2. amps-preamps
  3. 161387-96791

Constant noisy tubes maybe go solid state?

I have a Quicksilver Line Stage Preamp (12AT7) mated to an Odyssey Khartago Stereo. Overall I like it. Way too much gain but I digress. Weeks after receiving it I rolled in a few different tubes, kinda fun to color the sound signature. I liked rhe RXA black plates I got and those stuck around for more than a year. They started going microphonic and making noises so I ordered another pair (noisy) then another different vendor (blasts of white noise) and another set that arrived today (one is noisy as holy hell and one seems fine).

So where does one order preamp quality tunes that are quiet? Is there something I’m not requesting when ordering? Maybe dump
snd go solid state? I’m trying to be humorous because I’m pissed. Ha.
gochurchgo
gochurchgo OP
923 posts
 
Personally speaking, even after visiting a high end dealer listening to $50k  to $100k speakers (Wilson) run by ARC or Naim gear, I think my system sounds better than it has any right to considering it’s all mid-fi stuff.



gochurchgo OP
923 posts
 
@invalid I wish Mike from Quicksilver would have replied to me. I’d be really curious to know if I could swap in 12AU7 or AY7 to lower the gain. I’d have some in the mail already.

oh well.
rodman99999
6,194 posts
 
You won’t hurt the preamp, by trying a 9 pin, 12 Volt, with lower gain.     ie:https://amptubes.com.au/my-amp-uses#:~:text=You%20can%20interchange%20a%2012AX7,gain%20and%20others%....         You're still going to want the lowest noise tubes possible, obviously.          The major misalignment, in my opinion, seems your power amp/speaker combo.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,963 posts
 
It’s a preamp. No power tubes. Just swap in the other 12A*7 tubes. Nothing’s going to blow up as they all have the same pin configuration and heater current.

Edit: @rodman -snap!
gochurchgo OP
923 posts
 
@rodman99999  you are correct. The speakers I ended up with were not what I was originally aiming for. So yes the high  gain amp and high sensitivity speakers are a mismatch. Add in high gain preamp and here we are. 
But that said I’m very happy with the sound. I’ve had people over who came to hear “a car wreck of a system” and were impressed by it. 
It shouldn’t sound as good as it does for what it is but yet it does. 
Originally, 4 years ago when I started I was looking at Odyssey Liquids, used Pulsars and Cantons. I heard Heresy IV’s on an all Pass slabs system and that was it. 
More to discover