Posted on Monday, 8th February 2010 by Jimmy Auw

Due to high workload on my primary job, I prefer to leave my serious listening session for a while. So if you are waiting for my Gainclone Project initial impression, perhaps you must wait a little bit longer. Sorry to say. Also my Duelund CAST Silver delayed to mid of March. It makes me also miss the Duelund sound so much. That’s also another reason to stay away from serious listening session, for a while.

I prefer to do simple pending task, like disassembly my Hickok 539B Tube Tester. This heavy tube tester really consumes my energy more than I expect.

Below is the general appearance inside the tester. Two rectifier, one is the “deadly” #83 Mercury Vapor Rectifier and the other is 5Y3GT Rectifier.

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Tags: 539B, hickok, tube tester
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Posted on Sunday, 31st January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

I have some collections of vintage meters. One of them have problem like shown below. The needle can’t be fixed on the zero position. It seems like the internal magnetic stabilizer parts have loosen its function or misplaced inside the meter. Let’s open it

The good from a vintage meter is its accuracy, stability, and build quality. Many modern meters are available in cheap price but the quality is very poor. The meter moves in a very unstable manner. Far from what I say a smooth movement of the vintage meter. That’s why, even many modern meters are available in many store in affordable price, I still prefer to hunt vintage meter, usually from eBay.

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Tags: vintage meter
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Posted on Saturday, 23rd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

The first thing that I need to do to refurbish my Hickok 539B Tube Tester is to clean up its appearance. I bought CRC QD Electronic Cleaner. This quick drying and no residue formula should be OK for my purpose. I remove all the buttons to wipe out all the dust and dirty things from the front plate.

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Tags: hickok, tube tester
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Posted on Friday, 8th January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

I manage to secure one vintage tube tester, a Hickok 539B. This is an ultimate tester, Lab grade, and one of the most wanted tester on eBay. Don’t ask how much did I pay for this. This is also a very heavy tester. I believe it’s over 10 Kgs. So please also don’t ask the shipping cost to deliver this item from other continent.

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Tags: 539B, hickok, tube tester
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Posted on Sunday, 3rd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

A nice “300B Western Electric-like” tube from China and 300BS from Shuguang/Valve Art with Mesh design. Must be interesting to see how they both perform in the real world. Both are also very cheap for 300B tube.

Tags: 300B, Shuaguang, Valve Art, Western Electric
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Posted on Sunday, 3rd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

On this lazy new year, I do a comparison between some of my old cheap meter (for Capacitance and Multimeter) and my new well know brand, Sanwa.

I finish some measurement for Capacitor and Resistor. It seems even the old cheap meter (cost <US$10) could measure very well compared with my expensive Sanwa (rated at 0.08% accuracy, cost >US$100). But for some special purpose, especially very small value measurement, the more expensive meter would do it better and more accurate. If you don’t mind with the “very standard” (more polite word for “cheap”) build quality, rarely measure small value item, and don’t need extra digit accuracy, then you can go with cheaper meter.

I compare 3 meters here. One is multipurpose meter, Sanwa PC510. High tech meter from Japan brand, Sanwa. Claims 0.08% accuracy, AC True RMS, and capable of testing Capacitance and Temperature (beside a standard AVO function of a Multimeter). This meter cost around US$ 150. The others are two my old meter. One is Heles UX35 (a standard AVO meter, cost around US$ 5) and the other is China brand Capacitance Meter CM8601A+ (up to 20.000uF, Capacitance meter only, cost less than US$ 8).

As the subject, I pick Audio Note Copper Foil Mylar-In-Oil Capacitor (default value at 0.47uF) and three value of 12W Mills Resistor (3R9, 22R, and 22K).

The photo below will speak by themselves.

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Tags: capacitance meter, heles, Sanwa
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Posted on Saturday, 2nd January 2010 by Jimmy Auw

A pair of Duelund CAST is enough to rob your wallet. How about two pairs? Well, sometime money is not an object - when you are pursuing the ultimate sound. No sky is high enough

I welcome, two pairs of Duelund CAST Capacitor installed on 6J5-RE604-RS241 Amplifier. The installation process was done just before end of last year (31th December 2009, night!). And well, I saw many fireworks when driving home (around 00:15). Happy New Year first!

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Tags: Amplifier, CAST, Duelund, RS241, tube
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Posted on Monday, 21st December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Not really published on the market (at least not well spotted around big online webstore), but I manage to get a pair of it.

This is the CAST version of the Duelund Resistor. Well, for the Capacitor, the CAST definitely better (less ringing, so quiet, dynamic). How about this Resistor? Not sure though, plan to test it somewhere. Picture below is the 5W version.

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Tags: CAST, Duelund, resistor
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Posted on Friday, 18th December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I have a short free time at the afternoon, and it’s time to test my Power Supply for my Gainclone. Powered by Talema dual secondaries, each rated at 18VAC/6.3A

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Tags: Black Gate, gainclone, power supply, talema
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Posted on Saturday, 12th December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Just arrive, could be my last “considered high end” capacitor… I welcome you, Audio Note Copper Foil Mylar in Oil 0.47uF/630Volt.

I do love the beautiful elegant copper appearance from this capacitor. It just wonderful and good looking (maybe I’m too bored with “brown paper” from Jensen and Duelund). How does this thing sound? Will see, later, don’t expect me to test it soon, since quite busy these days.

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Tags: audio note, Capacitor
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Posted on Sunday, 6th December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I will not use “Ultimate” or “Premium” project since no one knows (even me) the result of this Gainclone project. I would say… “Ridiculous Gainclone”. Is that OK? To be honest, this more likely a mini battleship (A-Wing?) on the StarWars movie than an amplifier.

A brief view of it, from the top. Powered with Mundorf Supreme Silver/Gold/Oil as input coupling capacitor (2.2 uF), Vintage NOS SCR 22 uF as feedback capacitor, and Black Gate F Series as power capacitor, bypassed with K40Y Russian oil capacitor. Isn’t that “ridiculous”?

Keep reading, I will show some things I have done today to assembly my Gainclone.

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Tags: gainclone, power amp, solid state
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Posted on Thursday, 3rd December 2009 by Jimmy Auw

I order another transformer. This should be an upgrade of the previous version.

First, I add 0-75V tap for my neon lamp INS-1.

Second, I upgrade from H10 to Z11 lamination, from 35 size to a bigger 38 size.

Finally, I also upgrade the internal wire from local made to Germany/Australia combination.

It’s a kind of oversize for an “only” 100+VA transformer.

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Tags: transformer
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