[bcowen]

Are you saying that bcowen did not offer his stash of unwanted GE beam power pentodes to you for the PrimaLuna?

Friends don't let friends GE.

 

[AstronomerXI]

Here are a handful from last evening's aurora, some from the Lake Huron shore, a couple from near my home. Through excitement or sheer stupidity, my camera with the better red sensitivity was out of focus for almost the entire night. So many lost shots... Luckily I had a second camera and my iPhone. The last image is from my iphone, the others from an old Canon 6d and a 14mm ultra-wide angle lens.

I'll drown my sorrows with some of Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales" and great music played on my main Schiit stack, a perfect way to spend a dreary rainy day.

 

[Ripper2860]

WOW!!!

 

[sam6550a]

Friends don't let friends GE.

Except for certain power tubes.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

Now no need to fly to north of Finland or Canada Yellowknife.

 

[adias]

 

[Adam Balm]

Except for certain power tubes.

The GE 6550A was the only tube one could use in the Fender 400PS bass amplifier. All others...huge melt down.
It's also the best for use in the Ampeg SVT too.
Early SVT's ran 660 volts on the plates of 6146B finals. Later SVT's were running 695 plate volts on 6550's!

 

[Ableza]

The silent killer of modern tube gear is filament voltage. Manufacturers specify numbers like 6.3V +/- 5% for filament voltage, but, due to live voltage norms climbing to over 120V [my line voltage is a constant 123.5V], the filament voltage winds up being 7 V or more. This will shorten the life of the tube because the heater runs hotter, so the thermionic emission is higher, etc., and the tube life is severely reduced. Many amps actually have resistors in the filament leads to certain tubes to drop the voltage and gain lower noise and longer life [see Citation II input stage]. That is why large transmitters have adjustable filament voltage to assure that that expensive power tube is operating at the proper point.

Furman P-1800 or similar.

 

[sam6550a]

The GE 6550A was the only tube one could use in the Fender 400PS bass amplifier. All others...huge melt down.
It's also the best for use in the Ampeg SVT too.
Early SVT's ran 660 volts on the plates of 6146B finals. Later SVT's were running 695 plate volts on 6550's!

The 6550A is also a great sounding tube in hifi amplifiers.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

New Zealand too.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/stunn...-catch-it-tonight/JLTO23QIRVG2JBQUPXRMGRFZYA/

 

[Jason Stoddard]

The silent killer of modern tube gear is filament voltage. Manufacturers specify numbers like 6.3V +/- 5% for filament voltage, but, due to live voltage norms climbing to over 120V [my line voltage is a constant 123.5V], the filament voltage winds up being 7 V or more. This will shorten the life of the tube because the heater runs hotter, so the thermionic emission is higher, etc., and the tube life is severely reduced. Many amps actually have resistors in the filament leads to certain tubes to drop the voltage and gain lower noise and longer life [see Citation II input stage]. That is why large transmitters have adjustable filament voltage to assure that that expensive power tube is operating at the proper point.

Not to be pedantic, but being pedantic: it'd be more correct to say "the silent killer of vintage tube gear is filament voltage."

Modern gear is much more apt to be designed for current AC line voltages. We take high line into account (5.7V at 110 to 6.5V at 125 typical target), or in some cases have regulated DC heaters (Lyr 2, Mjolnir 2, Stjarna). I'm sure many other modern manufacturers do the same.

But yeah, for vintage gear, maybe an AC line regulator/autoformer with switcher thing.

 

[Ohno Schiitizen]

Here are a handful from last evening's aurora, some from the Lake Huron shore, a couple from near my home. Through excitement or sheer stupidity, my camera with the better red sensitivity was out of focus for almost the entire night. So many lost shots... Luckily I had a second camera and my iPhone. The last image is from my iphone, the others from an old Canon 6d and a 14mm ultra-wide angle lens.

I'll drown my sorrows with some of Tolkien's "Unfinished Tales" and great music played on my main Schiit stack, a perfect way to spend a dreary rainy day.

Any impact to the ISS?

 

[Adam Balm]

Not to be pedantic, but being pedantic: it'd be more correct to say "the silent killer of vintage tube gear is filament voltage."

Modern gear is much more apt to be designed for current AC line voltages. We take high line into account (5.7V at 110 to 6.5V at 125 typical target), or in some cases have regulated DC heaters (Lyr 2, Mjolnir 2, Stjarna). I'm sure many other modern manufacturers do the same.

But yeah, for vintage gear, maybe an AC line regulator/autoformer with switcher thing.

The perfect examples would be vintage Dynaco MKIII's and Stereo 70's.

 

[Ripper2860]

About to head out for lunch and then a run to Total Wine and More for a bit of Tequila and OSD Gin. My Tequila and Gin bottles seem to have sprung a leak.

Oh. And a couple of little somethings to help y'all get your weekend started...

 

[theeclone]

Great story, and very interesting comment about how they kind of created their own dialect of recorded music. Still thinking about that.

Thanks. Yeah and it's totally fine if some people enjoy listening to that dialect.

For me, growing up in the 80s, Steely Dan was part of my culture. FM radio was on all the time and they were ever present, including a lot of their stuff from the 70's. Those earlier tracks felt more like an expression of the culture I was immersed in than the later stuff.

I made the comment about Hey Nineteen but I actually kind of like that one. It's just that it was maybe a harbinger of what would come next with their music. Gaucho is about 50/50 tracks I like.