[richidoo]

The Jumbo Shrimp is a Shrimp preamp with Remora remote volume control (RF) and (from the website):

"In addition to the Remora Remote control system, an additional White Follower buffer stage was engineered into the Shrimp to better drive the volume control. This fortunately resulted in greatly increased headroom and significantly reduced distortion in the whole unit. It is a big improvement besides being convenient."

The triode count has not increased, still two 12AT7s and two 7044s. So how do they add another buffer?  Were there unused triodes before?  Or maybe they are just moved to a better place in the circuit.

Has anyone heard the new Jumbo Shrimp yet? I have auditioned the old Shrimp a few times, whenever my system changed, trying to find a way to make it work for me. I love everything about it except the sound, which is just not captivating like a tube preamp should be. Kinda compressed or just boring or something.  On a compressed speaker like Quad it is awesome. The Snapper's input/buffer circuit is the same as the shrimp but it sounds very different so something must be  different. Could it be volume control impedance problems as the blurb would suggest? I hope the Jumbo fixes it, because now with remote, this is a perfect preamp for me in every other way. I love Manley!  This preamp is so well built, and that huge phenolic volume knob is so cool.
Thanks
Rich

[santacore]

I love everything about it except the sound, which is just not captivating like a tube preamp should be.

That was exactly my experience too. I owned a Shrimp/Mahi combo for about 6 months. I can't say enough good things about the Mahi's, but the Shrimp never wowed me. I ended up selling the whole rig because my speakers needed more juice. Now that I back to high-efficiency speakers, I wish I never sold those Mahi's.

Hopefully the new Shrimp will be at the level that we thought the original should be. I hope so, because I really like Manley products and there service. If only I could afford their Steelhead.........

[JoshK]

The triode count has not increased, still two 12AT7s and two 7044s. So how do they add another buffer?  Were there unused triodes before?  Or maybe they are just moved to a better place in the circuit.

That is four triodes per channel (each tube has two triodes in it), a lot for any preamp not including phono.  One can only guess at the topology (and probably wouldn't be close) they employ.  But with 4 triodes per channel you have a lot of options.  Its like you guessed, they either weren't using a triode section before or more likely redeployed the triode section to another duty. 

Come to think of it, a White cathode follower uses two triodes, so it sounds like they completely reinvented their topology.  Would suggest it is probably worth listening to even if you heard the original. 

I have always been attracted to Manley gear even though I build my own.  They just seem to design well from what I can see.  I think the underappreciated Wave preamp looks like a killer DAC/preamp combo.

[richidoo]

Thanks guys. Upgrade from Shrimp to Jumbo is 800 "clams."  Someone will review it soon, they always get a lot of press. A comparison to the old would be ideal, preferably by Olsher who criticized the tone as too lean. That was not my experience with Snappers for amps. It was rich and clear, but kinda boring. Actually a little rolled off in the top as I remember. Certainly the buffer to push the signal through the volume and balance controls without loss could be a cure.

I'll take a look at the Snapper schematic input/driver which is same tubes, but Snapper is fully balanced, Shrimp is SE.

[JoshK]

I can pretty much gaurantee that the input of your snapper and the preamp won't share the same topology.  That would spell way too gain for a preamp if it used the same as a driver stage for an amp.

[richidoo]

Good point. The snapper is 31dB gain, the Shrimp is 12dB. Thanks Josh!
Rich

[richidoo]

I'm back on the Jumbo Shrimp quest again. So a bump from the distant past. Still no published reviews at all?   Has anyone heard it or own it?  Thanks

I found out that it does have 6 tubes now, not just 4 as with the original Shrimp. Tube compliment is 12AT7 input, 5670 driver, 7044 output with white follower circuit (50 Ohms.)

It has a RF remote control.
Rich

[Diamond Dog]

If you're still thinking about this Richidoo, the tide has finally come in. What would you like to know about the Jumbo Shrimp?

Thanks

[Xavier]

I have the Mahis and love love love them. Previous I had Class D amps and the Mahis are similar in balance, but with oodles more detail. And the Mahis give you the ability to dial in how you like your soundstage with negative feedback control.

[JohnR]

There's a review here: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/manley6/jumboshrimp.html

[Diamond Dog]

I have the Mahis and love love love them.

I love my Jumbo Shrimp so much, I' m gonna marry it  ! We can do that up here in Canada, you know...

[Wasatch]

I also enjoy my Jumbo Shrimp. There should be a review on Tone Audio Magazine.

[TONEPUB]

It was in issue 28:

http://www.tonepublications.com/MAGPDF/TA_028.pdf

Great preamp!