. I guess its the simplicity. I have had rebuilt SP-216 and 216 with designer german caps that I did not enjoy as much as the SP-210.

I miss my Pilot gear...but I am too restless to keep anything.
 
.... Forgot to mention that I listen tomy AA-410a's every day as they are my favourite tube amps right now vs W4-AM's with Dave G mods and Dynaco mkIII's with poseidon boards and ST70 with CVD octal board.
 
Hey Tom_r. ....Yes....I've got to do rebuilds too. And nice sounding gear... I see your list after your signature line. I'm a Pilot gear guy too. Pilot SA-232 x3, Pilot 248B, Pilot 602 with stripped chassis...and now a SA-210. :)

WhiteSE....I've followed several of your threads regarding Pilot gear....You use to have a rack full of Pilot gear.....No more? I don't really look at the dates of some of the older threads...and probably should. I couldn't believe that you had a 216.....just an amazing preamp....Fairly rare i would imagine. ( maybe someday.......) But as you say...the SP210 is fantastic.
 
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Confession: :D

I had been listening to the Pilot 232 for quite some time....with the Sansui Pre.
Using it as my Computer sound system...and FM tuner also.

I had tested some other tubes I had....off and on...but always put the "original" tubes back in place. Of the three (first stage?) tubes....all were Telefunken. But 2 were very hard to read the labels..and one...an 12AU7 was not. So I'd put the 12AU7 in the proper socket and then "knew" that the other 2 must be the 12AX7s....

A few days ago....I got to looking at those 3 Telefunkens...and realized...they looked all the same. All 3 were 12AU7s....it seems. I was shocked. LOL

So, I took some Motorola 12ax7s from my tube stash.....and put those in...and the amp sounded much better. I also noticed that while the 3 Telefunkens seemed to all glow about the same....(not very much)....when I put in the Motorola 12AX7s they glow much more than the 12AU7....

Is this possible? I've a lot to learn about tubes.....
 
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Really nice stuff, especially in the right tech hands and money for the best parts. They can be crazy good.:music:
 
WhiteSE said:
I miss my Pilot gear...but I am too restless to keep anything.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth!
Hi Jack.:wave:

Part of the reason I finally sold the only 232 that I had acquired from Redboy years ago was because I could never find a 210 to go with it. So even though I had the 232 for years, I'd never even plugged it in.

Though I still do have a Pilot 245 integrated that I got from Jack years ago. That Nate (Redboy)confirms is almost an exact duplicate of the 232/210 combo onto a single chassis.
 
I know Pilot made a stand alone 232...with the gold cage, but all mine are the aluminum console pulls, without cage.

The sideways orientation of the pots and knobs on the 210....I suppose make it difficult to deal with....I plan on building a platform and stand it on end.

The 245....and the 248B....they are regular stand alone pieces....and much more suited to a "regular" gear set-up.

Its just something about the look of the console pulls I like....perhaps a bit industrial in look...?
 
Leland47 said:
I know Pilot made a stand alone 232...with the gold cage, but all mine are the aluminum console pulls, without cage.

The sideways orientation of the pots and knobs on the 210....I suppose make it difficult to deal with....I plan on building a platform and stand it on end.

The 245....and the 248B....they are regular stand alone pieces....and much more suited to a "regular" gear set-up.

Its just something about the look of the console pulls I like....perhaps a bit industrial in look...?
Click to expand...
Though they aren't seen too often these days, (I still check occasionally) the stand alone SP-210 in it's own case with dedicated power supply all on one chassis with correctly oriented faceplate, while not as common as the vertical case-less console pulls were not too difficult to find, though they tended to be a bit more expensive than the more common console pull variety.

I have no experience with the 246 or 248 amps, but the 245 (I bought from Jack about 10 years ago) and the 245A that I do have are standalone integrateds, with pre and power amps together on the same chassis. With gold faceplates.
 
Oh....I didn't know that Pilot had made a standalone 210. Nice!

I'll have to keep an eye out for one....too ...and a 780 Tuner? to go with my 245B integrated. Edited...248B....

I have to get my 248B rebuilt. Passes an audio signal...but not good.

Saint Johnny are you using your intergrated Pilot 245A....and if so...how do you like it?
 
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Leland47 said:
Oh....I didn't know that Pilot had made a standalone 210. Nice!

I'll have to keep an eye out for one....too ...and a 780 Tuner? to go with my 245B integrated.

I have to get my 248B rebuilt. Passes an audio signal...but not good.

Saint Johnny are you using your integrated Pilot 245A....and if so...how do you like it?
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Hi Leland,
No I'm not using any of my tube gear at the moment, it's all storage, due to a recent move.

The 245A I have is non-functioning at the moment. It needs some minor work, the fuse socket is broken internally.

The 245 I bought from Jack (WhiteSE) also needs some minor resto work, but I had listened to it for quite a few months after I first bought it, and it did sound really really good before I shelved it. For whatever was passing through my collection at that moment. IIRC it was a mint condition, NOS/barely ever used Stromberg-Carlson ASR 433. :D

Here's a picture stolen from 'radiomuseum.com' of the stand alone SP-210
 

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I need to find the time to finish recapping my 232 sometime. Though I've pretty much moved away from push pull tubes entirely, I've got a soft spot for the Pilot stuff.
 
Since the SA-260 was mentioned, what are you guy's thoughts on it? Entertaining the idea of buying one if the price is right. Its the EL34 amp. I've never owned an EL34 rig, and that looks to be a right decent one. The other one that I thought about was the Heathkit 121. I just don't feel like dealing with the opinion quagmire that is the realm of Dynaco :)
 
The 260 is a very nice amp indeed but if you don't need the extra power, the 232 is its better by a decent margin. The 260 has a fairly basic power supply that really benefits from a boost in capacitance and/or the addition of an extra RC stage to reduce noise levels.
 
I've got several EL84 amps, but I've never had an EL34 amp. Not sure that I need the power, but its more a visit to the land of a different topology than anything else.

The one I'm looking at needs a rebuild, so changing some values would probably happen. I'd also consider swapping it to 5AR4's instead of the 5U4 and playing with the first resistor to get voltages back to right. That would be the extra RC stage right there if you add a cap right on the rectifier. It would be upstream of the first voltage tap too. The 5AR4's also pull less current, so the transformer should run a little cooler.


Still highly debatable if I buy it. I'll know in about a half hour, depends if it sells for an amount of money I'm willing to part with. I don't need it, so it becomes much easier to pass on things if the price gets higher than I'm keen on.
 
hmph, well I won. Guess I get to find out what the big deal is about the EL34 sound and Pilot gear. Wonder if this dude will let me go pick it up. Its within drivable distance.
 
I pick it up tomorrow. I didn't want to deal with shipping. Too much chance of damage, etc. Plus the cost. I can drive out there and back for probably the cost of shipping but I don't expect any damage with the amp sitting on the floor of the car. I guess tomorrow I'll evaluate what I've ended up with. I hope the output tubes are usable. I do not have any spares for those.
 
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