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Post by prspastor on Apr 14, 2009 19:19:43 GMT -7
Hello all, First post here and a new Ghia owner since yesterday. (Actually, this is my first Dr. Z amp.) I love the amp - in fact, I about fell off my chair when I first plugged in and played. I've been looking for this sound for 15 years. I was shopping around on Tube Depot to buy up some extra 5751 NOS and came across a 6106 Bendix rectifier tube that is also labeled as a 5Y3. I've heard some good reviews of the Bendix - that it heats up slowly (which would be good for a Ghia because of the lack of a standby switch) and that it might be the last rectifier I'd ever have to buy because it is so rugged. Does anyone have experience with this tube, and since I don't know how many amps the filaments pull in a 6106, I wanted to make sure it wasn't going to hurt the amp's power transformer.
Thanks all!
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Post by eggman on Apr 14, 2009 21:48:35 GMT -7
Howdy,
PRSPastor: Congrats on your Carmen Ghia! BTW, my first Dr. Z amp, also a Ghia will arrive at my house tomorrow. The Bendix is a well regarded rectifier, but that's all I know. I've a similar type of 5Y3 in my old Vibro Champ. It's a Mazda (It's French, oddly) and it also heats up slowly. I just purchased a NOS RCA 5Y3 from Kropotkin and will probably just switch the Mazda from the Vibro Champ into my Ghia-if it'll fit. Mazda's are big tubes. We're both getting our first Z's this week and both Ghias! Guess we'll have to compare notes. Good luck. Eggman
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Post by Lonny Caughron on Apr 16, 2009 19:37:59 GMT -7
got the Bendix in mine works and sounds great. hope I never have to replace it
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Post by prspastor on Apr 17, 2009 7:06:24 GMT -7
Thanks so much for the reply. I appreciate your time. Well, I hope that I never have to replace it either. Do you like what it did for your Ghia?
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Post by Lonny Caughron on Apr 17, 2009 8:51:15 GMT -7
I have a full NOS complement of tubes, can't tell if it's the rec or not. It's sounds great after I changed all the tubes, of course it was great before also.
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Post by mitch8686 on Apr 25, 2009 0:45:58 GMT -7
You can't go wrong with the Bendix. I put one in my RXJR and while I couldn't hear a difference- the piece of mind knowing it's built like a tank is good enough for me. One thing though-not sure if anyone else has experienced this or not- I had to tighten up the female pins in the rec tube socket for it to work. Mike at KCA said to try that and it worked. I guess the pins on the bendix are ever so slighly smaller than the rec tube that was in there before. No biggie, it took 5 mins to sort it out. It's nice to get a top of the line NOS 5y3 for less than half of what a NOS 5ar4 goes for.
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Post by bustertheboy on Apr 29, 2009 23:06:18 GMT -7
There's a difference between the 5Y3's I have and the Bendix in my Ghia. Of the 5Y3's, the Sylvania is a little thinner sounding than my Phillips but the Bendix 6106 is a fatter and slightly stiffer sound. It appears louder but that is probably debatable.
Regarding the tone difference, I asked my son to do a double blind test with the three tubes- i.e. he didn't know which tube was which and his comments agreed with what I'd found. This test was repeated with my other son, who while he didn't notice the difference as much between the 5Y3's but found the Bendix fatter and tighter. But can you live with the slow start up? I found this not to be a problem at gigs between sets because the tube is already hot, so you don't get the full 45 sec warm up time Brett
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Post by prspastor on Apr 30, 2009 16:36:26 GMT -7
Right - I'm getting a bit of a fatter sound as well - and a little smoother too, with the Bendix.
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