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Excuse me, but the Zen IS NOT a triode amp!!

63.194.80.83

It is an amp running proprietary Svetlana SV83 power pentode tubes in triode mode. Meaning that the amp has two grids in addition to the single grid found in true triode tubes such as the 2A3 and 300B. Purists will tell you that no pseudo-triode amp will sound as good as a well-designed pure triode amp, but don't look at me for a definitive answer on that issue!!

Although the SV83 is a proprietary variant of the common and popular EL84, EL84's can be substituted for it. However, there are enough differences that, according to Svetlana, SV83's CANNOT be substituted in an EL84 amp without circuit modifications.

The EL84 has many equivalents that can be substituted for it (6BQ5, 7189, 7189A and 7320), so the Zen amp would with the SV83s does allow for tube rolling. However, I have no idea if EL84s would sound good, or produce as much power with EL84's, not being optimized for them.

I remember reading that Deckert changed the amp over to the Svetlanas to boost the power a bit. These are questions that you can ask him.

If you buy the Zen, like me with my ASUSA K2003, you will only be a member of the pseudo-triode club - but that doesn't mean that you will be denied some excellend sound. Even though I plan to buy or build 2A3 amps within the year, I will probably keep my EL84 psuedo-SET amp.

Dave van Harn

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