Quote:
Originally Posted by FloridaBoy
Did you get the Haltron 6V6G's from Viva tubes? I think you will be smitten by the 45 amp.
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I did. I like dealing with Viva Tubes. The base is loose on one of the tubes so I got a great deal. They ship fast and have replaced a couple of faulty tubes with no issues.
Spent all yesterday afternoon listening to my friend's custom built 45 amp with Emissions Lab mesh plate 45's, with the Inspire 3.1 preamp. Sounded...okay. They really cannot drive my Altec 604's which is kind of a bummer. They were really working hard to get the 604's woofers moving, which has been my experience with a lot of flea watt amps on these Altecs. Kind of a shrill high end, okay midrange, loose and weak bass. Oh well. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
He also loaned me a Waamamp 45/2a3 amp, which I'm currently listening to with the Emission 45's. Even with smaller output iron and altogether "cheaper" parts--no fancy caps, etc., unlike the other amp--it sounds...better than the "fancy" amp.
There are some vintage Cunningham globe 45's here, but they really pooped out with the Altecs. My sense is that with other speakers this amp and these tubes would be magical but as I've mentioned, the 604's are some finicky speakers.
It's taken a lot of time and money to dial the Inspire combo in to where I feel like I'm getting the best out of the 604's, but I'm very, very happy with where I am with the Inspire stuff and the ALtecs.
May I go ahead and assume that nothing in Dennis's 45 design would be much different from the above 45 amps? FWIW, I think the custom amp is based on a Bottlehead circuit.