Valves Seen On Graham Slee's Desk!

Yes, the V (or T) word has been uttered at 'Slee towers'...

And four valves complete with bases arrived today!



Does this mean I've gone crazy?

Does this mean I've swallowed the marketing man's pill?

I hope not, but I thought I'd try and hear what all the fuss is about and have a go at building a preamp line level stage to see just how good a modern performance can be gotten out of tubes.

These are 12AX7 (ECC83) and 12AU7 (ECC82) tubes suitable for preamp use, and because they are very high output impedance (100k roughly) they'll need the help of some solid-state electronics to make them usable.

Often these days they're used in what's called "plate voltage starvation circuits" -- that's what all these Audiophool things that run off 12V wall-warts are about. (see: http://audio-forum.gspaudio.co.uk/low-voltage-valve-tube-buffers-hybrids-amps_topic2785.html)

But I'm not into making hi-fi fuzz boxes. I want to see how low I can make their distortion and how natural they can be made to sound.

Crazy? I couldn't possibly comment.
Swallowed the pill? hmm.. unlikely I guess

And speaking of tube rolling I have some NOS early 70's Philips matched 6189 SQ's that I am more than happy to to swap for an Accession! 


Edited by DaveG - 29 Jan 2016 at 6:16pm

We all know what happened the last time Graham decided to "dabble" in an area of audio electronics for which he wasn't previously known!