Consonance Ella Diy hifi supply, el34, 6550 or KT88?

[OzMikeH]

Looks like a good kit for a starting point. neat looking chassis with good transformers.

I'm looking for people's impressions of the difference in sound / tone / flavour / smell / texture or whatever between the EL34, the 6550 and the KT88 in this style of manual bias p-p amp topology.

I've done a lot of searching and the kt88 seems harsh, the el34 mellow and the 6550 something in between. That's about all I could find. A lot of the discussion is about their use in guitar amps which is not much help to me.

Please share your experiences with currently available (not NOS) versions of these tubes. I know there are a lot of dodgy kt88 copies out there. I'm mainly interested in differences between the el34 and the 6550. A transparent, detailed amp is my primary aim but I admit I like the look of the old fashioned bulbous glass envelopes given a choice between two otherwise equal tubes.

[GK]

Originally posted by OzMikeH
I'm looking for people's impressions of the difference in sound / tone / flavour / smell / texture or whatever between the EL34, the 6550 and the KT88 in this style of manual bias p-p amp topology.

Unless you intend to eat the tubes, I wouldn’t worry too much about the last three. With respect to the first two, the tubes are only one part of an amplifier and subjective reports generally (if anything) are much more a reflection of a person’s competence at amplifier building than a true gauge of “tube-type sound”.

Also, I really doubt that the KT88 is the only of the three tubes you mention plagued by nasty remakes of questionable reliability.
The 6550 is virtually a drop-in substitute to the KT88. As for the EL34, that’s a lower power tube with a significantly lower cathode current and plate dissipation rating, so a choice between it and the 6550/KT88 really depends on how much power you want.
Then agian, if you only need as much power as, say a pair of EL34’s can provide, then a pair of 6550/KT88’s could arguably do a better job running well below their maximum ratings.

[rhone]

Hi Mike,
I have built and modified an Ella from DIYHifi Supply - great amp, great supplier.
It is a mistake to generalise about the sound of these tube types as so much is dependant on the application and the listeners prejudices.
In my Ella, with my speakers, I prefer the sound of EL34's. They have greater clarity and finesse. I've tried ElectroHarmonix 6CA7, JJ E34L and Valve Art EL34, the EH's are my fave. I wanted to love the KT88's 'cos they look so cool, but they sound relatively boomy and muddled in the mid-bass. Not horribly so but noticeable. These were EH KT88's. Also tried Valve Art 6550 which had the same character but worse.
With EL34's being about half the price, or less, I'd recommend starting with the standard Valve Art EL34 and spending any spare bucks on coupling or power supply caps.
Also running the circiut in triode mode as opposed to the standard ultralinear gives a big improvement in quality. Output power drops by half so your speakers probably need to be on the more sensitive side of average.
Rod

[OzMikeH]

thanks Rod and G.Kleinschmidt.
There are some rather strange words people use to describe sound, I had been reading too many of them at the time.

Exactly the sort of answers I was looking for.
Did you try the kt88 or 6550 in triode mode?
Good to know about the valve art 6550s, I was leaning that way as a starting point because all tubes are a bit expensive around here. around $75 for a GD 6550, $30 for an EH EL34.

My speakers are 95dB fullrangers in a MLTL/TQWT type cabinet. The room is rather big (100m3 and Z shaped). I borrowed a Mr Liang EL34 PP and occasionally found myself running out of power.

I'm looking at the level 3 kit. mainly for long life, reliable tube sockets.

[rhone]

My amp is wired for triode mode so that's how I've used it with all tube types.
I'm in Oz also and I buy my tubes online from the States with no problems. A quad of EH6CA7 or JJ E34L can be had for about 60 US bucks so you can get them to your door for 90-odd Aussie dollars.

[OzMikeH]

who do you use?
I've only been looking at Australian online tube shops.

[rhone]

Parts Connexion, Triode Electronics, TubeStore: all have "dot com" web sites.

[rhone]

Oops! They're not all in the USA - two of them are Canadian, PcX and Tubestore.

[OzMikeH]

Canadian is as close as Kiwi is to ozzie, good enuff for me.
Thanks.

So you like your amp then, I'm about to order one.

[planet10]

PcX is good, i haven't tried tubesrore yet.

dave