The original Sovtek 5AR4 failed catastrophically and took out a couple resistors requiring me to send my 9.0 back to Modwright so Dan could fix it.
According to Dan, my event was unique provoking him to alter the 9.0 circuit so if I ever suffered another catastrophic rectifier failure, no other components of the circuit would be destroyed. I appreciate the fact that Dan took the time to rethink the circuit.
Dan put in a new Sovtek 5AR4 and everything was working and sounding fine. BUT...I have been using Gold Lion tubes sourced from Cryoset for many years now and have found them to have a very neutral sound and last a very long time. Fortunately Gold Lion makes a GZ34 that is a suitable rectifier replacement so I ordered one from Cryoset.
After giving the GZ34 time to warm in to the circuit, the sound began to take on a sightly warmer character, meaning a bit more going on in the lower midrange/mid-bass. I should also mention that I ordered a HAL-O III-30 Stabilizer from Herbie's Audio Lab for the new tube. This titanium tube damper is specifically intended for tubes that run very hot. It fits very tightly on the GZ34. With the HAL-O, the soundstage opened up increasing height, depth and width when appropriate to the music.
cellcbern - Glad you brought this topic up. Hopefully other Modwright users will chime in with their experiences.
According to Dan, my event was unique provoking him to alter the 9.0 circuit so if I ever suffered another catastrophic rectifier failure, no other components of the circuit would be destroyed. I appreciate the fact that Dan took the time to rethink the circuit.
Dan put in a new Sovtek 5AR4 and everything was working and sounding fine. BUT...I have been using Gold Lion tubes sourced from Cryoset for many years now and have found them to have a very neutral sound and last a very long time. Fortunately Gold Lion makes a GZ34 that is a suitable rectifier replacement so I ordered one from Cryoset.
After giving the GZ34 time to warm in to the circuit, the sound began to take on a sightly warmer character, meaning a bit more going on in the lower midrange/mid-bass. I should also mention that I ordered a HAL-O III-30 Stabilizer from Herbie's Audio Lab for the new tube. This titanium tube damper is specifically intended for tubes that run very hot. It fits very tightly on the GZ34. With the HAL-O, the soundstage opened up increasing height, depth and width when appropriate to the music.
cellcbern - Glad you brought this topic up. Hopefully other Modwright users will chime in with their experiences.