Black Widow [Update] - Second round official, 100 amps total, single chassis

Not to be an ass, but can we get back to Black Widow?
Last I heard, the first shipments were supposed to go out this week or the next.
Am I correct @purrin ?

 

Good for them. As I've said. Stop reading morons. Use the wrong tube on an EC amp, warranty over. That's all I will say. if you want a different "opinion", go to Head-Fi. You asked here and you got my "opinion". I don't like repeating myself. Maybe you should go back to the HF threads and suggest capacitor rolling for the OTL ramps. Capacitor rolling will make just as much if not more of a difference than rolling random tubes. And then maybe go from there. Maybe you can also suggest changing the bias resistors. That would result in a more subtle effect, but an effect nevertheless. Ultimately, if you want to use a different tube, I would suggest that you build your own amp. Tube amps are very simple to build.

I don't know. For all I know, some idiot on HF might have swapped to a tube with different operating points resulting in more distortion or high end roll-off, for the HFer to announce a more awesome smoother sound quality change. I don't know. Who knows? I don't recommend using tubes not approved by the manufacturer for any tube amp.

The great thing about tubes compared to transistors is that if you do something wrong, nothing will immediately go pop or explode with a million plastic bits flying all over the place with a lot of toxic smoke. The bad thing about tubes is that the bad effects of doing something wrong could only be evident over time.

The number one cause at EC for warranty is work is because a customer plugged in the wrong tube or wrong adapter or both. Just because you you can fit things in the hole doesn't mean it will work out in the end. This is embarrassing enough that no customer will ever admit to it publicly and I don't blame them!

Same difference.

Please buy a book about building tube amplifiers. You can find one on Amazon. You can start by reading datasheets for various tubes, looking at the curve traces, noting the pin outs, heater current requirements, plate impedance, gain, recommended typical operating points, etc.

Ultimately, my advice is to listen to music and not to tubes. You if find yourself constantly rolling tubes, something is wrong with you or your amp sucks.

 

I've been outside the country for a week so I haven't been able to check up on things until now. None of them have been delivered yet. Ironing out QA issues from the board house. Shipping will start next week and its expected all 50 will go out - eventually - even if we have to rework all the bad boards. We do have one amp assembled and functioning.

Yes, thread has been hijacked. Not only by people who want to roll tubes, but roll any tube which happen to fit into the socket. I have posted answers to this question in more pertinent threads. BTW, the BW is a solid-state amp which does not use tubes.

 

Another update: One customer unit has been built and tested. Our sample unit has been burning in for two hours. A few more are to be delivered this week. We are looking at half a dozen to be shipped this Friday or at the latest Monday with hopefully ten more the end of next week.

 

Slightly off-topic, but also probably on topic because I can see a lot of you guys ending up with tube amps.

@Thenewerguy009: I found the post that explains why YOU SHOULD NOT run tubes not specified by the manufacturer: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-other-glowing-delights.486/page-8#post-21818

I tend to get ticked off when people ask me a question, don't like the answer, and then respond by saying "Well so one so said differently, or Head-Fi people said differently". This is like when many younger people ask me about relationships: "What you do think about long distance..." and I immediately cut them off with "it won't work". And then they respond "but but but but". I'm not here to give you guys advice you guys necessary want to hear. I don't have time to sugar coat things. If you don't like this, buy from somebody else.

People break a lot of tube amps and and in most instances, Craig doesn't charge anything to fix them. Despite Craig's sometimes grumpy nature, he does A LOT of work (troubleshooting, diagnostics, repair, etc.) for free. And I know that he personally hates asking people for money and I also know that because he doesn't ask for money, very few people offer to reimburse him for his time. (This is why I've come after a few of you guys ). He does this because he loves it. He's not rich. He lives in a seriously haunted house which he couldn't sell in Calabasas. Please, just don't run tubes that the amp was not designed for. This doesn't apply to just EC, but every other tube manufacturer, with the exception of Chi-Fi gear. You can do what you want with Chi-Fi tube gear.