Lampizator Valve / Tube Rolling Review Thread

So I got a couple of modern rectifiers that sound very good. The EML 274B gives a bold full sound with big soundstage. The Elrog 274B seems even bigger but I can't listen to it witout distraction. Maybe it is partly because I wear glasses but it burns so brigthly, even in the daytime, that it is very annoying. It isn't as obvious in the photo but the point source of light is so bright it is like having the sun visible in the corner of your eye.

Anyone have any advice for clever and fire safe ways to dim it down. I've put red plastic film over other lights that are bighter than I like but not tubes. Don't want to melt film onto them.

Jerry

Carlsbad said:

So I got a couple of modern rectifiers that sound very good. The EML 274B gives a bold full sound with big soundstage. The Elrog 274B seems even bigger but I can't listen to it witout distraction. Maybe it is partly because I wear glasses but it burns so brigthly, even in the daytime, that it is very annoying. It isn't as obvious in the photo but the point source of light is so bright it is like having the sun visible in the corner of your eye.

Anyone have any advice for clever and fire safe ways to dim it down. I've put red plastic film over other lights that are bighter than I like but not tubes. Don't want to melt film onto them.

Jerry



View attachment 124743

Click to expand...

WHOA!!
That is awesome! I could see how it would be distracting though. What would you consider as being an acceptable method of managing the brightness? Filter/Gel? In frame or taped and hanging in front? Let me know

Carlsbad said:

So I got a couple of modern rectifiers that sound very good. The EML 274B gives a bold full sound with big soundstage. The Elrog 274B seems even bigger but I can't listen to it witout distraction. Maybe it is partly because I wear glasses but it burns so brigthly, even in the daytime, that it is very annoying. It isn't as obvious in the photo but the point source of light is so bright it is like having the sun visible in the corner of your eye.

Anyone have any advice for clever and fire safe ways to dim it down. I've put red plastic film over other lights that are bighter than I like but not tubes. Don't want to melt film onto them.

Jerry

Click to expand...

Reminds me of the older Vinnie Rossi preamps when he would put a faraday grounded cage around his tubes.
How about this: this

Thanks guys. I'm thinking maybe a cylinder of filter gel 4" in diamter so it sits away from the tube and held in place by a weighted ring.

The faraday cage would probaby not work as the point of light would still shine very bightly through the holes. It would be good to dim a diffuse light source.

To listen tonight I put a spent roll of tape around it sititng on top of two tube boxes. Not my greatest creation. but I'm listening to it.

If we take @keithc perf tube, make a custom bearing ring for it to sit on and tie in a micro motor you’d have killer mood lighting going!

keithc said:

Reminds me of the older Vinnie Rossi preamps when he would put a faraday grounded cage around his tubes.
How about this: this

View attachment 124744

Click to expand...

Audiophile Bill experimented with copper mesh tubes like this on his GG some years ago and reported sonic improvements. Worth digging out his posts and experimenting with.

At Aliexpress you can get something like this:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1000001183749.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.83.4489hmgVhmgVFV&algo_pvid=6a3254bd-c2bf-4e9b-a519-a863aba520e0&algo_exp_id=6a3254bd-c2bf-4e9b-a519-a863aba520e0-41&pdp_npi=4@dis!PLN!199.49!231.97!!!48.15!55.99!@2103890117072039032894725eb041!67210820299!sea!PL!2115406829!&curPageLogUid=c85kfiUJYJsd&utparam-url=scene:search|query_from:
And then put anything around it that you might like.
They call it vacuum tube guard.

Carlsbad said:

So I got a couple of modern rectifiers that sound very good. The EML 274B gives a bold full sound with big soundstage. The Elrog 274B seems even bigger but I can't listen to it witout distraction. Maybe it is partly because I wear glasses but it burns so brigthly, even in the daytime, that it is very annoying. It isn't as obvious in the photo but the point source of light is so bright it is like having the sun visible in the corner of your eye.

Anyone have any advice for clever and fire safe ways to dim it down. I've put red plastic film over other lights that are bighter than I like but not tubes. Don't want to melt film onto them.

Jerry



View attachment 124743

Click to expand...

All tubes by Elrog use Thoriated tungsten filament hence the bright light. I see you have early 01A DHTs also with thoriated tungsten filament (before they moved to normal ones).
I tried, if I recall correctly, two Elrog 274b and both had a rattling filament (being brand new) so had to return them back and then I gave up on them. But would love to have a normal working one as majority of tubes in my system are with thoriated tungsten hence the light effect which I personally love.

Sablon Audio said:

Audiophile Bill experimented with copper mesh tubes like this on his GG some years ago and reported sonic improvements. Worth digging out his posts and experimenting with.

Click to expand...

he ended up with the kR recti and 242 at that time it was much better than anything else

Golum said:

All tubes by Elrog use Thoriated tungsten filament hence the bright light. I see you have early 01A DHTs also with thoriated tungsten filament (before they moved to normal ones).
I tried, if I recall correctly, two Elrog 274b and both had a rattling filament (being brand new) so had to return them back and then I gave up on them. But would love to have a normal working one as majority of tubes in my system are with thoriated tungsten hence the light effect which I personally love.

Click to expand...

Golum,
I too love the light from a gently glowing tube. The O1As that you expertly identified look great. I know the photo doesn't show it but the bright light from the Elrog swamps them. You can see the shadows on the wall of the 01As. I don't want to hide the elrog, just reduce it. Looking at plastic options.

I wonder if the 01As glow warmly because the Lampi DHT heaters are run at a reduced voltage while the rectifier is run a normal full voltage.

Jerry

Carlsbad said:

I wonder if the 01As glow warmly because the Lampi DHT heaters are run at a reduced voltage while the rectifier is run a normal full voltage.

Jerry

Click to expand...

It's their regular glow as the heather voltage is 5V (300b setting) hence as per their spec.

G

More babies -PT14

I just had to have another quad of these.
These are even better at initial testing for noise vs my other quad- quiet, quiet, shhh, Quieter than among all we300b, KR242. RK242,, RKPX25 , we101f, etc. I still have those in the bullpen btw- but for now that is where they will stay….

The chrome bases are nice but I would like to think that doesn’t bias me.

Still warming up as I write. The other PT14 quad will be a backup- or maybe just even/odd weekends !

Thanks Laszlo- @takacs75 !

cpcat said:

More babies -PT14

I just had to have another quad of these.
These are even better at initial testing for noise vs my other quad- quiet, quiet, shhh, Quieter than among all we300b, KR242. RK242,, RKPX25 , we101f, etc. I still have those in the bullpen btw- but for now that is where they will stay….

The chrome bases are nice but I would like to think that doesn’t bias me.

Still warming up as I write. The other PT14 quad will be a backup- or maybe just even/odd weekends !

Thanks Laszlo- @takacs75 !View attachment 125024

Click to expand...

Wait until you change the adapters to TP adapters. At this point your rectifier might be the weak link

New solution to the overbright Elrog 274B. I bought a blue tinted sports bottle and cut the top and bottom off of it and put it over the tube, not dark enough. So I added a layer of red gel filter that I had laying around. Now my listening room is a red light district. the gel filters are available in all colors so I may fool around with others. It looks magenta in teh photo but in person it is a nice deep red.

Hello carlsbad. Glad you solved the brightness. I too use the Elrog 274B with Golden gate with engine 11-p. Did you by any chance compared the Elrog 274B with any of the 'great' 4 volt rectifiers such as RGN2004 or 2504? In my system I prefer the Elrog 274B over the other great 5 volt rectifiers such as WE274B, WE422a, Cossor 53KU, GEC U52 etc etc. But I am very curious how the Elrog 274B competes against the 4Volt greats...

I don't have any of the 4 volters. I'm planning eventually to try one, probably the RGN2004. I think I need to add a dropping resistor to the adapter.

I did compare to the EML Mesh 274B which is in the amp in the second photo. I like them both. the adjective that keeps coming to my mind for both of them is "bigger". they both make the presentation bigger, especially the Elrog. I have been listening a few days and I am going to go back to the EML soon for a comparison. The Elrog seems to make the bass almost boomy in my system.

Thanks,
Jerry

Jerry so you did get an EML 274b. I received mine. Haven’t put it in yet. Want to get to the 300 hour mark before rolling tubes. Have you tried the Sophia Electric 274b Aqua II?

The burn in has been brutal on the TRP. Some times it sound straight bad. Fortunately my vinyl setup sounds fantastic. My brother stopped over Friday and after 3 songs we went to records and his comment was the TRP sounds broken compared to vinyl. Had around 80 hours at that point

Carlsbad said:

New solution to the overbright Elrog 274B. I bought a blue tinted sports bottle and cut the top and bottom off of it and put it over the tube, not dark enough. So I added a layer of red gel filter that I had laying around. Now my listening room is a red light district. the gel filters are available in all colors so I may fool around with others. It looks magenta in teh photo but in person it is a nice deep red.View attachment 125162

Click to expand...

Interesting that your other tubes are also quite bright. My 242s are not visible at all, before that I used PX25s, and they were also very dim. Maybe it’s a feature of GG3?

Most tubes are lightless of very low light in my amp too. The other tubes are very old 01As that have thoriated tungsten filaments are are very attractive at night. The elrog is the only modern tube (that I know of) using thoriated tungsten filaments but they have overdone it (IMHO).

Mesh tubes will give you more light. I have an EML mesh 274B which is very attractive but the filament plane is orientated edgeways to the listener so you can't see it. Looks great from the side though.

I have a pair of Sophia Mesh PX25s that are probably my most attractive glowing tubeset but they aren't my favorite sound so they will probably move on soon.

Jerry

I have posted something similar about 2 years ago in the Atlantic TRP thread. This is my view on the WE274B and Elrog 274B rectifier tube. I especially selected these two tubes as they are my favorite 5 volt rectifier tubes in the Golden Gate (3). I have compared them to the GEC U52 Sylvania 274B, the Cossor 53KU and WE422A and many others. Of course they are all great rectifiers but in my system I prefer the WE274B and Elrog 274B. There is a more direct connection between you and the music with WE274B and Elrog 274B.

The WE274B sounds very open, clear and natural. The music flows with this tube. Horizontal flow (melody), lyrical. Great soundstage, very airy. All instruments are projected in one big open space. Very detailed, but naturally detailed. It is all there, but not as obvious as some other rectifiers. Dynamics are good (not great), bass is good, but not as deep as some other rectifiers. Once you press play, you just relax and enjoy the beautiful music. That being said, they have one major shortcoming, especially when you compare them to other great rectifier tubes, and that is the ability to deal with complex passages. That is in my opinion their Achilles heel, and of course deep bass and slam. The main selling point of the WE274B is this natural flow of music in a open airy space. This is the ‘typical’ Western Electric sound, the old 300B Western Electrics have a similar type of sound.

The Elrog 274B is very detailed but with great tone. Absolutely not etched or sharp. Normally tubes with great full tone are a bit warm and dull sounding. Not this one. It sounds open and clear. Has great deep bass, and handles complex passages in music wonderfully. Elrog is also very good in timbre of instruments. You hear more of the notes played (overtones, undertones). Really special. The Elorg is in my opinion just a more transparent tube than the WE274B. It also sounds ‘grand’ and ‘full’. Compared to the Elrog, the WE274b sound a bit ‘tiny’ and ‘thin’. Not tiny in soundstage, but more lightweight in sound. The Elrog 274B is less lyrical and airy than WE274B. It misses that last amount of natural flow of the WE274B. The Elrog sounds more dramatic (vertical oriented, harmony). It is more dynamic than WE274B as well. More edge of your seat type of sound.

I have a Telefunken RGN2004 solid plate globe model. I have not listened to it yet, because I need to order an adapter for it. Good adapters are expensive. I hope to learn if it is worthwhile to invest in the 4 volt rectifiers, because I just finished investing in those great 5 volt rectifiers: -). Just curious why the 4 volt rectifiers are so popular and preferred these days in Lampizator. What do they bring to the table that those 5 volt rectifiers do not….