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Sovtek 6550 - Can they really be THIS bad???

Hello.

Just picked up a new Jadis today, and I'm none too pleased with the sound. As I have had blissful sonic experiences with two of the models lower on the Totem Pole from this manufacturer, the only thing I can trace it to is the Sovtek 6550. Can they really be THIS bad???

I already switched out the JAN Philips 12AX7 and Golden Dragon 12AU7 for Mullard Blackburn and Ei respectively. The improvement has been subtle, but it still ain't working for me...

I have used ElectroHarmonix 6550 in the past, and while they didn't float my boat, I'm told that EH represents a signficant step up from the regular old Sovteks. JJ E34L and KT88 just have sounded really splendid to me. So, now I'm looking at picking up 8 new output tubes if I don't wish to live with such uninspired sound.
trelja

Showing 2 responses by bezimienny

bezimienny
53 posts
 
Hi Trelja. I assume this is the new DA60? And it's been burnt in? The JOR didn't sound great for a week at least, and then when the store replaced all the KT90s in response to only one being faulty it took another few days just for the tubes to sound fine again.
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I recently plugged in the old ARC D125, which has eight 6550Cs, Svetlanas, and it sounded as good as I remembered it to be - different to the JOR obviously, but good - the only other brand of tubes this ever had were old GE 6550As, and the Svetlanas killed these.
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All the best, Rob.
bezimienny
53 posts
 
Hi Trelja. Thanks for mentioning the possibility of the JOR being "loose" - I took this to mean that the little bolts on the casing could be loose, and sure enough tightening them virtually eradicated the hum - presumably the service guy who biased the new tubes left them a bit undone and so the casing amplified whatever resonance the transformer was creating.
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Hope your new amp works out. Regards, Rob.
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