which amp is this ?

[Phil Y]

Hello all,

A friend of mine has picked this up as he will soon be in the lucky position of being able to setup a second system. He has lent it to me to check over/service.
I am guessing it is 20-30 wpc push pull UL but would someone be kind enough to tell me what amp this is. Also, I need conformation of the valves. The small valves are all ECC83 but 2 of the o/p valves are 5881 and the other 2 are 6L6GC.

Many thanks, Phil.

[shadders44david]

Hi Phil,

The amp appears to be a World Audio Design K5881 mk2 and is 20 w/p/c in class A, circa 1997ish. The mk1 version used 2 x ecc83 and 2 x ef86 prevalves, so as yours has 4 x ecc83 it must be a mk2. It should have 4 x 5881 output valves, but KT66`s will work and also 6L6GC.

If you have any queries I may be able to help as I`ve owned the exact same amp since 1997 which has been extensively upgraded and sounds superb - imho !

Regards, David.

[Phil Y]

Thanks David,

At least I know what it is now ! Why did WAD never label their amps ?

Any chance you could email me the circuit diagram ? The internal build is not very nice so I will need to give it a proper check over.

Phil.

[shadders44david]

Hi Phil,

You have PM.

David.

[Phil Y]

David,

PM sent

Many thanks.

[Phil Y]

I knocked up a passive pre and gave this amp a go last night. It sounds very nice, certainly nicer than my KEL84, but that is to be expected I suppose. It has more bass though, so is a bit OTT in my small living room.

It has Audio Note paper in oil coupling caps and a single Black Gate in the SRPP stage and I tested the valves which are good. Otherwise the components look stock. Despite the dodgy build quality it would seem to be working OK. My friend paid £300 for it which sounds like good value to me. I might even look out for one myself.

Phil.