2. amps-preamps
  3. 192205-171531

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

It's a Cary V-12; it features a dozen EL34s and each pair has a switch in between them that configures that pair to either triode or ultralinear. In full triode Cary listed in the specs that it makes 50 wpc and in full ultralinear 100 wpc.   For most of the twenty three years that I have owned this amp I have always felt that I preferred triode except for the occasions that I wanted to full out blast (it has literally been many years since I've felt the need to full out blast).

However, today I experimented with a couple of things in my system, and after listening to the same "Jazz Essentials" (compilation) red book CD a couple of times all the way through, the next thing I experimented with was switching to full ultralinear.

Maybe there was more "PRaT"?  (Which is a term I am still not sure that I completely grasp.)  Maybe . . . but what I do feel I noted for sure was that the imaging (particularly the imaging in the center) had more weight (meatier?) and was presented more forward, which I actually like.

I put a few more hours in (one more time with Jazz Essentials, Holly Cole/It Happened One Night, Dave's True Story/Sex Without Bodies, selected tracks from Rebecca Pigeon/The Raven and Once Blue/self titled and Norah Jones/Feels Like Home) after switching to ultralinear.  (No booze during this session, just coffee.) The jury is still out on this, but I do have some CDs in mind that I want to listen to over the next few days as I continue to evaluate.  

immatthewj
xenolith's avatar
xenolith
132 posts
 

FWIW, Gary Dodd, shortly before he died in 2015, was contracted by a very rich person who heard his "Blue Monster" amps:

A good deal on a DIY speaker kit from Parts Express Bigblue1

A good deal on a DIY speaker kit from Parts Express Bigblue7

to build the "best sounding amplifier possible; even better than the Blue Monsters."  What he came up with was monoblocks with 4 KT77 output tubes run in OPTIMIZED ultralinear mode with 2 6BL7 input tubes; custom would massive power supply and output trannies, huge inductors on both input and output stages, 700 volts on the plates and Dueland CAST coupling caps.  He died before finishing the amps.  6 years later, his great friend and talented tube audio builder, Charlie Cocci, completed the two amps.  Charlie, who has been building tube amps for at least 50 years, stated "These are not only the best soundfing amps I've ever built, they're the best sounding amps I've ever heard...and I've heard a lot of amps!"

FWIW.

Those amps are in my living room.  The Dodd Audio Balanced Power Supply that is shown in the 2nd photo powering the Blue Monsters now powers the amps in my living room.

I'm a very lucky person.  Confirmation bias confession?  I don't think so, I think I just agree with Charlie.

FWIW.

dogearedaudio's avatar
dogearedaudio
140 posts
 

@immatthewj

"Zero" feedback? Really? I’ve looked at the CAD-280SA V12 manual online and it doesn’t mention feedback, but perhaps that's a different model. Hard to imagine they use NO feedback. Maybe not global feedback, which encompasses the output transformer. Internal feedback can be used to good effect, but no feedback at all is hard to imagine.

@decooney

Oh sure, there are amps that will work well with different output tubes, and "non-optimized" can offer some interesting sound signatures. Like I said, nothing wrong with that. ;-)

knotscott
928 posts
 

Apologies if this came up earlier in the discussion...Do you guys re-bias and adjust for volume difference when you change between UL  and triode?  UL plays notably louder at the same volume setting than triode on my amps, and I'm assuming others too.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,232 posts
 

It’s nice to have gear with different sound options. Why be stuck with just one sound unless sure that’s the one you like best.

immatthewj OP
2,023 posts
 

"Zero" feedback? Really? I’ve looked at the CAD-280SA V12 manual online and it doesn’t mention feedback, but perhaps that's a different model. Hard to imagine they use NO feedback.

@dogearedaudio , there should be a page labeled "SPECIFICATIONS" that interestingly is not numbered, but it looks like it would be page 5.  (I say looks like, because the pages are starting to come loose in that particular manual.)  Anyway, dimensions are listed. next weight is mentioned, next circuit type is mentioned, and then, under circuit type, it lists "FEED BACK:  Zero".

And I am not arguing with anything you say, as I truly have a limited understanding of most of this, but just telling you what the "CAD-280SA V12 OPERATING MANUAL"  that came with my amp says.

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