Transcendar is Branching Out

[wrenchone]

Those who check E-pay regularly (I admit that vice) will note that Transcendar has brought back the 15W SE transformer (in addition to several regular 10W contenders) and introduced a pair of 5k P-P transformers (30W and 50W). I'm pretty much over-subscribed in the output iron department for the time being ( I just got finished hauling most of it down to the basement, so I know it viscerally), so I'm not busting a gut to grab any of these recent offerings. Those who are curious might want to check it out. I'm especially curious about the subjective quality of the new P-P iron. If I wasn't all awash in vintage Fisher/Scott iron, I'd be on it in a flash. So much iron, so little time...

[HollowState]

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of the 15W 3K SE jobs on epay. As I remember I paid $110 for them. I've always been a push-pull person, but I have some WE 300B's that I should put to use before I kick-off. I haven't used them yet, but they do make a nice looking transformer. And they do something that I've never seen before. They tightly wrap the outside of the laminations with a black colored woven cloth. Not exactly sure why they to this, perhaps just for looks. I decided not to remove an end cover to see how it was gapped just in case that might affect it. But I've only ever heard good things about their transformers.

[Troncones]

I'm impressed with my Transcendar's. I have a pair of 10W 5K SE. They hold up nicely down to about 15hz and I think I ran them up to 100Khz (can't find my notes) without any noticeable distortion. I'm easily getting over 5W out of them with 6BQ5s and a bit more with 6P14Ps. And they sound really good.

[kheper]

On their website, they are selling the same new and old transformers that are offered in their ebay store. The 3K 20W SE looks nice, but it is $250.

I picked up a pair of their 5K PP UL 30W transformers on ebay 5 years ago for $90 BIN. Really nice iron for that price. There were a few scratches on the bells, however.

[wrenchone]

I hadn't checked their web site in a while. I was intrigued by the high power P-P offerings. I'll be curious about what the price will be for the 200W P-P iron.

[tubelab.com]

A couple of years ago I bought a pair of the 15W 3K SE jobs on epay......They tightly wrap the outside of the laminations with a black colored woven cloth

I got a pair of those transformers. I hooked them up, cranked them up, then called him up! I talked with Gerry and made a deal to buy 20 more. He said that those particular transformers were made for a customer that was building SE 300B amps. The cloth tape was at the customers request. It does collect dust over a 5 year period, at least here in the Florida humidity. He said that those particular transformers were leftover from a customer run and when they were gone.....they were gone.

He said that he was semi retired from the industrial transformer business and just made audio transformers when he felt like it.

Of course I made 300B amps with most of the OPT's but there are still a few around here somewhere according to my inventory spreadsheet. A pair went into my Industrial SSE amp and are fed by KT88's running on 450 volts at 100 mA. I connect my "8 ohm" speakers to the 4 ohm tap to generate a 6000 ohm load.

[fullrangeSR]

Originally Posted by kheper

(...) The 3K 20W SE looks nice, but it is $250. (...)

I just bought a pair. So far hooked 'em up to a RH84 (as 6K), to a Simple SE (6V6; as 6K) and then to a 2A3 (as 3K). They're worth every penny.

[kheper]

Originally Posted by fullrangeSR

I just bought a pair. So far hooked 'em up to a RH84 (as 6K), to a Simple SE (6V6; as 6K) and then to a 2A3 (as 3K). They're worth every penny.

Great. I'll be saving up for a pair. The amp I made with the 30W PP outputs is an 807 @380V B+. Sweet sounding amp.

[wrenchone]

To put things in perspective, that's not a lot more than a pair of butt-ugly Hammonds of similar rating, and you get nice teflon lead wires.

[August]

I'm wondering if the bigger PP would suit my big red board. If the 50W continuous rating is conservative, would I be able to use them on a 70-90W version of Pete's amp? I see they also have an 80W version, but that has UL taps.