3C24 tube amp recently converted to 812 ouput power tubes.

@grannyring

Do a search on the Seattle Craigslist using the term "triode" and look for an ad for a pair of exotic looking triode amps. That’s Paul. He's currently listing a pair of 811A amps. Crazy looking and gorgeous. Paul is a superb builder. 

@islandmandan 

Cool. You might recall I auditioned a pair of Paul's 3C24 amps in my home for a while. They sounded very good,  though I ended up keeping my AES SE-1 300B Amp. 

Can you record here the story of what precipitated this change?

Grannyring, this is something Paul designed and built by himself, which I bought from him. I was very happy wiith the way the amp sounded, but perhaps due to the unusual mixture of tubes, and how they interacted with each other, Paul decided  a change of ouput tubes might be a better option for my use, and to better match with my custom-designed-and-built HPD 315 Tannoys.

Since the change in output tubes (I don't know what other changes he made), the amp is the most perfect match for my speakers since I first fired them up over ten years ago.

I am so in love with my system now, and so pleased every day. This is a blessing at this stage of my life, the end of days can come any time, and I'm good with that.

Not trying to be over-dramatic, but I am 76 years old, and have had one stroke a couple years ago, so who knows? 

I insist on living a life with a positive outlook, and enjoying it happily in spite of some difficulties ( my 77 year old Dementia-affected wife I look after, and we still manage to have a bit of fun, and some of the music I play she dearly loves).

So I suggest you get in touch with Paul Birkeland (an extremely busy man these days). Paul Birkeland at Bottlehead Dot Com if they allow that to go through.

I have always had high regards for you, so I hope it works out for you.

Best regards,

Dan Thomason

Whidbey Island, WA

Dan,

Please help a brother understand. Who initiated this redesign? Was it Paul’s idea? Or was three something more you were looking for from the 3C24 amps that had him recommend this update?

Oh,  and how much power do those tubes / amps put out now?

Markus, the change in the design in of this amp was all Paul's idea. I seemed to be having problems with the combination of the 3C24 tubes and the other small tubes the 3c's worked with. I only started using tube amps a few years ago, I went from a VAC PA 35.35 to an SET 300B (which I still have, and which Paul worked on first for me).

As far as its power output, I guess I never asked, but in its first design (the 3C24), it put out around 11 Wpc. This amp seems to have a good bit more power now, compared to its previous iteration.

As I've stated, I am extremely satisfied with this amp in its current configuration, and I will live with it gladly for the rest of my days.

Regards,

Dan