Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

It turned out that I made my Melquiadenisation with 6C33C. Not practically because it is good or bad tube. The choose of 6C33C was partially accidental: in the beginning I was trying to make an amp that would be able to work in multi-app configuration with older two pairs of Lamm ML2.... Since then when the ML2s were  left behind I kind of inherited the 6C33C in my Melquiades. Still I never had problems with 6C33C, neither with her capriccios character not with her sound. I have learned this tube quite well and gratefully keep using it.

Russians made a number sort of “similar” regulators tubes: the low gain triodes - 6C19P, 6C41C, 6C47C, 6C33C, 6C18C, 12C42?, different modifications, different manufacturing..... The 6C41C, 6C33C and the 12C42C are essentially the very same tubes but with different number of anodes... and consequentially with different dissipation power.

I use in my Super Melquiades (the schematic will be reveled as soon I will compile it into a useful document) a full 6C33 for LF channel, half of the 6C33 for mid-frequency and half of the 6C33 high-frequency channels. The half of the 6C33C does sound uncontestable better for higher frequencies and actuali it sounds so good that it does not sounds like a Russian-made tube anymore… Trust me, it is not my alleged Russophobia drives me to say it but the reality of most of the Russian-made tubes. So, I was thinking: if the ½ of 6C33C do performs so well in my application then why don’t I use the "normal" single triode - 6C41C.

The 6C41C (6S41S) is truly single triode - a natural half of the 6C33C and they are very much directly substitutable.

http://www.goodsoundclub.com/pdf/6C41C.pdf

I spoke with a few guys who used 6C41C. Bas Horneman and some other guys form Germany gave a positive feedback about 6C41C. Anatiliy Monakov from Russia, who looks like he used 6C33C and 6C41C for quite long time and who sound very kindly and knowledgeably suggested me that 6?41C, in case power is not the factor, is a superior tube to the 6C33C and informed that the 6C41C is what he ended up using. I was encouraged and dug one tube while ordered few more. Initially the 6C41C sounded quite unpleasant as I used one tube in my HF channel. The HF with 6C41C and  a half of 6C33C in MF channels sounded dynamically and harmonically differently and it completely crewed up sound. My theory about an anal-retentive necessity to have identical amplifiers for multi-amping was proven again. Today I got more 6?41C and was able to use them in my MF and HF channels. The dynamically and harmonically differences were gone and the result .....surpassed all my pessimistic suspicions: the 6C41C is not as good as a half of 6C33C sonically.

Later on (few days), I will elaborate why I do not like what I heard. Now, my sentiments about this tube are too fresh and I would like to do more experiments to mature in my opinion.

Rgs,
Romy the Cat

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site