I realize I am late at this, I have been busy and did not check the forum for a while and when I get back I find this, what I see has simply become the "CCE Mod".

I am so impressed with your work guys, you have taken a centennial technology and found something new in it, I am indeed impressed. From the descriptions it sounds very much like another unresolved mystery of the tube world, the odd "bloom" that tube amps experience after they have been on sometime. It really looks like we are still far away from totally understanding tubes and I certainly cannot see the end of this technology anywhere or anytime soon.

the D amps seemed to challenge the tube world, but clearly the force is still strong in tubeland

kudos to the Decware team!

All I have to do is open up my Select and safely solder a 0.1 microfarad polyester 400 v or more capacitor between pins 3 and 6 of both outputs.  Is that it?

Thanks for the info Karl.  Another question please.  Pin 6 is empty on both sockets now, that's easy.  Each pin 3 has a single wire coming off it.  One is red, the other is white and they tie together at a large gold colored(resistor?)  Those wires should remain undisturbed right?  And no problems using a mylar capacitor, correct?

Ok, never mind, I could not wait.  Soldered the caps in, put it all back together and started it up.  I had a fire extinguisher in hand and safety glasses on.  So far very good. I hooked up an old dvd and my bookshelf speakers for a test.  Spent a few minutes with Johnny A spinning - the amp sounds lusher, fuller.  Changing the bias setting seems to have more of a difference now too.  My little Boston HD7s are only five feet away from me and they have completely disappeared.   I call that a success.  I am quite pleased with the low quality gear I am testing it with.   With the Zbox, Dec 685, and my nibblelin NFx I expect it will even get better.

After several months of regular listening I still cannot hear any difference that is worth mentioning.

Quote:


The 0.1uf value was used to place the effect inside the audio band where it would have an effect on the upper bass on out to the treble region.  Changing the value changes the time constant which will effect where in the frequency band it acts and also how images present themselves in the sound stage.  Using a 0.01 for example would push the effect up so high in the frequency band that if anything were noticed it would only be in the upper treble.

Steve

The 1K 2W resistor between the plate (pin 3) and the suppressor grid (pin 1) must be removed before installing the 0.1uf 400v poly cap between pin 1 and the cathode (pin 8).

-Steve

Bump///  Is this mod a regular feature of the current Zen Triode amps that ship with the SV83 output tubes?... It would seem like the prudent thing to do... Gotta admit, I'm pretty much out-of-the-loop here... Not all that technically proficient on tube technology... (m.)