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Author Topic: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?  (Read 9613 times)

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MisterRogers

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #40 on: May 23, 2014, 07:31:57 PM »
Yea, loved the way it turned out too.
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Marvey

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #41 on: May 23, 2014, 08:11:05 PM »
Quote from: Anaxilus on May 23, 2014, 06:59:53 PM
Wanna send us a L2 for review?  I'd love to confirm the performance of the 6c45pi.

not so much that 6c45pi is suckage, the Reflecktors are good, but just that the 5842 is so much better sounding, but it doesn't have the gain of the 6c45pi. not a matter of etch or treble nasties really, but the 5842's timbre is so much more spot on - really one of the best tubes - as least as a driver that I've heard so far. guess in the case of the Mainline, being a single stage, the gain of the 6c45pi is probably required- only 12db with that single tube, which is what, a little less than x4 gain? 5842 would not work in Mainline unless DAC output was sky high.
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Anaxilus

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #42 on: May 24, 2014, 01:04:24 AM »
Yeah, different tubes, particularly newer production tubes it seems just have issues with proper timbre whether oscillating or not.
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dsavitsk

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #43 on: May 24, 2014, 02:54:11 AM »
When I was working on the L-2, I built versions using the 6C45, 5842, 6688, 7788, D3a, C3g, E280F, 12HG7/12GN7, 6J9, and one or two others I can't remember ...  7KY6 maybe? Anyhow, I liked the 6C45 the best. To be fair, I used all NOS tubes there, but I have used the Sovteks and can't say I found them to be any different.

None of the others were bad by any means (except that 7KY6), but side by side in the same circuit, the 6C45 had the best performance to my ear. Even accepting the lower gain and output power, I did not find the 5842 to be as good. Perhaps it is a different story into a higher load.

Pete Millett has an interesting writeup on a bunch of these tubes: http://www.pmillett.com/pentodes.htm

Quote from: Anaxilus on May 23, 2014, 06:59:53 PM
Wanna send us a L2 for review?  I'd love to confirm the performance of the 6c45pi.

Unfortunately, I don't have one to send you :(
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Anaxilus

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #44 on: May 24, 2014, 08:03:28 AM »
The Sovtek is quite noticeably harsher and more digital sounding than the Reflektor 6C45pi.  Which 5842 did you use, Raytheon?
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Priidik

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #45 on: May 27, 2014, 09:14:50 PM »
Quote from: MisterRogers on May 23, 2014, 12:02:04 PM
One of these times when I'm out to Anaheim for a business trip I'll pack up/bring out my Mainline and we can have a mini-meet.
Anytime soon?
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MisterRogers

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #46 on: May 28, 2014, 12:19:48 AM »
Pretty sure I'll be out that way in August. As dates firm up, I'll reach out to Marvey and we'll try to organize a mini meet. I need to pick up a serious case for moving this thing.
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Marvey

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #47 on: May 28, 2014, 02:12:29 AM »
August would be a good time.
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OJneg

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #48 on: May 28, 2014, 02:12:56 AM »
LA Head-Fi meet is August 9
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MisterRogers

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Re: Bottlehead Mainline is TOTL?
« Reply #49 on: May 29, 2014, 12:34:17 AM »
Cool - I'll start planning on that.
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