Been playing with valve amps

Hi guys

The Quad II's should need no introduction. 12watts KT66. I felt this sounded the best in the midrange (just), but lacked openess in the treble and bass was slightly diminished. Not a problem with stand mounts but obvious on the Tannoys.

My home built were configured with EF86 splitter/ECC82 driver/EL34 power. A better bet in the bass (marginally better than the ST20), but the treble was very rolled off. I might have a play around with it sometime, but not really that worried.

The ST20 was best overall. No small part was that it really good in the treble, airy and open, standard good mid and pretty solid bass.

A nice day out and again thank Mrs Dev for the great bhaji's.
 
ST20 stands for stereo 20, hence 10watts per channel. The equivalent mono amps are the TL12 which, because it has a seperate transformer, manages to produce 12watts.
 
Dev said:
I really like the Leak but also like the idea of building something, so after trying a couple more amps, I'll decide. What I have decided though is that I hate Ian :grrr:. It's all his fault. He told me that my speakers are ideal for a valve amp and lent me his ST20 to prove it. How can something this old and low-powered sound so good?
Click to expand...

:-)

-- Ian
 
Have you borrowed any WAD amps yet Dev?

If you ever fancy a day trip (with some heavy lifting), how about popping the Tannoys in the car and driving up to MK?

We've got WAD and Glasshouse, both of whom are based in the next village. I'd probably be able to get my hands on some UKD valve products too (like unison research) if you wanted.

Just a thought.
 
Hi Chris, Dean is right, WAD are in Essex, I think only about half an hour drive (with a following wind:)) from me. I did borrow a KaT6550 for a few days and liked it, not as much as the Leak, but it was a good amp. I'm going to borrow 300BPPs next.

I'd love a day out and try a number of amps with my Tannoys but these things weigh about 40Kg each. So transporting them is not an attractive proposition. What's stopping you coming around mine? :)
 
sorry didnt realize WAD had moved!

Glad to come over anytime mate :) I just thought that WAD and Glasshouse were both in walking distance.. didnt realize they'd moved :( bummer
 
Hi guys, I'm going to regret this post but after receiving a couple of PM asking for an update I think perhaps I should.

After Lee and I listened to his amps, he decided to buy a power amp kit for me from a friend of his who reckons this 7-8WPC amp should sound as good as the Leak. Given the very reasonable price of the kit, I agreed, thinking what have I got to lose? Even if I don't like the amp, it should still give me some practice to build something better later. If I like it, RESULT:). I'll let Lee provide details of the kit.

The bad news is that on most evenings recently I've been too busy to do anything with the amp. TBH, I haven't even had a chance to listen to any music lately:(. It doesn't look like this is going to change for a while either. So please don't expect an update soon Lee/Ian:).
 
For the record, it uses a 14F7 (with CCS) driving a Paralled Push Pull of 6S4A triodes. Not my design BTW, but a guy I know from another list (Andy Evans, who can be found on rec.audio.tubes and audioasylum)
 
The leaks are fab and when restored (properly) make a fantastic amp. Im glad your getting into valves, for me theres nothing else. Whatever SS Ive listend they always have that harsh sound.
 
my first valve amp was a haden boardman...heard of him?

I currently have some of his spx. and pretty good too.

leak tl12 plus, it sounded fantastic, that must have been 5 yrs ago.

I have since had a journey discorvering the joys of valves.

Interesting enough, along the way, there is a site that tests loads of vintage transformers, and the leak measure terrible in engineering terms, really bad.

yet the amps sound wonderful, just goes to show what I have been banging on all along, if it don't measure fine, it can still sound wonderful.

by 2 nite I will now have 2 wad push pull 300b amps and by the end of the weekend, these will both be monoblocked and will have 60 watts of zero feedback 300b power, with


8 300bs :eek: its gonna cost me when they all blow :(

I would happily put them up against a border patrol, manley, actually, is that sexist? shouldn't it be personly :D ,
renaissance and any other 300b pp amp. probably one of the best amps in the world.
 
I liked my Leak ST20, but preferred my Quad II's despite their obviously coloured warm and woolly sound. The ST20 had much better clarity, and with a decent passive pre they had reasonable bass (tight), but there's just something about those Quads........

Saying that, the Quads are comfortably outclassed by the Beam Echo DL7-35's that I had, and they use the same mullard circuit as the Leak TL25 I believe. Sadly I have a major cash flow prob and the Beam Echo's have had to go, boo hoo.

But, I'm planning to go against popular opinion and rebuild my Quads, in the belief that modern components may open the sound up a bit.

I'm rambling again....what was this thread about?

Tannoys and valves......Mmmmmm.
 

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