I hate to say it, but now I think maybe I like my amp in ultralinear mode versus triode

@immatthewj having dealt with both of these characters on amps, different tubes, options, I’ll say you are a bit on your own until you partner with a great local tech who can open up these amps and tell you what’s really going on inside of them.

I’m always leary of tube resellers who are likely trying to sell you what they have on hand or can get easily vs something they dont’ have on hand or need to order or cannot get so easily during different cycles of tube availability any given month of the year. Yes, and, Dennis did and still does "voice" his amps [in his own mind] trying different circuits, tubes, transformers, and more to achieve a different sound that he likes. Having owned various Cary Audio and Inspire by Dennis Had amps, all of them sounded different in triode, strapped triode, ultralinear modes too. And, my other ultralinear circuit mono tube amps sound different yet again from the former Cary and Inspire amps. Voicing, Marketing, whatever - back to listening to be the final judge of what you like and hear for your own system :)

@emergingsoul

Ultra linear is a sexy term used by the manufacturer. Cary has not done a very good job to explain it on their website.

ultralinear is a term that is not limited to just one manufacturer, kind of like AC or DC is not limited to any single manufacturer.

I think they’re taking advantage of the technology to promote something that is questionable as to sonic credibility. It’s not a very popular feature. I have never seen it before

I am not sure what you mean by all of this, but just because you have never seen it before doesn’t mean anything. Read the Wiki article I posted the link for. I think it states that the UL circuit was originally patented in 1937. As far as being switchable from one circuit topology to the other, that’s nothing new either. For all the good that it may not have done me, I subscribed to Stereophile throughout most of the ’90s up until ’02 and I’ve read reviews of more than one manufacturers amp that was switchable. What sticks in my mind were a pair of VTL or Manley Labs (I get the two manufacturers mixed up) that were switchable between triode and either ultralinear or pentode. Earlier in this very thread, in a part of the conversation with @decooney , we were talking about an amp called The Baron which was manufactured in the late ’90s by Mesa (dual monoblocks in one chassis with adjustable feedback and a dozen 5881 output tubes); the circuit(s) were switchable between triode and what Mesa was calling pentode, in thirds, and for that, Mesa was using ONLY TWO toggle switches PER SIDE. One switch controlled two pair of tubes, and the other switch controlled one pair of tubes. In other words, both switches could be in either triode or pentode, OR, one switch could have one pair of tubes in triode while the other switch would put two pair of tubes in pentode--OR vice versa. For those who think amps do not make a difference in the sound . . . they should hear the Mesa baron . . . I tiook one home for a weekend and the sonic differences were significant--but not all good. I stayed with the smaller tube amp I was running at the time (another smaller Cary wired in full time ultralinear) and later upgraded to a pair of ARCs (also wired in full time ultralinear) and due to reliability issues with the ARCs (although they sounded fantastic) I bought the V12 I started this thread by discussing.

If you think that the word ultralinear is "sexier sounding" than the word "triode", I can only tell you that if you read Dennis Had’s (the designer of the V12) description of the triode circuit, you might come away thinking that triode is the "sexier sounding" term.

Seems the self-inflicted-comical poster sees the initial post heading, reads little in between, goes straight to the end, and just starts replying with whatever comes to mind to get folks stirred up.  

@immatthewj You don't have to dig deep on this one. The Dynaco ST70 is arguably the most famous ultra-linear amplifier made although all the Dynaco amps were ultra-linear.

@immatthewj having delt with both of these characters on amps, different tubes, options, I’ll say you are a bit on your own until you partner with a great local tech who can open up these amps and tell you what’s really going on inside of them.  

@decooney , well, okay, but you did tell me that the only tube you wound up using were the Chinese Ruby branded EL34s, right?  At the time I needed to retube that amp, Jim had a bunch of tubes listed in his inventory, including the GLs, which was part of the reason I contacted him for that retubing.  (The last I read he said he was retiring and prior to that wasn't going to sell any tubes made in Russia anymore.)  I was quite happy with those re-issued Tung Sols, and I will say that he gave me what seemed to be better personalized service than any other tube seller I've bought from (with the possible exception some NOS small tubes from of Andy from Michigan).  Jim would send me an email every day or so telling me how the matching process was going, and as I recall, it took a few days or maybe even a week until he emailed me telling me he had two matched sex-tets ready to ship. A couple of years prior to that I had bought a dozen reissued Mullard EL34s from Viva, and it was wham, bam, thank you ma-am, and I had them, but they didn't run long at all (about two years) before the bias(es)  started doing goofy things.

Anyway, as another aside question, did you ever experiment with running your V12 configured in anything but FULL triode or FULL ultralinear?  I mean like 1/3 + 2/3s?  I know that the owner's manual says only run FULL one way or the other, and after the amp arrived to me I talked to Kirk Owens about it, and he didn't sound too crazy about the idea. . . .  I know that the Stereophile review said it was okay, but I always felt better about defaulting to what the manufacturer said than what Stereophile said.  I think I remember that I may have tried it for a real real short time, but I do not remember how I felt about it, meaning it was nothing at all close to as dramatic as the Mesa Baron was.