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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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Tubes Asylum Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ |
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In Reply to: opinions desired: 2A3 vs 45 vs 845 vs 300B.......... posted by radiance on June 29, 2006 at 16:13:41:
Hi,In the amplifiers where I have heard 845's so far (all new production BTW) they sounded opaque, dull and terminally boring. I have not really heard ANY 845 amplifier that I did not dislike almost instantly. I have not yet heard any of the low power 845 Amplifiers.
The 211 has much less of this plodding, dull charater but can tends towards brightness, but if you need more power than a 300B or one of the "super 300B" Valves can give it is probably the best choice..
That is the two high power ones out of the way.
I have written extensively elsewhere on the variety of 300B "analogue" valves (many of them are not strictly 300B's) and I would say that with the variety of brands and constructions as well the huge range of differences in subjective sound the best choice for a DHT Amplifier might be a 300B one.
Changing the output valve between (say) Valve Art Copper Anode 4300B, TJ Mesh Anode 300B and Sovtek 300B gives you almost the amut from a sound nearly as bright and whited out as 2A3's over something that has a lot of the good parts of the 45 with 300B power to something that sounds to my ears related to an 845. What this means is that there is not really a "300B sound" and you should be able to find a combination of valves in the amplifier that will suit the rest of your system.
Try making it an amplifier that does not run the 300B near it's limits, I prefer a 400V/60mA/5K load operating point for the 300B, which sounds quite different from the more common operation.
Onwards I find the chinese double anode 2A3's suck. I hate the threadbare, whiteout tonality of these. Might make a good driver for an 845 though, it sound the polar opposite to my ears. I did not really get to spend enough time with modern single anode 2A3's to be able to comment on them, excluding the Sovtek 2A3 which sounds a lot like the Sovtek 300B and looks like a scaled down version.
Among the really low powered stuff I find little to choose between 45 & 10/10Y, they are slightly different but as long as your speakers are well past the 100db/W/m mark NOS 45's and 10's would be my choice.
A fun note, most common 300B Amplifiers can have a 10/10Y bodged into them with a little effort.
Mismatch the common the 3K5 Output transformer with an 8 Ohm Speaker connected to the 4 Ohm tap to give a 7K load.
Run the 10 with a 1K cathode resistor and around 400V +B (might need changing the common 5U4 to a 5Y3 to get the HT right).
Finally raise the heater voltage to around 7...7.5V (I always like to run heaters slightly low).
A final one, if you have the common style of 6SN7 driver stage just connect a 100K resistor from the 10 anode to driver 6SN7 Anode.
So, my vote is for 10 or 45 with 300B next one up.
Ciao T
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Follow Ups
- Re: opinions desired: 2A3 vs 45 vs 845 vs 300B.......... - Thorsten 04:37:37 06/30/06 (0)
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