I’ve been moving some amplifiers around today, listening to some that have been idle for a while and doing a little side-by-side comparison. And I’ve been reminded of a very important fact about amplifier performance.
Continue readingA while back in this post, “6L6 SE-UL Primed for Progress“, I mentioned that I would no longer be painting the exposed bottom plates of projects which won’t be seen. What that statement actually meant was that I would be leaving the aluminum in a bare “as delivered” finish. Or maybe with just a little steel wool polishing. But I’m now modifying that stance slightly.
Continue readingI added a note to the end of the 6AS7 “Purpleheart” SET amplifier page concerning power tube variability and their use in this amp.
Continue readingWith all the distractions this week, I’m not quite as far along as I would have hoped. But all the top plate wiring is done, the power supply sections are complete, and the 6AS7 power stage is complete.
Continue readingI really haven’t had as much free time this week as I thought I would. But, in spite of other tasks taking priority, I’ve managed to get the iron for the SET all wired into the top plate.
Continue readingI managed to make good progress on the assembly of the 6AS7 SET today. In addition to getting all the hardware and iron mounted in the chassis and on the top plate, I’ve actually started wiring.
Continue readingI managed to eke out a little time to work on the 6AS7 SET top plate this afternoon. I didn’t get a lot done but at least I’ve finally started.
Continue readingAfter many delays and distractions I have finally finished the 6AS7 SET chassis and have begun assembly.
Continue readingIt’s been a productive few days. Two different amp projects are coming along nicely and today I’ve reached a milestone.
Continue readingFor the last few days I’ve been applying oil to the SET chassis. It now has four coats of oil, cured and buffed out. There’s only one decision left for the chassis.
Continue readingThis morning as I sat down in my office to check email and the like, I looked over at the amp in the corner of the room and made a snap decision. It was time to perform a SET swap.
Continue readingThis afternoon I’ve been working on another amplifier project. This particular one is the 6L6 SE-UL for which some readers have been looking since I published my Optimization of the 6L6 SE-UL page back in March of 2019. I recently realized that it had been three years since I published that data set and that it was probably time for me to get the project started. So this afternoon I’ve been investigating driver stages for the amp.
Continue readingIt looks like the weather has finally broken here at CascadeTubes and spring has arrived. Yesterday, the 6AS7 SET chassis got its first coat of oil. The purple heart used for this chassis is definitely much deeper in tone than that used on the The 6DJ8 Headphone Amp.
Continue readingI took some time this week to get several coats of oil on the chassis for the Dual Triode Test Station. Even though I’ve already used it for the mystery tube investigation and to compare some 12AU7s, it’s good to have it finally complete.
Continue readingI’m working on two projects simultaneously right now; the 6AS7 SET and the Triode Test Jig. In the last couple of days I’ve made progress on both. However now I appear to be at an impasse.
Continue reading