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In Reply to: Re: I do use OTL's and personally love them... posted by elektron on October 21, 2004 at 09:37:01:
I think Julius told me to use those mesh-type 6EJ7s, too. I remember being in Julius' "factory", a room or two in a walk-up on 72nd St near Broadway in NYC. He usually had a transformer cooking in the same room, probably spewing out PCBs all over the place. He had huge boxes of new 6LF6s just lying around. He loved his headphone amplifier perhaps the most, and on at least two occasions he asked me to listen to the latest version on his headphones. He had a helper, a man who appeared to be much older than Julius (who was then in his 70s), who never spoke in my presence. He charged $5 each for tested replacement 6LF6s. I also remember the "hardware store" parts quality and the lights dimming at turn-on. After he passed on, I needed a single 6LF6, because one cracked due to my own mishandling of the amplifier, and I contacted NYAL. Harvey said he and he alone had the "data" for my particular set of amps and that he could sell me the tube I needed for $50. Instead, I bought a bunch from a local distributor for much much less, and the randomly selected new tube biased up just fine and lasted to the end of my ownership of those H3aas. Although they are culturally about as different as two Americans can be, there are a lot of similarities in character between Julius and Ralph Karsten, and I mean that as a compliment to both.
Follow Ups:
Lew - I did not know this - that you knew Julious??? COOL!My NYAL OTL3s *were really good* 15 years ago . . . compared to most amps around . . . (sadly didn't have Ralphs gear, could NOT 'afford' much more then) . . . BUT, they always had a character, probably the PC boards.
One of the HUGE appealling factors for me, for RALPHs gear was the fact of p to p wiring.
I would love to experience H3aa?? some time.
Harvey WAS NOT NICE to me either related to support of my OTL3s
on the several occasions that we spoke . . .
Did not mean to impugn the reputation of Dr. Gizmo. I approached him as a total stranger and non-customer, so I don't blame him for trying to make a profit on selling me a 6LF6. I was trying to point out the basic reliability of those amps built by Julius himself and Julius' humility. He had a cult following in NYC in those days, and there was a long waiting list for his amplifiers, but he continued to make them one at a time, including, as I mentioned, his own power transformers. Apparently there was something unique about those transformers.
I am sorry Lew, I did not mean to infer or distort anything from your message, in fact I sort of took a tangent. I guess that I have been somewhat uneasy with certain manufacturers (personalities) and may have improperly assumed this of other companies when considering their gear. Some are and have been more standoffish.Ralph IS and HAS been the very best to work with (feel extremely fortunate to have realized this) hugh measure of hands on approach to business.
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