Tube rolling with the Quickie - observations...

[matthewmckay]

where did you source your Tele's ?  ... I am also a fan of the RCAs.

[matthewmckay]

Ahh... ebay I see.

[Noskipallwd]

Yep, I have notification set up, when any new 3S4, DL92s are listed it lets me know. It is hard to find any of these tubes, most of the retailers don't even let you choose the make when you order. The TFs I received have Blaupunkt labels on them as well I guess they were originally for a car radio. I'd like to see that radio!

Cheers,
Shawn

[earwaxxer]

Hey Shawn - Thats true about the 3s4's. Its hard to pick from what they have. I think one of my RCA's is starting to go. Do tubes start to 'crackle' a bit when they are getting old? Kind of like a bit of static, low level.

cheers - Eric

[Noskipallwd]

To tell you the truth I'm not sure, I had a 6922 that went bad in my Bijou sound like that. It had a fault though, I actually have not had a tube die of old age and natural causes yet, too much rolling!

Cheers,
Shawn

[earwaxxer]

Hey Shawn - So I did end up finding out that that tube was bad/going bad. The crackling progressed to quite a bit of ringing. I tossed it and all is good! Maybe it was degassed.

[Noskipallwd]

Eric, I am glad it was a tube and not something harder or more expensive to replace. I think you might have jinxed me though! I got home late yesterday, spent a few days backpacking in the hills. I went to listen to some music, turned everything on then went to turn the volume on the quickie and as soon as I touched the knob, pop! I had my hd650s on, not a good sound with headphones on! Evertime I touch the quickie I got a pop and a ring, one of the new telefunkens. So now I have 3. I wonder if tubes with an inner shield have a tendency to give that snap, crackle, pop when the give up the ghost. Could be intermittent contact between the shield and one of the other internal parts.

Cheers,
Shawn

[4krow]

Overall, due to the simplicity of this design, it seems that tube rolling makes more sense than, say what brand of battery you use(yes, I am joking). But I have heard old tubes crackle too, and replacement is eminent. I may try a sub for the caps though. So far, the Obliggatos are a choice for me. BTW Eric, I made the Speakerlab K's when I was in high school. Got a lot of strange looks: "why are you building a cabinet AROUND the bass driver?" My response,"shut up and tighten that clamp."

[balancedtriode]

this may be a dumb question, but which caps are the cathode bypass caps? the 2.2uf or the 1000uf? I'm putting together a quickie I have had on the shelf for a while and am looking for Ideas
thanks
-Coltrane

[Noskipallwd]

Hello, the cathode bypass caps are the 1000uF electrolytics, I just finished installing a couple of Mundorf MKP 68uF caps in that position. I used the 250V rated caps so they fit a little easier. Sounds great so far.

Cheers,
Shawn

[earwaxxer]

yep - I did the same thing - Mine sounded better as well, hard to quantify it though. Not as big of a change as say a cable upgrade IMO. Probably a bit more of what you would call an 'easy' sound. Could be in my head though. I had the Elna Silmic ll's in there before. I like those as well.

[earwaxxer]

Got the 'Tele's' a few days ago. Thanks to Shawn who turned me on to the ebay link. They did take a while to get here. Over a month, but I didnt realize they were coming from Cyprus! Cool stamps on the box and all. I have been listening to them for a couple of days before I was going to make some comments to make sure it was not just a 'change' I was hearing. I'm really quite blown away! Descriptions of 'liquid', 'sexy', 'smooth', 'transparent', 'natural', 'real', 'live', 'holographic' come to mind. My speakers disappear much more often. Almost like they are more relaxed. Reverb and decay are shocking, almost psychedelic. If someone had said that they subbed in a $10K component, I would have believed it! It makes me wonder how other triodes sound in comparison.

Anyway - I'm a very surprised and happy dude! Rock-on Quickie!

[denti alligator]

Cool. I ordered the same ones. And my Quickie's arriving Tuesday!

[Noskipallwd]

Glad you finally got them Eric, I think they ship them on a Greek Trireme. They do sound great right out of the box. I haven't noticed much change in sound with a couple of hundred hours on them. Interesting considering these seem to be true NOS, I doubt they have been used before. I am happy with the way the Quickie sounds so I'll probably leave the Teles in for a while.

Cheers,
Shawn

[earwaxxer]

Shawn - I think you are right about the Tele's being truly NOS. I got some Mullards that I think were very used. They didnt come in a box. They didnt sound very good. I might try again at some point to get some new ones. I think our friend in Cyprus has some by the way!