for the valve people

hmm, must be something wrong with mine then, cos i dont think the noise im getting is worth 200 quid - im not even sure its worth 100 quid. Apart from the hum ive noticed that the treble has problems, dont know if its distortion, but it sounds like the transients are blurred or getting stuck. Its most prominent on guitars etc, (a good one is Sting's Shape of My Heart) The volume is not that high at all (i know these are low powered). Maybe a different set of valves would help. Anyone experience anything like this? (speakers not overly sensitive - 88db, but shouldnt be a problem at the volumes im using)

 

bottleneck, cheers for the hint. Courtesy of my father's collection of wire and electronics bits I've already got single screened solid core silver wire with a conductor diameter of approx. 0.5mm and a total diameter of 1.5mm which I reckon should do the job as I've already used it in my DIY phono stage.

 

hifikrazy, I think you've got your wires crossed. Bottleneck is referring to the WAD Kel84 kit that I've ordered, instead of the mono blocks, being worth more than £200+. I'm sorry to hear your having problems with the mono block amps from EBay. Have you tried contacting the seller to mention the problems you're having? They might be able to offer some advice. Worth bearing in mind is that with the valves being new it'll take a while for them to settle down and burn-in, so the sound may not be brilliant to begin with. Which make of valves were the amps supplied with?

 

Hiya BL21DE3 - yes i looked back and realised it may look that way. I understand these are probably not as good as the WAD, but ive heard good things about them (and that they are fairly similar to the kecl82 - cant remember exact designation) and was probably expecting a bit more. I have contacted the seller (i bought them directly from him via his website) and i think he will send me a new set of valves (svetlana). I will give them sometime to settle obviously. I always feel bad having to bring such things up, especially as he's been nothing but helpful and friendly. Guess Ill see how i go, its just to me they are not even listenable at the moment. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy building and listening to your amp!

 

a good valve tech should be able to get rid of your hum hifikrazy. Have you taken it to a pro yet?, or are you going to get rid of the hum yourself?

 

The hum isnt the major issue now to be honest. I find the treble problem very irritating. Swtiching back to my Quad 77 is quite startling. The quad on its own is so much cleaner and smoother. I guess ill have to email him. I would like to stress that he's been nothing but helpful, in case anyone was thinking i was bad mouting him or his wares. Totally not the case.

 

Well got back yesterday to discover an email from WAD. Apparently they're in the process of moving offices, thus accounting for the delays in responding to my enquires, however because of this move they are delaying the launch of the 'new' Kel84's. However they are building one last batch of 'original' Kel84's to clear their back-orders. So now I've got to decide if it's worth paying an extra £70 and waiting a month or so for a Kel84 with NOS philips valves and some other tweaks or get an original Kel84 now and tweak it myself. Arrgghh decisions!

 

Why not ask to get it even cheaper than list with no valves whatsoever.

Get some valves from a 3rd party provider!

The ones you get FOC are almost certainly not great.. based on experience of ''get you started free'' valves

 

Bottleneck, that is an option to consider. However the 'new' Kel84 is shipping with NOS Philips valves which I'd assume would be a big improvement over the standard valves they use (JJ's I think). I'm also not sure what other changes they've made to the unit other than the valves and possible cosmetic tweaks. If I were to go the 'old'/no valves route which makes would you recommend as alternatives?

 

not sure, having a look at the circuit, its fairly simple, apart from a few resistor values, I can't see what can be done.
lovely amps tho

 

To be honest I reckon the 'new' model will just have the new NOS valves and a cosmetic tart-up with a few minor component changes. I believe they're reshuffling the range to remove the Kecl82 and replace it with a single input version of the Kel84. I'm seriously considering just taking the 'old' version now rather than hanging on for another month just for the benefit of some NOS valves and component tweaks. Plus I've always got an uneasy feeling about updates, they can either make a good product great or ruin it.

 

JJ's arent bad valves at all. I was expecting them to come with some no name chinese valves of dubious origin!

NOS philips are ok (I quite like them) they can give a bit more detail IMHO, but lack a little warmth/bloom. It seems to be a vague family trait of the american valve.

There are so many different types, its a question of trying different ones over the years in your amp.

I think you can get good valves from many sources, but would encourage getting them from someone that tests/rates valves before selling them.

all the best chris

 

Quick update, just spoke to the very nice bloke in WAD's sales department and arranged to get one of the 'original' Kel84 kits. So hopefully mid to late next week I'll have the kit. Plus to make up for all the delays and mucking my order about they're throwing in a set of the Philips NOS valves instead of the standard JJ ones .