The end of the 300b Dream?

[Andy Bartha]

another tube to throw into the conversation is the newer octal EL 509. Single ended use should get something close to 20w. I seem to remember a seeing a schematic on the forum for such an amp with screen drive and using a 6BM8 as an input and driver, I think.

[arnoldc]

[i]The 6c33c sounds excellent and has a very unique tone. It's Probably my favorite tube. [/B]

That's precisely the reason why I wanted to build one. Its got a tone different from popular DHTs I've heard and owned.

[arnoldc]

Originally posted by duderduderini
Hi Jeb
Do you have a reliable source of these tubes?
How would you describe the sound of them.. I dont mind smooth sounding tubes with good bass at all
regards
Nick

I would be interested in a good source as well, as my local friends distributing the BAT said they got theirs expensive.

What I heard from the LAMM + Von Schweikert DB99 was astounding transparency, and palpability. Somewhat spooky really, but it has great tight bass, and high frequency extension to boot.

I was moved while listening to the CD "The Fountains of Bellagio, volume 3"

[Jeb-D.]

I got a box of 10 for $80 on ebay a couple years ago from a guy named Anthony Welsch. There was 1 that was defective, but the rest were good and unused. Now they go for around $15 US each, which is more expensive than before, but way cheaper than a 300B.

What I heard from the LAMM + Von Schweikert DB99 was astounding transparency, and palpability. Somewhat spooky really, but it has great tight bass, and high frequency extension to boot.

That nails it on the head. I didn't want to sound like a fuitcake and say that it has a haunting/eary/spooky tone to it. But, it really does. Glad I'm not the only one who thought so. It has the great midrange presence you would expect from an SE, but it has crystal clear highs. And the bass is definatly not lacking. It is tight by tube amp standards, but still slighly round in some configurations. Which I don't really consider a bad thing, it just gives it a touch of vintage tone.

[tubetvr]

Do you have a reliable source of these tubes?

By directly from Russia at tube.ru or at gstube.com there are no reason to go through one or more distributors that just add to the price. The GStube price is now as low as 9 USD per tube and about 20USD in P&P for a set of 4 tubes . I have bought quite large quantities of 6C33C from this source and had no problems.

In order to avoid problems with the 6C33C follow some simple rules:

Switch on heater only and let it stay for that up to 2 hours

Switch on anode voltage and let the anode current go up to ~200mA and let is stay there for 2 hours.

Re adjust bias after about 10 hours operation.

Always switch on the heater at least 1 minute before anode voltage.

Following these rules you will have reliable tubes withe very long life, I have now used the same set of tubes in my own OTL amp for about 7 years without failure or loss of performance.

Regards Hans

[SHiFTY]

Rather than go for more watts, how about using the watts you have at higher efficiency?

Get a pair of Goodmans or Tannoy 12" full rangers or bass units and build yourself some great sounding, high efficiency speakers.

8 Watts is quite a lot really.