EL34 PP Amp

[Richard]

EL34 PP Amp

Many members are experienced builders. Please think back to your earlier days of knowledge and ability and vote as you would see fit for the future direction of WD. This may be slightly different to your own requirement today.

Rich

Hmmm, WAD customers were given the alternative of two similar push-pull amplifiers: The 6550 and the 34.
They seemed to choose the 6550 which was one of WAD's successes, the EL34 was shelved because customers chose the offered alternative.

BUT, one of the amplifiers missing from the range was a kit with lots of Watts, the KEL80 was another baby thrown out.

So I'd vote YES if the WD EL34 kit offered something different to the many Chinese EL34 PPs which are going to be cheaper...

[Clive]

I suspect that people chose the 6550 over the 34 because the 6550 was 40W vs 32W. In reality there's little difference and the difference between the 2 amps was small in term of parts differences. There is also the possibility that the 34 sounds better with 6550 / 88's as maybe the opt's are better suited to these valves. It is of course easy to spec an amp that will let you use 34/6550/88, even if you are need to make some initial choices for mains tx (how about a universal mains tx?)and opts, a "configurable" amp or a design that allows output valve changes would be good.

Please also spec the mains tx's to run a little cooler than the WAD ones.

[NickG]

The first time I thought of buying a WAD kit, was originally when reading about the kit34, by the time I was ready to buy, the 6550 was out, and whilst I was a bit new to it all, the impression I got from the mag artical was that it was a "improvement" over the 34, and so I went for the 6550. I am sure many others did the same. So I suspect WAD produced their own lack of sales for the 34. I also remember the feeling that the 300bpse wound be even better, but was unsure of the cost (little did I know how much this was going to cost over the next few years...), but again, there was a real sense of "this is the best", "this is next", etc. With this in mind, maybe the descriptions used could be thought about a bit more, to place the amps not in a row, but in different boxes, all equal, but one being the best choice at that time for a particular potential customer.

In fact, and its getting off topic, but the editorial position of HFW has changed in this way already, its gone away from the "what HiFi" type of "one winner, the rest are not worth considering" sort of thing.

[alnewall]

Yes.
It would need to be be better than the Kit 34 which I didn't think was all that great. In fact I preferred the Gainclone. The only 6550 that i've actually listened to properly is in a different class altogether.

[Richard]

Nick wrote

maybe the descriptions used could be thought about a bit more, to place the amps not in a row, but in different boxes, all equal, but one being the best choice at that time for a particular potential customer

Agreed

[Paul Barker]

El34 valve has a particular sound Iam sure this is in your mind Richard, you have a great guitar amp there as referance and you now use an el34 amp so that must be sounding good.

My first valve ownership was ear el34 parallel push pull. Had certain qualities, the tone which shows through of the valve being one.

Why not make a parallel push pull el34 amp triode connected/pentode connected alternatives for tweakers?

Don't make it a cheap starter amp, use the el84 for that, this should be the flag ship.

On loud music there is nothing like the el34 parallel push pull.

On quiet music you need SE.

[Clive]

Originally Posted by alnewall

Yes.
It would need to be be better than the Kit 34 which I didn't think was all that great. In fact I preferred the Gainclone. The only 6550 that i've actually listened to properly is in a different class altogether.

This shows how tastes differ and how important it is to position the different amps carefully in the text that advertises them. The sounds from these amps are different.

The 34 has some character of it's own, it's not neutral I'm not too worried about that. One characterful element in a system can be great if the character is to your liking. I suspect Richard enjoys the EL34 character. When I heard the Kit 6550 it sounded rather clinical to me. Nick Lucas, at that time running WAD, preferred the Kit 34 too, he said the 6550 had no character and reminded him of a CD player (or maybe a gainclone -).

So, I suggest again that an amp that can handle at least 34/6550/88 as options would cater for a wider group of people.

[alnewall]

Clive.
I should clarify that the Kit34 and 6550 referred to previously are both heavily upgraded amplifiers. I can't honestly comment on the sound of the std items. Maybe this is in part responsible for the differences we are hearing.

[Ianm2]

I have a soft spot for el34, I also disliked 6550 when I first heard it, aggreed, sounds clinical, very solid state.
But once I adapted to 6550, I rather enjoyed it.
What about a 'universal' grid bias that can be varied for el34, 6550 and kt88?