ampsandsound (aka Amps & Sound)

Derp. I've been up most of the night.

And also, nope. The Mogwai has speaker taps in addition to the headphone jack. The Kenzie just has the headphone jack.

 

Yep, I'll be doing a review. It definitely reacts quite a bit to tube rolling.

 

I ordered a Kenzie at the show in Newport and have had it for about a month now. It's a great amp with HD800 and I feel its a nice step up from my Mjolnir2 and Sonett.

Some background: I went to Canjam partly to try a bunch of higher end amps with my HD800 and came away mostly disappointed (I missed ampsandsound at canjam). The best I heard was probably the Liquid Crimson, but while it was impressive technically I felt the sound was a little too dry and less musical then what I already had. For that much money I want both good technical performance and musicality.

The main difference I could tell with the higher end amps based on show conditions was better bass impact and a tighter, more focused sound in general. When I heard the Kenzie, it had these improvements but with no dryness or loss of musicality. That combined with a nice show discount led me to make the purchase.

Now that I have it at home I also notice improved resolution, soundstage depth and layering compared to my previous amps. Combine that with a nice full liquid sound and I am loving it with my modded HD800. It looks pretty badass too.

Another plus is the tubes for this amp are so cheap - about $10-$20 each. I've found the choice of input tube is pretty important to get the best bass performance - more on that later.

 

"Tubey" in the sense of a nice touch of smoothness and wetness, yes. Similar to DNA Sonett or a Schiit amp with good Heerlen tubes. Some people take tubey to mean overly warm or distorted, and I wouldn't go that far.

 

very interested in their mogwai amp!

how is the speaker amp? I could use the amp for both my Tannoy berkeley. maybe 3 WPC would be enough for me...

 

I think the Kenzie is a bargain at $1650. I have never enjoyed my HD800S so much. Justin made mine with 32/300 taps and I listen on the 300 ohm out. I regretted cheaping out and not buying the full optioned Encore so Justin is kindly making me a separate box with the input transformers.

 

@kevnin, what was your choice of input tube for best bass performance using the Kenzie with HD800s? Thanks.

 

Well, I am clearly not Kevin, but I'll chime in here. I'm using a Raytheon 2C52 input tube with my Kenzie, and I find moderately improved bass performance with my HD800S vs. the stock tube provided. The Raytheon is identical to this tube on eBay, though I didn't purchase the tube myself and I'm not sure where the original owner of my Kenzie bought it.

That's as far as I've gotten with rolling the Kenzie. Hope it helps.

 

Thanks for the input. I have tried three different 2C52s. One was bad and sent back. Of the other two Raytheons from a different supplier one did have better bass but was warmer and lacked air around voices and instruments. The other one was pretty good but I found after a few days listening that voices just did not seem as realistic as with the stock Sylvania 12SL7GT. There was a hard leading edge to vocals that was subtle but bothersome after extended listening. Seems like Justin already chose the best tubes for the Kenzie and rolling is not really necessary just enjoy the music.

 

Yeah, agreed that Kenzie's stock tubes are a notch above what manufacturers typically provide with tube amps. I guess you can do that when we're talking about tubes in the $10-20 range tops instead of hundreds to start.

 

If your interested in expanding the rolling capability of the Kenzie, I'd suggest picking up an adapter to run the widely-used and popular small dual-triodes. I personally enjoyed a Siemens 12AT7 suggested by another Kenzie owner here.

You can pick them up cheap on eBay.

 

My favorite was RCA gray glass 12SL7GT. Similar to this one except mine wasn't the JAN version:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Strong-RCA-Gray-Glass-JAN-CRC-12SL7-GT-Tube-/122223601549

I'd consider this tube slightly warmer and thicker than neutral, making a good synergy match with HD800. It had good bass quantity and slam/impact.

I also had a GE that had strong bass and was more neutral. It looks like this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tested-GE-12SL7GT-12SL7-Tube-tested-on-B-K-dyna-jet-707/322738709924

The input tube definitely makes a difference, I tried a bunch and a lot of them were weak on bass. If you're not happy with bass quantity or slam/impact it's worth trying a few. The great thing about the Kenzie tubes is they're so inexpensive.

 

@kevnin thanks. I located a GE and the RCA gray glass 12SL7GT and should have both this coming Wednesday.

 

I would be interested that GE that you linked. But he says that it tested at a 35. That's not very good is it?

 

I was just giving the links as examples, not endorsing those particular listings.

If he's right about 22 being minimum good then it might be ok. I'm not familiar with the scale for these tubes on that tester though.

 

I like the 12SL7 to 5755 adapters. Rathyon 5755s are pretty wonderful.
The 12SL7 to 12AX7 adapters are a worthy addition too. 12AT7s and 5751 are close to 12SL7s where the 12AX7s make it a bit forward. 2C52 are my go to but so hard to get.

 

If interested, let me know

I have 6 2C52 Raytheon Tubes all work, little use

5 Raytheon JAN-CRP-2052 red printing
1 Taylor by Raytheon JAN-CRP-2052 green printing


and 3 Sylvania JAN-CHS-12SL7GT VT-289 NOS Vintage tubes.

 

I tried both the RCA gray glass and GE NOS 12SL7GT tubes recommended by @kevnin in my Kenzie and preferred the RCA. With the tubes I got in I found the RCA to have more bass than the GE. The RCA gray glass 12SL7GT is special: to my ears the best sounding 12SL7GT I have tried. Bass is fine but what set that tube apart is width and depth of soundstage: best I have heard yet through the HD800S. Great imaging and not fatiguing for long listening sessions.

 

The Westinghouse to is pretty spectacular. Great clarity, great bass, and smooth treble

 

Is that NOS or new production? Looks brand spanking new...