2a3 options?

The really early Paramount amplifiers in the 2A3 configuration had arcing problems with EML tubes (oddly enough you could put a $35 pair of Chinese tubes in there or Sovteks without any problems), so we redesigned that circuit to have different startup behavior which solved that problem entirely. It's actually been a really long time since I've even seen a 2A3 Paramount with the soft start feature added. I do not recall their being any issue with Paraglows since they supply the driver plate voltage from the 2A3 cathode bias resistor, which is another way to avoid this issue when building a directly coupled 2A3 amp.

There was at least one issue with 2A3-40s dying in a Stereomour, but in a cap coupled AC heated 2A3 amp that runs the tubes by the numbers, it gets really tough to blame the amp manufacturer...
Mine have the soft start feature. Couldn’t be happier with my paramount amps and JJ tubes.......though visiting your site (a dangerous proposition in itself) has me thinking about the new Beepre 2 (might start a new thread on that), as well as the MonAmour 2a3 amps.
 
I heard an Audio Note 2a3 amplifier with PSvane tubes in, i thought it sounded great and i think they were cheap ones
 
Mine have the soft start feature. Couldn’t be happier with my paramount amps and JJ tubes.......though visiting your site (a dangerous proposition in itself) has me thinking about the new Beepre 2 (might start a new thread on that), as well as the MonAmour 2a3 amps.
My only encounter with a Bottlehead product was that I had in a very short time an Foreplay 2.0 Line amp in my posession with the C4S circuit installed(John Camille) I changed all the capacitors and resistors for better ones trying to hot rod it and tube rolled it like crazy,but it seemed the amp never liked the rest of my system??
A friend of mine has a pair of early Bottlehead Paramours 2A3 monos ( but I have never listened to these )
and he swears by them using JJ´s!( on my recommendations)
 
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I built a pair of Bottlehead somethings for @ejfud a few years ago, but I kind of boogered 'em up.

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It's an amplifier!
It's a teppanyaki grille!
It's BOTH!!!


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Having gone all Bottlhead on y'all so far in this thead, and in the interest of equal time, and given the recent slant of the conversation, it is perhaps worth a moment to note explicitly that the current SE 2A3 amplifier in... ahhhm... heavy rotation in the ol' casa is a morph of Joseph Esmilla's "Simple 45/2A3" as animated by our own @Redboy.

DSC_4218 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

I realize most of all y'all know this -- but perhaps not all of all y'all do. Or is that does? Danged grammar...
 
Has anyone tried any of the vintage Japanese 2a3 tubes? Mazda etc.?
Specs seem right on the ones I've seen for sale but most all have a UX2A3 designation. I believe the UX refers to the base/pin configuration. They look the same as US made but I can't find reliable info. Adaptors would be fine but I don't want to get into rewiring or changing out sockets.
 

The ones I'm looking at are on auction sites in Japan and considerably less money.
The seller says they are "comparable" to RCAs but he did not answer the specific compatibility question.
 

The ones I'm looking at are on auction sites in Japan and considerably less money.
The seller says they are "comparable" to RCAs but he did not answer the specific compatibility question.
I found this reference to the KX prefix but I think it applies to UX as well

 
There sure isn't much out there about those. The white printing, lack of acid etched octagon, and lack of "2A3" written on the box would certainly not motivate me to spend much money on a pair of those.
 
There sure isn't much out there about those. The white printing, lack of acid etched octagon, and lack of "2A3" written on the box would certainly not motivate me to spend much money on a pair of those.
Here's a link to closed auctions. Quite a variety and price range.
 
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