my 300B SET project

[Maxamillion]

That's the ones I have. :thmbsp:

I thought I read that someplace, or it might have been Maxamillion, he used them in a diode-biased 7193 preamp.

Just saw this. Yes, I did use the Cree diodes in a 7193 preamp, with a cascoded CCS on the plate. Very nice sounding combo. I used four in series for ~3.4V bias.

I'm now running a 26 DHT preamp, and the 7193 modded Supratek is in storage, until I get a turntable so I can use the phono stage.

 

[Maxamillion]

I'm also using the Cree Diodes to bias the 6E5P input/driver stage of my "Midlife Crisis" amps. Sound great there, too!

 

[Dave C]

That's some fine looking gear Maxamillion!

 

[Jeffery]

A few weeks ago I put the pearl amps back under the knife and installed B+ delays and decided to replace the 12BH7A tubes with the 5814 version of the 12AU7A. I hooked them back into my "A" system today for a listen. I'm here to tell you that in my circuit this is THE tube! It totally outshines the 12BH7. From everything I read I wouldn't have believed this without hearing it myself. The 5814's I used were random tubes salvaged from a couple of old aircraft radios I had laying under the bench. More listening tonight!

What differences did you notice from 12BH7A to 5814? Are these amps still using the 7193 input, and if so have they had the CCS mod?

 

[Dave C]

The 5814 has much more openness in it's sound than the 12BH7A I have several pair of 12BH7As that I bought for comparison and these untested 5814s trumped them all. I don't have CCS driving them but they are diode biased and run at about 145V, bias at 5.6V. The 5814 drives the 7193. The chrome amps still sound a bit more open or transparent but the pearls have a very addictive sound also.

 

[tube-a-lou]

Wow looks great and it most likely sounds great as well.

Tube

 

[Dave C]

A great afternoon at the house today. Sitting among my gear is some nice Redboy gear as well. We had a small get together and legendary audiokarma personalities Redboy and SET12 were present. A great time was had!

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[ejfud]

Wow, that room is filled with some darn nice equipment in every corner! Wish I could have been there. Hope you guys had a great day.

 

[jaymanaa]

Paradise found.

 

[Redboy]

It was great fun! I took some photos that I'll post up later...

 

[Dave C]

It was very nice having you over Nate, You've got some great sounding amps and accessories. I hope we can get together again sometime.

 

[No Regrets]

Hi Dave,

I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to you and your wife for hosting such a wonderful gathering for your audio friends. What a great afternoon, with good food, drink, music and gear…but most of all, the comradery of great friends.

You are a talented man, Dave. I really enjoyed hearing your system and really loved your amplifiers. It was great fun comparing both sets of mono blocs as well as the different types of driver tubes. It's amazing how just changing that single tube how it can affect the entire character of the amplifier. I have read that to some people, the type and quality of the driver tube has more influence on the sound of an amplifier than what the actual output tube does.

I think the other big audio influence today was brought on by Nate's passive preamp (in comparison to just using your digital volume pot from your cd player). It really helped maintain your systems resolution and made the music even more enjoyable. Something that you might want to consider….

It was nice meeting some new people, seeing some old friends, and being able to finally put a name with a face, as it were with Red Boy. Thanks Nate for making the trip!

I'll try and attach a few photos from the meet.

Thanks again Dave…..it was great fun!

Warmest Regards,
Don aka No Regrets

 

[Redboy]

I'm really glad I was able to make the trip. It was great to put faces and names to some of the online personas that I have "known" for years, now! Dave was a great host - he and his wife entertained graciously and I felt very welcome in their beautiful home.

It was good to meet some of the other guys, too!

The afternoon was pretty laid back. We started with Dave's vinyl front end and his first 300B monoblocks, and the sound was very good indeed. I hope he'll fill us in with the details again, here, but it was really good stuff. We listened to several albums of different genres, and eventually brought some CDs into the mix. A little later we swapped Dave's other 300B amps into the system. They're very similar but they have different input tubes and different primary impedances on the output transformers. It was fun to hear how even these subtle differences translate into different sound...


Some pictures, as promised.

The host:

His creations:

 

[Redboy]

 

[Redboy]

Some people shots...

 

[Jeffery]

Looks like a great little get together!

 

[Dave C]

All I can say guys is Thanks for coming over, by the smiles on everyones faces in the pictures I guess you all had a good time. It was also very nice to be able to have most of my "audio heros" together to visit with. BTW guys, I did put the Royal Princess tubes in the pearl amps. You might have to come back for a listen!

 

[Dave C]

Last June I bought a matched pair of Genalax 12AU7A tubes for the Pearl amps. I found these tubes to be by far the best sounding 12AU7 tubes in these amps. The depth and breath of the music was much better. I switched between my Mesh plate 300Bs and my Royal Princess 300Bs to compare. I actually thought the mesh plates sounded better with the Genalax 12AU7's than the Royal princess tubes did. The princess tubes made the amps sound a little to warm.

Moving forward to last week, I set the room up the way it was before the spring get together and switched back to the polished amps with the Royal princess tubes. This set up really does blow me away, depth and holographic sound that you just don't want to turn off even if you're falling asleep! I will have to do some serious thinking about it yet but I may pull the 12AU7 tubes from the pearl amps and install a 7193 as I have in the polished amps. I feel that tube offers superior sound.

 

[Jeffery]

I always enjoy hearing about your experiences with these amps, and really find your impressions of the 7193 interesting.

 

[Dave C]

After better than a year of pure pleasure listening to music I decided to do an upgrade. I didn't have to do anything to amps other than turn up the volume controls all the way. Between the preamp and the amp I installed a set of Transformer volume controls. (TVCs from Dave Slegle) I had Alps pots in the amps but had the chance a while back to hear the difference TVCs make. The sound stage is wider, the breath is really in the music and the separation and layering is really amazing. One thing good about the Wisconsin winters, you can put other things aside and work on the audio gear! If you're wondering what direction to go on your system, consider looking into a good set of TVCs.