Ian,
..how did you do this?? What changes are need to be made on the PCB in order to make this work?
BTW, the Russian "Reflektor" 6P14P-"EV" and "K" variants are really easy to find on the bay. Just don't pay anything more than $5 per tube. IMHO they are not worth what some sellers are asking, something like $40-50 per a quad is ridiculous for what they are. If you really want to pay that sort of money then I will recommend Sovtek EL84M...which are made in the same Reflektor factory that Sovtek bought out. They look and play identical.
I used aircraft connector pins and sockets, they fit the valve pins and sockets perfectly. Put a pin on one end of a short piece of wire, and a socket on the other, and clear heatshrink both ends for safety. Make up 24 of them. Solid core wire would be best. Its not easy to plug it all in, but adapters are so expensive. The cathode resistors on the output tubes need to be changed to set the plate current, that's the only required change I can think of. Its not very practical (as in, difficult to turn the amp over to work on it), I just did it for an experiment, but it's still there now, still running, one day I will rebuild the amp with 8-pin sockets and point to point wiring.
If its of any interest, this amp uses 6N1P-EV input tubes with a cathodyne phase splitter similar to the Tubelab SPP EL84 amp. Also I fitted mosfet source followers like in the Baby Huey EL84 amp. At one stage it had screen grid regulators and LED arrays as cathode loads like in the Red Light District EL84 amp. See pic from a year ago. Now it is fixed bias, pentode, no feedback, and still has the source followers. Great little amp, in fact, its my missus' favourite.
I will try changing cathode resistors on my Xindak EL84 amp. Nice to hear only a resistor swap is working out since for me that will be the only thing I will be capable of modding. I still need to finish Tubelab SSE and a Millett headphone amp since they got my study table occupied for now.
I still need to finish Tubelab SSE and a Millett headphone amp since they got my study table occupied for now.
I've just seen that the GV-1 isnt avaiable anymore and the 6P15-SV2 is more then a hundered bucks more, i.e. almost twice the price.
Furthermore, the design doesnt make too much sense to me:
http://www.suppomodel.com/audio/pic/6P15SV22.jpg
The almost black elkos are extremly close to the tubes and are determined to get very hot that way (aside from the fact, that enclosed tubes are bound to make everything hotter then necessary). The mains xformer is oriented in the same direction as the OPTs, which should be suboptimal. And last but not least: They write there would be more space for mods; with the GV-1 you could work from below the circuit board, changing and adding things. Now you have to work between the tubes, all components bound to be in extreme proximity to the tubes.
Ergo: Worse design and almost twice the price.
Joe, whyyyyyyyyyy? The most beautiful product for the DIYer - gone.
Furthermore, the design doesnt make too much sense to me:
http://www.suppomodel.com/audio/pic/6P15SV22.jpg
The almost black elkos are extremly close to the tubes and are determined to get very hot that way (aside from the fact, that enclosed tubes are bound to make everything hotter then necessary). The mains xformer is oriented in the same direction as the OPTs, which should be suboptimal. And last but not least: They write there would be more space for mods; with the GV-1 you could work from below the circuit board, changing and adding things. Now you have to work between the tubes, all components bound to be in extreme proximity to the tubes.
Ergo: Worse design and almost twice the price.
Joe, whyyyyyyyyyy? The most beautiful product for the DIYer - gone.
Other projects needed my attention, will finish this one in a few days...
Feel free to comment on my "improvements".
I'll stick to 6N1P's, as I obtained a fairly large number and the ECC85 needed too much design changes. (first stage and feedback)
Excellent suggestion. OneyedK.
So far I only transferred to triode mode and changed prerry much all caps. I left bias on the Front end unchanged. It has been more than a year since I heard it in pentode mode, but for so far I like it. The sound is really a lot cleaner than I remembered and has still enough power for my 90dB speakers.In the weekend I'll try it in my main system.
Regards from Holland! Winter is coming, so are the tubes!
I still have my Suppo GV-1, and I am finally considering the triode mode modification. With this mod, would it be safe to use Russian 6P14P-EV tubes, or does the amp only run 6P15P tubes?
When I play the amp, I hear a little bit of hum building up, and then a crackle with distortion for a split second on the left channel. This goes on until I power off the amp, so I'm thinking a cap or resistor has gone bad somewhere.
When I play the amp, I hear a little bit of hum building up, and then a crackle with distortion for a split second on the left channel. This goes on until I power off the amp, so I'm thinking a cap or resistor has gone bad somewhere.
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6P14P-EV should be fine, biggest problem with this amp is EL84's with pin 1 internally connected to another pin. Measure this before you plug in the 6P14P.
And like tubesteve says, every type of tube needs a bit of different bias, but it's safe to power on and check. It's not like it's going to blow up in the first few minutes.
About the hum and crackles, also check the soldering joints...
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