im thinking of trying something different in my john wood amp,has anyone gone from sovteks and bought better? what did you try?
im thinking of trying something different in my john wood amp,has anyone gone from sovteks and bought better? what did you try?
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
I was in the same quandry a few weeks ago, my suggestion would be to phone John and ask him what he would recommend. I suspect he will suggest a quad of NOS GEC 6550 he can lay his hands on, the best amps deserve the best valves, trouble is you probably wont see much change out of £1k but John did seem to think they wouldnt need replacing in the foreseable future as his amps present a very easy life for the valves
He didnt appear at all keen on JJ or EH.
Sovteks (orginal fitment) are difficult to source are these days and looked the same as EH to me - at the "cheaper" end of the market John appeared to me to be favouring Shuguang kt88.
I ended up with Gold Lion reissue myself, they certainly look and feel to me to be better quality than the JJ, EH and Sovtek. I have never noticed that much difference sound wise between different makes of output tubes myself so leave that for those with better ears.
hi ian,
thanks for the info,i think it might be wise to take a drive up to johns,(long trip) to give the amp a look over.
the new old stock valves are a bit too much for me at the moment and to be honest i dont know which of the valves are off,it may only be one of the smaller valves.
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
Location: Coventry
Posts: 131
I'm Mick.
Tried sovtek, they were OK. Tried JJ a little better. I'm replacing the JJS with gold lion reissues. It's my little Xmas pressie.
SS
CD Teac VRDS25X(Audiotuned) DECK 1210 Mat Crystal Audio Mods MN Base/Bearing/Platter+Ebony armboard Feet Isonoe PSU Paul Hynes SR7EHD-27XL/DCSXL Ag DC lead/3 Stage Regs/Recap PCB+No Pitch/Strobe/Light ARM SME V(Kondo Ag Rewire&Tags) MC Cadenza Black FGS CABLES Arm Yannis SPD-4 IC Yannis 222 Litz+Ag bullets Power WAR PRE ATC SCA2 SPEAKERS ATC 50ASL STANDS Atacama PHONO Sugden Masterclass PA4 SUT Ortofon ST80SE POWER PSAudio P10
VALVE
PRE Croft Epoch(Modded) AMP Sondex S100 (Modded) SPEAKERS Tannoy 15"MG+RFC Warwick cabs+ Ref XO + Batpure supertweeters DECK Garrard 301 Mat Teunto Bearings 401(Bastin) Plinth Bamboo Arms 3009/3012 PSU Eagle+Tachometer MC Ag Meister II/FGS + Ortofon SPU MONO CABLES Arm Yannis 420.5 Litz+ SpeakerPC Tripple C+WBT-0681 Ag IC Oyaide FTVS-510 AgWBT 0110Ag Phonostages Paradise(4 Box Mega-Modded) / Croft Musicmaker
That was my choice if I have to buy a set of 4.
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
John has never charged me for revalving and servicing, his after sales service is exemplary but if you are planning to visit him talk to him about valves to get before you visit. Heads up he doesn't carry stock, he is very passionate about what goes into his amps, he tends to work late and sleep in so best to call after 14:00 hours and lastly I find a phone call works better than email but you might need to leave a message first.
Swapping out the input and phase splitter tubes is a straightforward swap over and not that expensive. JJ ECC81 and latest I had from John a pair of russian 6H8C (instead of the 6SN7 that were orginally fitted)
for 6H8C look for the blue and yellow boxes mid 70s vintage - example listing from a supplier I have used before
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-6N8S-NEV...7k34:rk:2:pf:0
Thanks ian, so it’s only the power valves that need re biasing.
I will call him later
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers
That is correct, the KT88 output valves need the bias level checked and set when the valves are replaced, the other valves do not. It takes a couple of hours because in very simple terms its sort of adjust, wait for the amp to stabalise, readjust, stablise, adjust etc etc.
In theory there is no reason why a local specialist couldnt do this for you but John does like to look after his amps and you can be pretty confident that he wont be ripping you off or making up unnecessary repairs
im off to john woods on saturday,top guy,no charge and if i bring my multimeter he will teach me how to bias it.
how bloody good is that!
My System
John Wood KT88 Amp.
Paradise Phono Stage
Sony TTS-8000 Turntable.
PMAT-1010 MK6 Tonearm.
Ortofon Cadenza Bronze
Sony X555ES Cd Player
Yamaha NS1000m Speakers