I just bought this monster amp recently and now I am deciding I would rather not haul it with me, but I still may. I've still yet to start it up as my hi-eff horn speakers are still waiting for me to work out the crossovers.
If you are into tube amp building, or know someone who is, you know that direct coupling is the holy grail of coupling stages. However, this usually requires stacked supplies which makes the amp bigger and more expensive, so its virtually never done commercially. This amp is a run at brute force engineering to direct couple all 3 stages!
This amp is 6SN7 > 71A DHT > 300B DHT. Some will also know that a DHT driver means as much to the sound as the output tube being DHT. No slacking-off there. This amp also has a boat load of chokes and motor run caps, no cheaping out with electrolytic caps. The amp can double as the proverbial boat anchor.
The downside to these amps are that they will take more time/energy to bias as all three stages rely on eachother for biasing, but the builder wrote up a document on how to do this. The looks a really utilitarian. He wasn't making a work of art, he was interested in making a chassis that would allow experimentation, and would be best for someone interested in same.
They were built by a technician who ran them as his bass amps in a full horn setup driving some monster bass horns. I learned of this amps though through Jeffrey Jackson, who knew the builder.
I bought them for $700 plus $150 shipping (they weighed 113lbs packed!). That is less than the parts cost. This includes no tubes, as I already had all the tubes and he was charging extra. I am looking for a local buyer only, as the shipping is a royal PITA at this size and weight and makes the whole transaction not worth it. $700 for local pickup.
