Bigbottle Audio BB3 valve rolling

[CageyH]

I know a few people on here own one, so I am interested to know what you have tried, and what works best for you?

[Ubi]

1 - RT ECC83 and 2x Siemens PCC88

2 - TFK83 & 2x Tungsram PCC88

3 - TFK & TFK

[CageyH]

1 is what I currently have fitted, except it is a 12AX7S

[CageyH]

I am trying the 2nd combination now.

[Jimbo]

Have you ever compared your BB3 with the Kin phono stage Kev? I wandered if there were any similarities as Alan designed both? Or it maybe closer to the Vivant?

[CageyH]

My Kin is not far from a Vivant.
The BB3 is the one I prefer.
I do sometimes switch my SS pre for the Kin, when I fancy a change.
I am also tempted to add a 2nd TT, so I would plumb the Kin back in the system if I did that so that I would not have to switch cables.
I think Alan has learnt more along the way when designing his phono stages. Each one seems better, which is why I don’t want to hear a BBU.

[CageyH]

This morning, I started with the TFK ECC83 and Tungsram PCC88. Very nice.
I swapped the TFK ECC83 for a Tungsram ECC83 foil getter, and I much preferred this.
I now how a 50s Tesla ECC83 foil getter with Tesla “32” PCC88 and I am very happy with this. Is it better than the Tungsram valve compliment?

I can’t remember!

[Jimbo]

My Kin is not far from a Vivant.
The BB3 is the one I prefer.
I do sometimes switch my SS pre for the Kin, when I fancy a change.
I am also tempted to add a 2nd TT, so I would plumb the Kin back in the system if I did that so that I would not have to switch cables.
I think Alan has learnt more along the way when designing his phono stages. Each one seems better, which is why I don’t want to hear a BBU.

More Jfets?.

The BB3 hybrid phono really relies on the JFets in order to operate with MC as valves would be too noisy. So not really sure if your really hearing the Fets or the tubes?

I am actually thinking of going all SS for an alternative Phono stage which I think may happen very soon - I will keep you posted Obviously I will still use a tube preamp although again I think a buffered SS preamp could be on the cards some day. Definitely would not bother with a passive preamp.

I would really like to hear the differences between a SS vs Tube vs SS/tube phono and a SS passive vs SS buffered vs tube preamp and combinations of each of them to ascertain which sounds the best and to know where tubes really shine.

Following on from this I can only say in my opinion having an all tube phono and preamp the tubes in the phono make a huge difference but the tubes in the regulation stage less so. So a tube phono and SS preamp maybe the way to go? I don't know until I try.

[CageyH]

The sound with different valves is different, and I am currently using my modified AT95SA, so I am not sure if the JFETs are involved?
I have some very good SS phono stages available if I want to try one, with a choice of two upgraded linear power supplies.

[Ubi]

I contacted Oliver about the Bigbottle 3, one of the questions i asked was what the Jfets do. From his email >

"Hi Zander,

The BB3 has 4x JFETs per channel, which is used for MC gain only. This results in an extremely quiet MC input, which would not be possible if valves were used for this gain (we tried). The other option was to use small SUT's, but there are a lot of variables in that approach and it's not as universal as one would like."

I replied and asked if you could "hear them" From his email>

"Hi Zander

"hear them" as in are they noisy, or are they having an effect of the sound?

All electronics produce noise, regardless of how good they are. The implementation of how they are used makes a difference, and in the case of the BB3 & BBU (4x Jfets also) any noise they make is completely below the SNR limit of the medium of vinyl, which is about -72db. The Jfets do have a sound though, and i can't say otherwise. We have tried a fair few Jfets (all that we could find) for their sonic influence and suitability and didn't take the choice lightly. The Jfets in the BB3 are inaudible in terms of noise, and in terms of sonic impact, they were far less audible than any SUT combination we tried"