arnesto Posted June 24, 2009 Report Posted June 24, 2009 I got a chance to listen to the Singlepower Platinum Extreme at CanJam. I liked it compared to other tubed amplifiers because it didn't have that tubey warm colored sound. I wanted to pick one up used, but I have been reading that Mikhail is MIA and there may be problems with getting it fixed if I ever needed to. Can someone suggest some comparable amps with a similar sound? Just a FYI, I listened to the WooAudio3, Cary Exciter, and the Cary 300SEI. I thought all three of these amps sounded to warm and tubey for my taste.
n_maher Posted June 24, 2009 Report Posted June 24, 2009 There is no current, commercially available amplifier that uses a similar tube compliment in an OTL topology. Used examples would include the Eddie Current HD300 and Wheatfield HA-2 but I sincerely doubt you'll have much luck finding either and both are really only suitable for high-impedance headphones. At least that's all the comes to mind. The closest thing really is the Woo WA22 which is still a trafo-coupled design and may not be to your liking.
spritzer Posted June 24, 2009 Report Posted June 24, 2009 As an added bonus, build it with all the faults Mikhail did and you have the extra fun of fixing it regularly.
kevin gilmore Posted June 25, 2009 Report Posted June 25, 2009 Just saw pictures of neil's amp. Pretty pissed at the moment. Which leads to the following politically incorrect comment... (with a russian accent) "IT MUST BE BUILT LIKE SHIT TO SOUND GOOD" The amount of total clusterfuck here is awsome.
luvdunhill Posted June 26, 2009 Report Posted June 26, 2009 Doesn't Berning, Bada, Decware and Antique Sound Labs have amps that would qualify? Here's an interesting one: http://cgi.ebay.com.sg/Chazz-2-Headphone-Amplifier-Assembled_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQitemZ260380466884
n_maher Posted June 26, 2009 Report Posted June 26, 2009 Part of what makes gives the Extreme the potential to sound good is running the 6080/6AS7 in parallel on the output, OTL's with a single tube are not going to perform well into low ohm loads in my experience. And of course none of them run the output tubes as hard as I do in the Menace.
aerius Posted June 27, 2009 Report Posted June 27, 2009 And of course none of them run the output tubes as hard as I do in the Menace. You should try cranking up the bias till the plates glow and see if it sounds better, 6AS7's aren't that expensive. Going back to the OP, one amp that comes to mind is the Trafomatic Head One, but it's a transformer output amp not an OTL like the singlepower. Definitely a nice neutral sound and not the warm mushy sound found in many tube amps.
kevin gilmore Posted June 27, 2009 Report Posted June 27, 2009 I wonder what would happen if you went to jack at woo audio and told him you wanted him to build an extreme his way. It sure would be pretty and it would work forever. Offer to supply the schematic and have him make the necessary changes to make it reliable. He already knows how to do dc filament supplies, and high voltage supplies for that kind of thing, should be easy.
penger Posted June 27, 2009 Report Posted June 27, 2009 If mine ever comes back I'll sell it to you. That aside, will picks of Neil's ES-2 ever be made public?
spritzer Posted June 27, 2009 Report Posted June 27, 2009 They are almost too horrific for those noobs on HF...
kevin gilmore Posted June 28, 2009 Report Posted June 28, 2009 (edited) If mine ever comes back I'll sell it to you. That aside, will picks of Neil's ES-2 ever be made public? That is up to neil. But if you ask him real nice i'm absolutely sure he will send them to you... Major fail with capacitors just hanging there from stickem cable ties that long since let loose... Send the amp to me... But really you will never get it back... Edited June 28, 2009 by kevin gilmore
penger Posted June 28, 2009 Report Posted June 28, 2009 Yeah, I pretty much wrote it off already. If it comes back, it'll be a nice surprise. /shrug
pompon Posted June 28, 2009 Report Posted June 28, 2009 I wonder what would happen if you went to jack at woo audio and told him you wanted him to build an extreme his way. It sure would be pretty and it would work forever. Offer to supply the schematic and have him make the necessary changes to make it reliable. He already knows how to do dc filament supplies, and high voltage supplies for that kind of thing, should be easy. Where are the shematic ? BTW, 2 MPX3 to sell on head-fi actually. I think the MPX3 SE is a better amp than a simple extreme.
n_maher Posted June 28, 2009 Report Posted June 28, 2009 Just tell Jack you want an OTL version of the WA22 with a single ended output.
kevin gilmore Posted June 28, 2009 Report Posted June 28, 2009 complete with all the glorious fuckups... http://gilmore.chem.northwestern.edu/singlehourextreme.jpg
derekbmn Posted June 28, 2009 Report Posted June 28, 2009 Don't forget this Woo Audio 2 High End Headphone / Pre Amplifier. A bit different tube compliment. (although the same output tubes)
jp11801 Posted June 29, 2009 Report Posted June 29, 2009 I loves me the Woo 2 and think it betters the extreme in it's stock form. Great sound, a pre amp ans Woo build quality to boot
Iron_Dreamer Posted June 29, 2009 Report Posted June 29, 2009 They are almost too horrific for those noobs on HF... So I guess that means they are worse than Al's power supply?
arnesto Posted June 29, 2009 Author Report Posted June 29, 2009 Me thinks me likey the ASL. Although me never hear one, me try anyway. Anyone know if the MG Head III has self rectum-fying tubes?
spritzer Posted June 29, 2009 Report Posted June 29, 2009 So I guess that means they are worse than Al's power supply? Yup.
luvdunhill Posted June 29, 2009 Report Posted June 29, 2009 Self-rectifying? Not likely. come on Dusty, you can do better than that.. that typo almost does the work for you!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now