What does the Kel84 sound like??

Thanks.
I think ive always been under the floyd spell. Since i was about 3 my dad would stick me on a chair with his headphones on and play me early floyd albums, and a bit of zep.
Its all his fault
Floyd have always got the best out of whatever system i have, but now its all improved it sounds even better.
Luckily i bought it all on vinyl just before everyone started getting back into floyd any buying it all up.
Unfortunately alot of them arent in the best of conditions

[colin.hepburn]

Ah another Floyd fan good stuff I am hoping that thy will do an album in memory of Syd Barrett i think so

possibaly, but lets hope not.
Im not a fan of their late stuff.
I went to the earls court show, luckinly they opened with astronomy domine.
Then an hour or so of division bell (which i didnt really like) then the second half was back to the oldies.

Back to the heat questions i just took some readings.
The amp had cooled down, its been playing at normal volume for about 30 mins.

The mains transformer is running 45 degrees on the sides, 37 degrees on top. Cooler than before, but it had been on for a few hours then.
The valves run and
LC
ecf80 79deg
el84 178 and 178

RC
ecf80 81deg
el84 188 190

Should one side run hotter than the other?

[Primalsea]

I think the issue on whether Leak transformers are better than KEL84 ones is something that can only be settled if someone is willing to swap them between amps.

What I was suggesting is that the transformers for the Kel84 are a better match to that amp than the leak transformers to the Stereo 20, not that the Kel84 transformers are better. This is on a rash assumption that theres a better idea these days of what makes a good transformer for a particular amp design.

I've herd that the leak circuit is very well done and looking at the circuit diagram it's not much different to many more recently designed amps. Unless there is a flaw in the design of the Leak it's likely theres some issue with how thw amp interacts with the transformers.

However I don't anything wrong with the Leak sound. It's very modern and not wooly sounding like many vintage amps from that time.

i think th comment about the leak transformers improving kel84 might be based on the fact that the leak trasformers might have improved as the materials age.
if someone can pop forward 50 years and bring back some kel84 transformers we can run some conclusive tests

If i can get some, and work out how to wire them in, i will try the leak transformers in my kel84.

[Primalsea]

Better, for what ever reason is not best all the time. Its more of a question of intergration

Indeed, fair point.
Everything needs to work in harmony.
Only one way to find out

[David Mccallum]

Im enjoying my kel84 just fine,no mod,s yet apart from valve changes it's just as wad intended (sorry ).Dont think I,ll risk muckin it up,not just yet
Floyd sound good on almost any system(appart from the final cut album it makes radiohead seem chearful) Music worth listening to always sounds better through valve and vinyl.

[Primalsea]

And I think Radiohead is like listening to a dog whining to be put out of it's misery for 40 minutes, It must be bad.

I've just been doing some work on my friends Leak St20 and spotted something odd. if anyone can help it would be great.

On the first stage 1/2 of a ECC38 the anode resistor should be 100K. On the amp I've got it was 47K which was bypassed with a small value capacitor (could'nt read the value) in series with a 4.7K resistor. The cap and 4.7K resistor is not on my circuit diagram.

Nothing else was different from the circuit diagram. Maybe it has been modified for a different valve, I dunno. Any ideas???

[colin.hepburn]

Have a look at this link may help http://www.geocities.com/stereo20/restore.html