Supratek Owners Thread

@tksteingraber, took delivery of Cabernet mid Nov 2023.

The tubes that are fitted:

6SN7-SE (2)

6N3C (0384) (2)  the 'N" looks like a russian n

GZ345 Rectifier (1)

The sound is a bit rough out of the box, letting it burn in from today for a week, see how that works out. By then, that should be 250 hours, is that enough?

They do take a little time to settle in when new.   You'll notice a nice difference within a couple days (20-30hrs),.  Those Output transformers need a little juice running through them to open up.. The supra's also like to be at stable operating temp to sound their best too (~45 min. on)..  A little congested before that point.   The 6n3c is the Russian eq. of a 6L6..  I personally like the 5ar4 (gz34) and 5u4gb rectifiers but you'll find a big difference of opinion on what people like.  If yours cab is a 6sn7 standard (ie, no DHT),  then your rectifier choices are pretty wide open..  just stick with the typical 5volt heater variety,.

@jslateiv question for you on my 6 month old Cab volume control.  Whenever I use the remote volume up or down I get a crackling  sound. If I turn the volume knob up and down a few times it goes away but returns next time it’s turned on.  Should this be of concern?  Thanks for your expertise.  

@rms456 excellent to hear about your new arrival🤣. Once it breaks in and if you have an interest in upgrading your tubes I have several suggestions that made a definite improvement. I have rolled many 6sn7’s, 6f8g’s , 6l6’s as well as 5V rectifiers. Also, highly recommend upgrading your fuse to a Swiss Fuse Box. All nice SQ enhancements. Cheers!

@tksteingraber   You will hear a little crackling when the remote is used due to the motor interacting with the high gain circuit.  You should only hear it while the motor is turning the vol up or down (remote) though.  Should stop once you take your finger off that remote button.    Sometimes if you have a cell phone near (~3') of the pre,  the pre will pickup some rf from the phone and you could hear some cadenced ticking and or a little static in the background.    IF you hear/get the crackling from the volume when manually engaging the control at the unit, I would suspect a dirty pot,  but these are sealed so not much you could do about it other than replace.   If it's silent other than when turning up/down manually,  I would worry with it. Won't harm anything.