Dennis Had Inspire Amps

[khashmi]

Originally Posted by C10

There is one on ebay right now.

OMG, thank you! Just pulled the trigger!

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by khashmi

OMG, thank you! Just pulled the trigger!

Congrats! It has been one of my best purchases. I actually did it as an impulse buy, I didn't even have speakers at the time!

[khashmi]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

Congrats! It has been one of my best purchases. I actually did it as an impulse buy, I didn't even have speakers at the time!

Thanks Isaac, you know what this means right…pretty soon I might be picking your collective brains on rolling alternatives.

Since I have the Scihiit Audio Freya Plus tube preamp, I have already collected a bunch of NOS 6SN7 tubes including a couple from the VT-231 WW2 variety including Ken-Rad, Sylvania, and RCA Grey Glass. In addition, I also have 2 pairs of Melz 5 hole late (1950’s and early 1960’s), which are my favorite, and a pair of CBS Hytron 5692’s. Also have pairs of 1950’s Sylvania GTA and GTB and new production Electro Harmonix that came stock with the Freya, but haven’t seen the light of day since I started rolling. At least, I can start rolling with the driver tubes first and work my way to rectifier and power tubes next.

Excited!

[OldTube Guy]

Originally Posted by C10

There is one on ebay right now.

There was one on ebay.

[C10]

Originally Posted by khashmi

OMG, thank you! Just pulled the trigger!

Awesome! Glad to hear! I have his 300b-v paired with the LP-2030. Amazing stuff!

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by khashmi

Thanks Isaac, you know what this means right…pretty soon I might be picking your collective brains on rolling alternatives.

Since I have the Scihiit Audio Freya Plus tube preamp, I have already collected a bunch of NOS 6SN7 tubes including a couple from the VT-231 WW2 variety including Ken-Rad, Sylvania, and RCA Grey Glass. In addition, I also have 2 pairs of Melz 5 hole late (1950’s and early 1960’s), which are my favorite, and a pair of CBS Hytron 5692’s. Also have pairs of 1950’s Sylvania GTA and GTB and new production Electro Harmonix that came stock with the Freya, but haven’t seen the light of day since I started rolling. At least, I can start rolling with the driver tubes first and work my way to rectifier and power tubes next.

Excited!

I’ve got a whole tube rolling thread ion this forum. Gone a bit nuts with it really… My latest bit of madness is getting an external power supply and special adapter so that I can use my stash of 12sn7 and other variations (2c50, 12sx7, etc.). That’ll be here in several weeks. I have Tungsol round plate and the Sylvania “Bad boys” in 12sn7, much more affordable!

I too have the Freya+ Although I typically use it in the passive mode. I also have a Supratek Cabernet which i use when I want/need more gain or just like the sound. I can use 12sn7 or 6sn7 in that.

I’ve heard great things about those 5 hole Melz tubes. Haven’t gone down the Russian rabbit hole yet. I’m obsessing over the British tubes. Been using the BL63 and I have some ecc31 and adapters coming next month. The Firebottle can use tubes with really heavy filament draw that many other amps can’t.

[khashmi]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

I’ve got a whole tube rolling thread ion this forum. Gone a bit nuts with it really… My latest bit of madness is getting an external power supply and special adapter so that I can use my stash of 12sn7 and other variations (2c50, 12sx7, etc.). That’ll be here in several weeks. I have Tungsol round plate and the Sylvania “Bad boys” in 12sn7, much more affordable!

I too have the Freya+ Although I typically use it in the passive mode. I also have a Supratek Cabernet which i use when I want/need more gain or just like the sound. I can use 12sn7 or 6sn7 in that.

I’ve heard great things about those 5 hole Melz tubes. Haven’t gone down the Russian rabbit hole yet. I’m obsessing over the British tubes. Been using the BL63 and I have some ecc31 and adapters coming next month. The Firebottle can use tubes with really heavy filament draw that many other amps can’t.

Yeah, it took a lot of research and persistence to secure the 5 hole Melz variant (lot’s of fakes in the market) at a price I was willing to bear, but it’s been worth it. The VT-231 variety are a close second (and among them the Ken-Rad for low end and the RCA for midrange). Stayed away from the bad boys as I was told, they weren’t optimal for the Freya, but perhaps the Inspire amp will be more forgiving. Haven’t lucked out with the Tung Sol BGRP just yet. One British tube I keep hearing about is the Brimar, so that’s on the radar, along with the Raytheon VT-231. I believe with the Inspire amp, I no longer have to be dependent on buying matched pairs.

I’ll definitely check it out your other thread! Curious on your use of the passive mode though. I thought tube stage would be the way to go to achieve that extra gain or do you prefer to only hear the tubes on the Inspire amp at any given time to evaluate their signature better? Asking because I only use the tube stage almost exclusively for 2 channel and thought that marrying that with a tube amp would take it sonic nirvana even further.

[nhparrot]

Just received a LP-3 trade in from Dennis to mate up with my 6L6 Firebottle. Sounds fantastic! Thanks Dennis.

[Isaacc7]

Originally Posted by khashmi

Yeah, it took a lot of research and persistence to secure the 5 hole Melz variant (lot’s of fakes in the market) at a price I was willing to bear, but it’s been worth it. The VT-231 variety are a close second (and among them the Ken-Rad for low end and the RCA for midrange). Stayed away from the bad boys as I was told, they weren’t optimal for the Freya, but perhaps the Inspire amp will be more forgiving. Haven’t lucked out with the Tung Sol BGRP just yet. One British tube I keep hearing about is the Brimar, so that’s on the radar, along with the Raytheon VT-231. I believe with the Inspire amp, I no longer have to be dependent on buying matched pairs.

I’ll definitely check it out your other thread! Curious on your use of the passive mode though. I thought tube stage would be the way to go to achieve that extra gain or do you prefer to only hear the tubes on the Inspire amp at any given time to evaluate their signature better? Asking because I only use the tube stage almost exclusively for 2 channel and thought that marrying that with a tube amp would take it sonic nirvana even further.

I originally got the Freya+ to pair with some active monitors. I found the tube section to help out with the sound. When I bought the Firebottle and then some passive speakers (Phase Technology PC 3.5), I found that the tube section just doesn't sound as good to me. With the Firebottle the tube section of the Freya+ sounds veiled and it's missing some detail. To be fair that is exactly what I would expect from putting another gain stage into the chain. You can't add clarity, only obscure it.

As crazy as I am about tube rolling, and I am certifiable, I never did much with the Freya. A big problem I have with it is that using adapters is a real pain. I have simply refused to pay the money that the best 6sn7 tubes go for these days. On the other hand, I've never met an adapter I didn't like lol. Love 7n7 and 6f8g. I have put in some run of the mill Sylvania and RCA 6sn7 into the Freya and I've tried some sylvania 6sl7w tubes in it as well.

I bought a Supratek Cabernet which is also an 6sn7 based preamp but it is a completely different beast. I have found that it does not suffer as much clarity and detail loss as the Freya+. It better outperform the Freya+, it cost me almost 4 times the price! Diminishing returns are a bitch though, my system certainly isn't 4 times better sounding! I can use either 6sn7 or 12sn7 in it and so I have bought the 12v versions of tubes instead of paying the crazy premium of 6v.

Adding a gain stage can make you go crazy though. I also had a short thread here about my difficulty getting better sound with the Supratek. I eventually figured it out but it was frustrating. Tube combos that sounded amazing in the Firebottle using the passive sounded much worse when I used a gain stage. Or at least they sounded really different. And while you might think you have a good grasp on the "character" of a tube, they can combine in unexpected ways across gain stages. I usually end up with different tube combos in the Firebottle if I use the active preamp. Tube rolling in the amp usually requires tube rolling in the preamp to get the best sound. That's a lot of moving parts!

[PaulInWA]

Originally Posted by Isaacc7

I originally got the Freya+ to pair with some active monitors. I found the tube section to help out with the sound. When I bought the Firebottle and then some passive speakers (Phase Technology PC 3.5), I found that the tube section just doesn't sound as good to me. With the Firebottle the tube section of the Freya+ sounds veiled and it's missing some detail. To be fair that is exactly what I would expect from putting another gain stage into the chain. You can't add clarity, only obscure it.

As crazy as I am about tube rolling, and I am certifiable, I never did much with the Freya. A big problem I have with it is that using adapters is a real pain. I have simply refused to pay the money that the best 6sn7 tubes go for these days. On the other hand, I've never met an adapter I didn't like lol. Love 7n7 and 6f8g. I have put in some run of the mill Sylvania and RCA 6sn7 into the Freya and I've tried some sylvania 6sl7w tubes in it as well.

I bought a Supratek Cabernet which is also an 6sn7 based preamp but it is a completely different beast. I have found that it does not suffer as much clarity and detail loss as the Freya+. It better outperform the Freya+, it cost me almost 4 times the price! Diminishing returns are a bitch though, my system certainly isn't 4 times better sounding! I can use either 6sn7 or 12sn7 in it and so I have bought the 12v versions of tubes instead of paying the crazy premium of 6v.

Adding a gain stage can make you go crazy though. I also had a short thread here about my difficulty getting better sound with the Supratek. I eventually figured it out but it was frustrating. Tube combos that sounded amazing in the Firebottle using the passive sounded much worse when I used a gain stage. Or at least they sounded really different. And while you might think you have a good grasp on the "character" of a tube, they can combine in unexpected ways across gain stages. I usually end up with different tube combos in the Firebottle if I use the active preamp. Tube rolling in the amp usually requires tube rolling in the preamp to get the best sound. That's a lot of moving parts!

Not to add to your tube rolling burden but if the Firebottle KT88 supports 6SL7 tubes you might want to give those a try. In my Had Universal SET the 6SL7 tubes are much more dynamic and lively sounding and have quite a bit more gain. They are also usually cheaper than 6SN7 tubes.