Very bright tube amp

[AudioFilet]

My new tube amp sounds very bright to my ears, i thought tubea were supposed to sound all warm & fuzzy. Could there be something wrong with this thing (bad tube?), or need some sort of adjustment?

Sure looks nice though, check the pic (it is Chinese):

[madmax]

i thought tubea were supposed to sound all warm & fuzzy.


That is a misconception a lot of people have. Most are very detailed. I'm not sure why it would sound exceptionally bright though unless there is a component upstream not working well with it.
madmax

[venomclan]

Have you let it broken in yet?
Venom

[Early B.]

The first thing you gotta do is to replace all of the stock tubes. Then report back.

[RuSsMaN]

The first thing you gotta do is to replace all of the stock tubes. Then report back.

Why is this becoming a default answer?

[George Grand]

Because nobody has solid-state anymore?

[RuSsMaN]

Well, we all know the first thing I do when I get a new sand amp home is get rid of those stock output transistors. Yuk.

[SolidSqual]

Why is this becoming a default answer?

I agree. Some manufacturers place tubes in their equipment that are very good. Examples: Jolida, Odyssey and Cary - In my own limited experience. Rogue Audio usually requires some tube upgrades (atleast in my system anyway)

I would look to break in the equipment first and then consider if you are using components that may not mate well together.

That being said, replacing tubes is likely the cheapest solution if that is truly the problem. But beware, you dn't want to buy an extremely flat tube to make up for a bright component elsewhere.

[SolidSqual]

Because nobody has solid-state anymore?

I would guess more people have SS. I have a combination in my system. Best of both worlds in my opinion.

[AudioFilet]

I bought the amp used. the previous owner had it about a year, so I would think it is broken in. The output tubes are KT88, Chinese. The other 4 tubes are 12AT7 & 12AU7, 2 each. Those appear to be the same brand, US, but no brand name.

What are some good options for changing these out?

[Early B.]

The stock tubes on an inexpensive Chinese tube amp are likely to be of poor quality. If the sound of the amp is too bright, then change the tubes. One of the main advantages of buying tube gear is tube rolling. If that doesn't fix the problem, then get another amp.

[George Grand]

Please don't take me seriously. It's much too late in the game for that shit.

[SolidSqual]

Please don't take me seriously. It's much too late in the game for that shit.

Duly noted . . . sorry I've had my coffee now.

[Ricardo]

I don't know....but I wouldn't go changing tubes just like that, with an "unknown" amp. It might get pretty expensive and you might never find "the" tube. Maybe there's something in that amp that will make it sound bright, period.

[hearingimpared]

I'm new to tubes but when I've come across harsh, brittle or bright tubes I would replace them with different tubes and find the bad shit went away. Case in point, I burned in my brand new tube CD player for about three weeks. During that time I would take a peak listen. Sometimes it sounded awesome other times I've said to myself, "what have I done." I changed to a different set of tubes and now it sounds awesome and as a bonus, CDs that were unlistenable before are now easy to listen to.

I would like to add one thing here, the new tubes did not cause the music to have any less detail, music weight, added warmth or less bass punch or extension.

[mhardy6647]

Another possibility, boys, is a "tone control" effect arising from an impedance mismatch between transformer output tap and the speakers. What speakers is the OP using, and what is there nominal impedance? If the chinese amp has multiple taps, you might want to try a different one than the one you're on (e.g., 4 ohm instead of 8; 16 ohm in stead of 8, or vice versa, in either case). Won't do any harm, and it may "cure" the problem.

I would agree that the Chinese tubes won't be the last word in fidelity, but they're probably OK (unless, of course, they are bad).


EDIT: FWIW, the KT88s and their kin (the very extended 6L6 family) arent' my faves when it comes to sonics, anyway. YMMV, though.

[candyliquor35m]

Tubes are a good option but you could always google the amp to see if there's any info out in cyberspace about the amp.

[Early B.]

Here's a link for tweaking your amp...

http://www.lampizator.eu/AMPLIFIERS/CHINA/KT88/Music%20Angel%20KT88%20reworking.html

[mhardy6647]

Here's a link for tweaking your amp...

http://www.lampizator.eu/AMPLIFIERS/CHINA/KT88/Music%20Angel%20KT88%20reworking.html

heh-heh... here's the best advice of all, I suspect:
At this stage I would get rid of the entire PCB and start from plain noval sockets mounted to chassis.