Zen 'Early Christmas' CCE Mod on a Clementine EL34?

sweet & juicy SE amp for 1626 Darlings and the 6L6 family

Zen 'Early Christmas' CCE Mod on a Clementine EL34?

Postby Shannon Parks » Mon Apr 30, 2012 5:51 am

http://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/Y ... 1243915681

This mod was mentioned to me. Basically - as I read it - the suppressor grid is AC coupled to the cathode instead of being strapped together. This would be doable on a EL34 Clem (standard non-Darling Clem build) with a .1uF, 400V cap between pins 1 & 8. You can easily go between a jumper and a cap to demo this mod. Any takers? I'd try it myself if I hadn't already modded my Clementine to use 6BG6s.

Shannon
User avatar
Shannon Parks
Site Admin
 
Posts: 3764
Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2003 5:40 pm
Location: Poulsbo, Washington

Postby TerrySmith » Mon Apr 30, 2012 7:15 am

FWIW, the 6GK6 family of tubes have a separate K and G3, so this mod can apply!
T. Smith
User avatar
TerrySmith
KT88
 
Posts: 973
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2004 12:51 pm
Location: Maryville TN

Postby EWBrown » Mon Apr 30, 2012 8:02 am

In the original "Zen" SV83 / 6P15P SE amp, the suppressor grid was just left floating, unconnected.

This is reflected in the Decware PC board amp kits, using the same design. PDF schematic:

http://www.decware.com/newsite/ZKIT1sch ... ev2011.pdf

/ed B
Real Radios Glow in the Dark
User avatar
EWBrown
Insulator & Iron Magnate
 
Posts: 6389
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:03 am
Location: Now located in Clay County, NC !

Postby EWBrown » Sun May 06, 2012 1:44 pm

I tried the cap-coupled suppressor grid "mod" with (Svetlana) EL34s, on my Chubby Clementine. Easy to do, just remove the wire jumpers that I added between Pins 1 and 8 on both V2 and V3, and replace them with "Orange Drop" 0.1 uF / 600V caps, of which I had a couple spares.

The jury is still out on this one, it definitely sounds different, but hard to declare whether it is truly "better", or just "different".

Seems to be more "forward" with the cap coupling, and it definitely makes "the less-that-optimal" recording quality on some CDs a lot more (painfully) obvious.

I'll have to try this with SV83s / 6P15Ps or 6GK6s, too.


/ed B
Real Radios Glow in the Dark
User avatar
EWBrown
Insulator & Iron Magnate
 
Posts: 6389
Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2003 6:03 am
Location: Now located in Clay County, NC !


Return to clementine

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests