My VERY first tube amp.

MontanaWay wrote:

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:I know a lot of people prefer the look of glass and the glow....but it is near impossible to improve upon a Weber Copper TopWZ34 or WZ68....those things are 88mm flak proof!!!!!!!!

I live with the copper-caps, too, but Holger I gotta tell ya when you light up a pair of Mullard GZ-33s in the middle of winter, the house lights go dim and the dog gets out of your lap 'cuz he doesn't need the heat anymore and the bass plumps up just ever so nice. Just don't ever blow one up; they're about $150 to replace.

oh no doubt!....but at that cost....looking pretty aint worth that much!!!

You've never been to a Bangkok pole-dancing hangout, have you?

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:

deepee99 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:I know a lot of people prefer the look of glass and the glow....but it is near impossible to improve upon a Weber Copper TopWZ34 or WZ68....those things are 88mm flak proof!!!!!!!!

I live with the copper-caps, too, but Holger I gotta tell ya when you light up a pair of Mullard GZ-33s in the middle of winter, the house lights go dim and the dog gets out of your lap 'cuz he doesn't need the heat anymore and the bass plumps up just ever so nice. Just don't ever blow one up; they're about $150 to replace.

oh no doubt!....but at that cost....looking pretty aint worth that much!!!

You've never been to a Bangkok pole-dancing hangout, have you?

yes, I've been to Patpong Road!.........

deepee99 wrote:

Jim McShane wrote:"Keep an eye out for an old Mullard GZ34 - same ratings, but much more robust than today's production."


I'm not so sure that's true - or as true as it once was. The new production Genalex and Tung-Sol have been bulletprof. Only time will tell, but IMHO you don't have to pay for old stock anymore to get a high quality and durable rectifier tube.

Jim, anyone making a decent GZ-33 anymore? I hate the cost of those NOS Mullards.

No one I know of, sorry to say...

Jim McShane wrote:

deepee99 wrote:

Jim McShane wrote:"Keep an eye out for an old Mullard GZ34 - same ratings, but much more robust than today's production."


I'm not so sure that's true - or as true as it once was. The new production Genalex and Tung-Sol have been bulletprof. Only time will tell, but IMHO you don't have to pay for old stock anymore to get a high quality and durable rectifier tube.

Jim, anyone making a decent GZ-33 anymore? I hate the cost of those NOS Mullards.

No one I know of, sorry to say...

Jim, would the -34s you mention pull enough mud for an M-125 with KT-120s?

I have no regrets making my VTA ST120 with solid state rectifiers.  I've lost too many 5AR4 tubes to my old ST70 and MkIV's.  I put 2 diodes in series per leg of the half-wave rectifier.  Have had no issues and since the amp runs through a variac at 117VAC the increased voltage is manageable.

Interesting information about the tube rectifier. I'm currently running a JJ GZ34 tube. I've read around that its not a terrible choice. I did order the new HVT and will be replacing the old one soon. Switching to SS rectifier may be an option but for now I just like the look of it.

Tevian wrote:Interesting information about the tube rectifier. I'm currently running a JJ GZ34 tube. I've read around that its not a terrible choice. I did order the new HVT and will be replacing the old one soon. Switching to SS rectifier may be an option but for now I just like the look of it.  

I'm with you there, Tevian. From my expensive experience, rectifier behaviour depends upon speaker load. If you can keep your speak load up above 3 or 4 ohms, with the output xformers tapped appropriately, you'll not hear a difference between the Webers and the much spendier, albeit sexier, tubes. When I was running Maggies and AMTs in series, which dropped the load down below 2 ohms, the Webers would last about a month between meltdowns but my GZ-33 Mullards could stand it.
With newer speaks (which pull about 4 ohms nominal), no worries. I was blaming the Weber failures on line voltage and/or poor QC but the speaker load was the variable, at least in my case, and we get some pretty hot line voltages around here, up around 122.
Tube amps are a lot fussier than sand amps but ya gets what ya pays for.
To sKIZo, quit blowing your amps up. It's not polite. See you in Montana.

deepee99 wrote:

Jim McShane wrote:

deepee99 wrote:

Jim McShane wrote:"Keep an eye out for an old Mullard GZ34 - same ratings, but much more robust than today's production."


I'm not so sure that's true - or as true as it once was. The new production Genalex and Tung-Sol have been bulletprof. Only time will tell, but IMHO you don't have to pay for old stock anymore to get a high quality and durable rectifier tube.

Jim, anyone making a decent GZ-33 anymore? I hate the cost of those NOS Mullards.

No one I know of, sorry to say...

Jim, would the -34s you mention pull enough mud for an M-125 with KT-120s?

They are run so close to their limits I would not recommend them. You can use them with the diode mod, but a copper cap is likely the best bet. I believe Bob makes the same recommendation.

Jim, thanks.
I've had no grief with the Webers since I got my speaker impedance issue resolved. I keep the GZ-33s for winter when the gas company shuts my furnace off or I want to impress visiting royalty.
BTW, did you mean triode mode?

deepee99 wrote:Jim, thanks.
I've had no grief with the Webers since I got my speaker impedance issue resolved. I keep the GZ-33s for winter when the gas company shuts my furnace off or I want to impress visiting royalty.
BTW, did you mean triode mode?

No, I meant the diode mod for the rectifier hookup. It's in the sticky threads.

Jim McShane wrote:

deepee99 wrote:Jim, thanks.
I've had no grief with the Webers since I got my speaker impedance issue resolved. I keep the GZ-33s for winter when the gas company shuts my furnace off or I want to impress visiting royalty.
BTW, did you mean triode mode?

No, I meant the diode mod for the rectifier hookup. It's in the sticky threads.

Gotcha. Guess there's pros and cons on that topic. Think I'll try not to fix what ain't broken ... Thanks, Jim, you have been a huge help to me and the KT-88s and -120s I've bought from you over the years have never gone south.

Thread drift here, but how are the guys at New Sensor doing?

So far so good I guess - they don't share a lot of business info. But there's been no supply interruptions I know of other than the occasional back order which can always occur.

Thanks SO much for the kind words too!

New Sensor?? I quit buying any tubes from them, their prices are higher than just about any body else out there!!
Unless buying more than a hundred of any one item. Their quantity 10 prices are higher than almost anyone elses single tube prices.