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Initial A/B test between PP and SE 6bq5 amps

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Once I had the bugs out of the PP 6bq5 amp it did not take very long to hook everything back up to do the A/B test between them as I had done with the 45 and 813 SE amp vs the SE 6bq5. If you recall I said in that thread that I did not really a difference between the three amp when I had set them up so that I had both amps hot and could switch between them by pushing one button. Therefore I was really anxious to see if I could hear a difference between PP and an SE 6bq5 set up the same way. The short answer is yes I definitely could. The surprising part is that the differences were pretty much what I have always heard and read. The PP amp sounded a bit more clinical in that it was a drier sounding amp. Another thing I noticed right off was that the SE amp gave the music rounded edges while the PP amp left them sharp. I only have tried a few types of music so far and need to do a lot more listening before I could tell you which one I prefer.
Now we come to the part where I roll a grenade into the room and see how much trouble I can cause. From what I have learned from this exercise so far I would have to say that the real difference in how amps sound is due more to whether they are PP or SE than the type of tube they use. This agrees with several articles I have read in the past and I am now inclined to agree with them. I have a lot more testing and listening to due, but my experience has been that first impressions are usually the best ones for this, so we'll see how it goes.

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