Burning In 6SN7 Tubes for the Dark Voice 336SE Headphone Amp
If you have a Dark Voice 336SE headphone amp you likely had the same thought as many other owners. Why does such a nice little amp come with such poor vacuum tubes? Well most Chinese…
How To Tell If Your Tube Is Bad
We are often asked how to determine when a tube is bad without access to a tube tester. You’ve probably been there. You’re doing sound check before a gig, something sounds wacky, and now you’ve…
Audiophile Review – EL34 Family Tube Comparison
A re-post from Wall of Sound (review by Tim Smith) When Jon Esau of www.thetubestore.com offered a set of five EL34-type tubes for review (JJ KT77; JJ EL34 II; Svetlana EL34; Genalex Gold Lion KT77 and…
Why Vinyl?
For many music enthusiasts, purchasing music on vinyl provides an experience that can’t be matched by CDs or digital downloads. A vinyl lover will go to a record store, flip through albums by alphabetical order…
What it Takes to Make a Tube Amp
Atma-Sphere is world renown for fantastic their OTL amplifiers. In this video they use stop-motion animation to provide us with a look into how the award-winning Atma-Sphere M-60 power tube amp is hand assembled. If…
Cryo Tube Controversy – The Chilling Truth
A number of years ago we started to see more and more about cryo “treatment” of vacuum tubes. We read through all the marketing and tried to figure out how this could improve a vacuum…
The New King of Single-Ended Tube Audio?
The arguments for high power vs low power Single-Ended tube audio amplifiers have been made for decades and there are many. It seems both have their strengths and compromises. But audiophiles often ask if there…
EMP? It’s NP for the 6C33C-B Tube
If you’re a serious audiophile with tube gear chances are you know the names Balanced Audio Technology or Lamm Industries. Unlike so many other tube amplifier manufacturers, you won’t find KT88, 6550, or 300B output…
Traveler Guitar – Spotlight
NAMM 2015 was packed full of interesting products. Many were great but some were especially cool. One that stood out to us was Traveler Guitar. Traveler Guitar started out in the early ’90’s and has…
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – DIY Guitar Amp from Salvaged Parts
Those of you who love DIY vacuum tube amp building have likely discovered old, unwanted, vintage electronics that have long be abandoned. If you’re like me you just can’t let these pieces go to the…
