Valve Amp's

[Lumpen]

Hi Guys,

I know there are a fwe audiophiles around the place and I was wondering if anyone is into valve amp's at all? Mondie, I'm looking in your direction...

I was recently GIVEN a valve amp from I think the mid 60's. There appears to be no name and model number on it. It has a strange pair of speaker plugs so I can't be SURE it works until I rewire some plugs.

It run 12AX7 pre-amp tubes (which in this case are Mullard NOS's ) and dual 6BQ5's (EL-84's) which are use NOS Phillips Mini-Watt and NOS Mullard tube a channel. I know that may be a strange combo but I couldn't find 4 Mullard's in the stash...

Does anybody know what kind of power something like this would be putting out? Would it be of a reasonable Hi-Fi quality if it is? I also have access to some 12AU7's but I hear they're not as 'responsive' as the AX's!

Seems to be sturdy and well built unit. It is powder-coated etc. I have run a CD into the inputs (early RCA's) and proceeded to ZAAAAAAAP myself when testing for an output voltage

The biggest trouble is that is doesnt have a volume control, anywhere! Thankfully the player I'm using has one. One thing I did notice was that if all was quiet (no TV etc) I could actually hear the music from the valves! Spooky :o

Photo's will follow soon.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Lumpy

PS:I know I COULD take it to a shop BUT that would defeat the purpose of getting it for free :o

[Dagabond]

Trade it for one of these Lumpy:

[Lumpen]

OH SWEET JESUS

<Tissues>

I am allowed to marry that right?

[Blown BA]

  Dagabond said:

Trade it for one of these Lumpy:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

So where's the bar

[wicksy]

DAMN now that is serious doof

[Lumpen]

  Blown BA said:

So where's the bar

If anybody ate/drank/farted/brought children near/breathed around that I think I'd wring there necks

[Mondie]

Not suprised you have had no intelligent replies Lumpy. l love my HiFi but your questions need to be answered by a real valve enthusiats who knows the in's and out's. l dont to that level

Love to see some photo's.

Some of those Mullard NOS valves would be worth some good $$ l reckon.

[NYOPA]

A quick rule of thumb on the out put is that an EL-84 will push out between 10-25W per valve. (30 at a pinch)

It depends on a fwe variables. Either way if it was made right that should be good to power most speakers these days at a reasonable level.

Better find out what impedance you should be running ( what the speaker should be) otherwise you could get yourself into a world of hurt.

If you can post a pic of it and the output terminals I may be able to have a good guess at a few of the variables.

[Lumpen]

Nyopa, that would be awesome if you could do that. I will take a few photo's today and get then 'developed' at a mates house. (I've lost the bloody cord to my camera )

As a side note, I guessed that it would be around 25Watts or so a channel, so if its aroound 35 I'd be stoked.

When I find out about the amp, I will be building my own speakers to match. I'm planning around a setup using Peerless Drivers, probably a 6.5" or so driver and horn loaded tweeter. The fun part will come in the box, I am going to try that Wharfdale setup of curved sides, to kill standing waves. They will be for good music reproduction (next step, good Source) not for volume. I already have my 'Speakers of Doom' for that.

[Redhawk]

  Lumpen Proletariat said:

As a side note, I guessed that it would be around 25Watts or so a channel, so if its aroound 35 I'd be stoked.

Can't answer your queries Lumpy (same boat as Mondie). However I can honestly say I have never heard a monster sound system that only pumps out 25 watts per channel. I mean serious sound starts at 75 wpc.