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Inspire by Dennis Had Enjoying Vacuum Tube Audio

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  #4831  
Old 08-14-2018, 10:23 AM
Breakdown7 Breakdown7 is offline
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Originally Posted by FloridaBoy View Post
My Inspire is triode and KT88's sounds quite good with a 80/5Y3 rectifier.

TAD, Tube Amp Doctor 6L6GC's are a fine tube and not expensive.
Interesting...I should try a 80/5Y3 with the KT88's. I have both those type rectifiers, but had no idea you could run either of those with KT88's. I was under the impression with KT88's one needed to use either a 5AR4 or 274B. Granted, my amp is a FireBottle and is the Pentode version with up to 12 watts/channel with KT88's. So maybe I should ask Dennis before trying this.

Tube Amp Doctor is a company I had no idea about. Thanks for sharing. Appears they are located in Germany and have reissues of both the GE and RCA type 6L6 type tubes. Anyone happen to have compared these to the original RCA blackplates or GE greyplates? They are much more affordable it seems. Thanks for sharing the recommendation for TAD.

Last edited by Breakdown7; 08-14-2018 at 10:28 AM.
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  #4832  
Old 08-14-2018, 12:55 PM
Bombadil Bombadil is offline
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A 5Y3/80 will have a significant effect on your amp's output power. It is a very low power rectifier, with a Max PmA of just 125. An intermediate step between the 250 PmA of a GZ34 and the 5Y3 is a 5V4G or 5V4GA (old octal 83-V) which has 175 PmA. I happened to collect three of these from an old box of tubes. If you just want to back off a little bit from a GZ34/5AR4/5U4GB then try a 5U4G. These are very common and most don't cost much.

Famous amp builder Bob Latino posted the values for a large list of rectifiers on this page, his is the 3rd post. http://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.co...-vs-5y3-vs-5u4
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  #4833  
Old 08-14-2018, 06:31 PM
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BearCityUSA BearCityUSA is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Breakdown7 View Post
Interesting...I should try a 80/5Y3 with the KT88's. I have both those type rectifiers, but had no idea you could run either of those with KT88's. I was under the impression with KT88's one needed to use either a 5AR4 or 274B. Granted, my amp is a FireBottle and is the Pentode version with up to 12 watts/channel with KT88's. So maybe I should ask Dennis before trying this.

There is no issue running those kt88s with a 5y3. Since it has a significant voltage drop it will effect the sound by supplying less voltage to the pentodes. Less power but also a change in the sound. Now if you are running 6v6/6v6g (not 6v6gt) or 6f6/6f6g you need to provide those with reduced voltage by using a 5y3. Otherwise, including the 6v6 gt, mix and match to find the best sound. “Have at it” as DH would say.
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  #4834  
Old 08-14-2018, 08:54 PM
Breakdown7 Breakdown7 is offline
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Thanks so much for the information guys! It really helps. The combinations possible to roll through these amps are simply amazing to me.
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  #4835  
Old 08-15-2018, 08:04 AM
FloridaBoy FloridaBoy is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Breakdown7 View Post
Interesting...I should try a 80/5Y3 with the KT88's. I have both those type rectifiers, but had no idea you could run either of those with KT88's. I was under the impression with KT88's one needed to use either a 5AR4 or 274B. Granted, my amp is a FireBottle and is the Pentode version with up to 12 watts/channel with KT88's. So maybe I should ask Dennis before trying this.

Tube Amp Doctor is a company I had no idea about. Thanks for sharing. Appears they are located in Germany and have reissues of both the GE and RCA type 6L6 type tubes. Anyone happen to have compared these to the original RCA blackplates or GE greyplates? They are much more affordable it seems. Thanks for sharing the recommendation for TAD.
I have the original GE grey plates but prefer the TAD RCA version. YMMV

The KT88's with a 80/5Y3 is very sweet sounding. No harm in trying.
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  #4836  
Old 08-15-2018, 02:27 PM
Musica Amantem Musica Amantem is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BearCityUSA View Post
There is no issue running those kt88s with a 5y3. Since it has a significant voltage drop it will effect the sound by supplying less voltage to the pentodes. Less power but also a change in the sound. Now if you are running 6v6/6v6g (not 6v6gt) or 6f6/6f6g you need to provide those with reduced voltage by using a 5y3. Otherwise, including the 6v6 gt, mix and match to find the best sound. “Have at it” as DH would say.
In my experience, low voltage drop (VDrop) rectifiers work best for KT88's:

5AR4/GZ34,
5V4-G/GA,
5Z4 (my personal favorite in this context)
83,
83-V

All these range from a max VDrop of 25 to about 15. In the 5Z4 case, it is 17

On another note, the 80 (i.e., 5Y3) VDrop measures at 60, which is the ceiling of Five Volt Fullwave Rectifier Tubes. I have not tried the 80 with my KT88's for this reason, but I can give it a try ...
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Last edited by Musica Amantem; 08-15-2018 at 02:29 PM.
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  #4837  
Old 08-15-2018, 05:58 PM
radio times radio times is offline
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A multitude of post's have been mayflies, fluttering for barely a day or two, yet Dennis stands triumphant in the front rank for decades. I've just gotta have some Had amp action myself now.
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  #4838  
Old 08-15-2018, 07:16 PM
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BearCityUSA BearCityUSA is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by radio times View Post
A multitude of post's have been mayflies, fluttering for barely a day or two, yet Dennis stands triumphant in the front rank for decades. I've just gotta have some Had amp action myself now.


A couple 45 amps were just listed on eBay. Go ahead and hit BUY.
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  #4839  
Old 08-15-2018, 07:44 PM
Bombadil Bombadil is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Musica Amantem View Post
In my experience, low voltage drop (VDrop) rectifiers work best for KT88's:
I am in agreement. But whatever floats your boat is best.
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  #4840  
Old 08-15-2018, 07:49 PM
Bombadil Bombadil is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BearCityUSA View Post
A couple 45 amps were just listed on eBay. Go ahead and hit BUY.
Those are interesting configurations. Dennis doesn't have to source a lot of like tubes to fill a large production run. Those manufacturers usually have to go with new tubes, like Tung-sol 6SN7 and JJ GZ34. I've seen $30K new tube amps stocked with multiple Russian T-S 6SN7s (which I don't like). He builds one-offs with custom tube sets. That one with the Sophia 45s and 5Z3 globe tubes is pretty striking.

Note that on the one using the 80 (5Y3 equivalent) rectifier, he gets just 2 wpc as compared to 3 from the other one.

Last edited by Bombadil; 08-15-2018 at 08:06 PM.
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