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Changing EL-34's to 6550 or Kt-88's

Hello

I have a Conrad-Johnson Premier 4. It has 8 EL-34's with individual bias contols for each tube, It is a large amp that wieghs 82pounds and is 100wpc. I have seen adds of amps for sale and they say that the amp can take EL-34's, 6550's or kt-88 and soforth. So is it as simple as just switching the tubes and resetting the bias? What is the benifet of switching, more power? or better sound?

Thanks
Darin
darinkperih
ed_sawyer
588 posts
 
I have had the PR. 5's which are the monoblock version of PR. 4. It can only take EL34's in stock form. You would not want to switch anyway - EL34 is far more musical than 6550s and the like. In fact, CJ offers a mod on their top of the line Premier 8 to convert it to EL34s (this is an upgrade... their normal configuration is 6550s), for an extra few grand $.

Send it to Bill Thalmann (orig. designer from CJ, www.musictechnology.com ) and have him do his magic on it. It will be much improved vs. stock. Change out the 5751s and 6CG7 for nice minty NOS tubes and you will have quite a decent amp overall.

-Ed
artmaltman
769 posts
 
If the power of EL34 is adequate, you will find them to be a bit more pure sounding and musical than KT88 and 6550, or, at least I have in my experience. If the power is not adequate then EL34 will sound thin, and you'll need KT88 or 6550 powered amp. These can produce excellent sound as well.

Art
darinkperih OP
8 posts
 
I am using the conrad johnson Premier 4 to drive the ribbon mids and tweets on my Infinity RS-1b's. So basicly the El-34's are my best bet for sound quality since I have another amp driving my woofers.

Thanks for the help.

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