If you'd like to help support the channel, please visit the shop: www.amazon.com/shop/thejoyofvinylrecords Lots of great things coming up with the show. Thank you for being here!
You nailed it! I am glad you got to try both and can explain the differences accurately. I do get questions on the differences, and going forward, I will just ask them to watch your video 😁
Nice review comparing the two different versions. Maybe Thomas will let you return the base model and give you a special upgrade deal? Just talk really nice to him. 😅 This is a hobby where we constantly tweak things and change things. It's part of the enjoyment. But at the end of the day, you have to keep the focus just on listening to the music and enjoying it without over analyzing it. Most of us never will find our endgame system, no matter how much money we have to spend.
The ever elusive golden sound, Neil. 🤣 And you are right - there comes a point where it's time to settle back and enjoy. I get there once in a while and then I'll make the mistake of reading the latest marketing magazine material from Audio Advice or some other seller and it's back to watching reviews, etc.
Hey rick i have the special edition and have about 30 hours on it with the black treasure tubes in with klipsch foorte 3s and it is still bright at higher volumes.My question is should i give more time to burn in or roll gold lions in it thanks.
Perhaps a bit more burn-in. The tubes I have in now took a bit over 30 hours to really settle in. If after a few more hours it still feels bright you could tru Gold Lions or Mullards (I prefer Mullards). I wouldn't go with all Mullards of Gold Lion on both the inout and output as it may swing the opposite way and sound a bit muddy. Just the output - and perhaps PsVane Horizon or Ray Tube Select for the input (the 12AX7s and 12AT7s) to balance it out. What setting do you have the sound profile on? I found "B" a bit to forward and preferred "A".
@TheJoyofVinylRecords I like the sound in b better but it did help in a I did not leave it a very long I think I will leave it a longer I switched back pretty quick thanks for replying
I acquired my tube amp from a secret audiophile zen master who crafts them from specialty cast iron, titanium tubes, and a carbon neutral wooden water wheel power supply. Being rather uneven as a water wheel can get, he feeds the juice from that into a special high capacity, slow leak capacitor which is hand made to feed the exact wattage specified for the tubes and whatever speakers you may wish to risk with it. The amp is rated at no less than 3/4 amp, and no more than 39.7 on the top end, with the wattage being fed to the speakers more dependent on how fast you can get the wheel turning, so you might not want to park your amp next to a babbling brook if you are expecting any volume at all, and certainly not the 11 set as the max volume. You might also wish to equip your amp with the optional Zen Master 85 loudness button, which when pressed, makes everything louder, HOW louder exactly no one has taken the time to measure, but take our word for it......your cat's ears will bleed. The REAL attraction is the new titanium tubes designed for this amp.....these puppies are INDESTRUCTIBLE, and might even add a certain amount of molton hot warmth to your music, with a soundstage so incredibly wide you might have to get a bigger house in order to truly appreciate it. You could fit Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band in this soundstage! And deep? My Gods, it's so deep you might not be able to hear that standing bass player stepping on that cat way in the back! As far as playing Frankenstein thru it.....well.....this kind of tube amp is more partial to Vampire musicals. The blood curdling shrieks are SO well rendered! And since this amp is built with cast iron, you can bet there won't be any stray vibrations running down your $5000 cables. Not that this amp uses standard audio cables......nope, this puppy uses 107% pure lead piping, feeding your music straight thru to your speakers with no loss of fidelity whatsoever. Some people HAVE complained of a "hollow" sound coming out of this rig, but hey, that's what tone controls are for, right? So, anyway, to top it off, for an additional $2374.99 you can get your amp with aluminum. Kind of like how new iPhones come "with titanium". So no, you'll have no idea what "with aluminum" imparts to your amp, but you can act all cool just like an Apple person! So, put your order in now, since these are hand built if you expect to get one before you retire. As usual, a great video, Rick, even if your tube amps are those cheap ones imported from Montana! Later, dude!
I would have to assume that the different tubes played a big part in what you were hearing. I'm a firm believer in break in time. I would like one day to have a tube amp. If you decide to get the special edition "hint hint" I know someone that would be happy with the standard edition 😊 I nearly fainted when I seen the pic of you holding up that giant tube.
You are probably right on the tubes. Either that or the break-in time - or both! I've been listening in the "A" setting for the last couple of weeks (switching back to "B" every now and then for a sanity check) and still prefer "A". Yeah - that was one big, heavy tube. Nearly dropped it!
Nice review, thinking about buying the 120se, do you think it will sound good with heavy metal and prog ?? (judas priest/dream theater) im 60 years old so don't like high treble, so could you please type what tubes you are using, for that smooth sound, Thx in advance
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Can't find the mullard kt88s only kt88, so i count on that it's 4 of them, and from left to right 1234 where do you put the other tubes
@@mbracerh The Mullard KT88s are available at The Tube Store (www.thetubestore.com/mullard-kt88) They are the power tubes and go in the 4 rear positions. The 12AX7s and 12AT7s go in the front and they are marked as to what goes where on the top of the TS120.
Great Job ! Sounds profile is actually different 'Current feedback ' The Standard edtion to me the upper mids sounded a tad more forward than special edtion and Less Forward than Doge 10 - GALION sounds amazing with me Dynaudio Towers ' really brought the Airyness and sparkle to the Dynes- Yes top end is boosted (V'Curve) but the amp is refined enough not to sound overly bright !! Did you get my Mullards !! You should try Golden lions/TAD mixed !! Ohhh my God !! G.L. in T-1/3 and TAD in T 2/4 😊 You bought a badass amp ! What all speakers did you roll with ?
Hey Jay! You're right. It doesn't sound bright at all - in fact it's completely pleasant and I attribute much of that to the Mullards (yes - got them!). Which TAD KT88s? The Redbase? How would you describe the mix? Oh - and speakers. The KLH Model 5s.
Clarity heaven ! Sparkle Airy ' But very reveling so on bad recordings No-no TAD STR8 /Golden lions ' I use on my Dynes because they have a softdome that's not as sharp sounding as metal domes so they love the treble extenstion from TAD-Str8 Golden lions - Theirs a reason high end Amps come with Golden lions ' even preamp tubes ' I been threw almost a dozen Kt88 and the one set of kt120 '
Nice down to earth review. Not what I wanted to hear as it appears I may have to save up a bit more...that being said, I''m sure I'd be happy with the standard. Now if I could just find one in silver.
It would be interesting to one day discuss which artists and albums sound better played back through tube equipment and which you might prefer through transistor gear. I overwhelmingly like tubes better, but superb transistor gear is not something without it's charms also. Anything with a lot of piano and flute in it, I would lean toward tubes. Jethro Tull for instance; only tubes on Tull for me. In fact flute and piano might be where tubes shine the most over most transistor gear. The flutes are so fluffy that you wonder whether the word fluffy, didn't come from the word flute. Wouldn't think of playing Tull on anything but tubes. They did a Christmas album if you didn't know. Massed strings are another thing. Before I hardly did any listening to classical, one Christmas evening I was listening to the first Johnny Mathis Christmas album on Columbia, (he did an earlier one for Mercury). The massed violins came in on the left, on I think it was Sleigh Ride, and I remember thinking to myself, "Massed strings and tubes might be the nicest sound ever made." I had never heard strings so sumptuous and beautiful before; they were literally like a magnet, drawing me in. Chances are that any good piano recording will sound less thin on the middle and high keys, and quite a bit richer in the lower registers with tubes. Yet around that same time period, I put on The Ventures Christmas Album. The Ventures, a guitar instrumental group were incredibly well recorded. Hard to believe how well actually, especially from that far back. With The Ventures and tubes, the sound was nice but I preferred the Ventures with solid state. No piano, flute, vocals or massed strings.on that album. Solid state gave the music more incisiveness that the tube reproduction slightly lacked. I'm talking Ventures cds. Finding excellent copies of the original lp is hard and probably usually expensive. There are two different Ventures Christmas collections on cd. One is much longer and one shorter with different songs. The Ventures were just so good. A little known fact is that for nearly 30 years, the best selling rock instrumental album of all time was a Ventures album. Finally displaced by Joe Satriani, and his album that had a title about Surfing With Aliens. Some other artistss that sound great with tubes include, Heart, Supertramp, Sade, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Yes, The Beatles, The Doors etc. I generally like tubes for acoustic jazz. Although ultimately, I think system synergism plays a big part.
Now I'm going to have to spin a couple Tull records this weekend. I never knew about the Christmas album. And I remember the Satriani album very well - took the world by storm when it came out (Silver Surfer on the cover). I had no idea that the Ventures had the distinction of being the best-selling rock instrumental up until that time. Learn some new every day! Funny you mention Heart as well. Just listened to "Bebe Le Strange" two nights ago.
There is something that tubes do with flute that is so cool. Flutist Tim Weisberg is a very underrated artist. He's released about 15 albums, so at least the people at A&M records really think a lot of his music. His music is considered Jazz/Rock Fusion. Jazz artist Herb Alpert owned A&M Records for many decades. Herb is the only person in history to win a Best Album Grammy as an artist and also a Best Producer Grammy. I think the album was called "Rise". Mobile Fidelity released it as a half speed mastered audiophile lp. But anyway, when I used to go out to audition stereo equipment, I used a Tim Weisberg track for evaluating bass response. It was a track called The Bruiser from Tim Weisberg 4. His bass player is something extraordinary. I have a big Christmas music collection. Lots of artists made Christmas albums that people are unaware of. They include Tommy James & The Shondells, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Weavers, Peter Paul & Mary, The Coasters, Leon Redbone, Patti Labelle, Michael McDonald, The Manhatten Transfer, Roy Clark, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart and I'm not sure if Heart made a Xmas lp, but I know they did some Christmas tracks which have appeared on comilation albums. Little Queen is an underrated album of theirs.
itd be much more interesting to compare the best TS120 with the best doge 10, as the TS120 is an improved versino of the doge 10, manufactured by doge.
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If you'd like to help support the channel, please visit the shop:
www.amazon.com/shop/thejoyofvinylrecords
Lots of great things coming up with the show. Thank you for being here!
You nailed it! I am glad you got to try both and can explain the differences accurately. I do get questions on the differences, and going forward, I will just ask them to watch your video 😁
Fantastic comparison video. Hats off
Thanks, Alex!
Wow !!!
Thank you for the detailed analysis , It made it easier for decide which one to buy 😉👍🎶
I'm glad it helped!
I can’t find the standard version to buy on the website.
Hi! I check with Galion and the Standard Edition is no longer available. The Special Edition is however.
Nice review comparing the two different versions. Maybe Thomas will let you return the base model and give you a special upgrade deal? Just talk really nice to him. 😅
This is a hobby where we constantly tweak things and change things. It's part of the enjoyment. But at the end of the day, you have to keep the focus just on listening to the music and enjoying it without over analyzing it. Most of us never will find our endgame system, no matter how much money we have to spend.
The ever elusive golden sound, Neil. 🤣
And you are right - there comes a point where it's time to settle back and enjoy. I get there once in a while and then I'll make the mistake of reading the latest marketing magazine material from Audio Advice or some other seller and it's back to watching reviews, etc.
Hey rick i have the special edition and have about 30 hours on it with the black treasure tubes in with klipsch foorte 3s and it is still bright at higher volumes.My question is should i give more time to burn in or roll gold lions in it thanks.
Perhaps a bit more burn-in. The tubes I have in now took a bit over 30 hours to really settle in. If after a few more hours it still feels bright you could tru Gold Lions or Mullards (I prefer Mullards). I wouldn't go with all Mullards of Gold Lion on both the inout and output as it may swing the opposite way and sound a bit muddy. Just the output - and perhaps PsVane Horizon or Ray Tube Select for the input (the 12AX7s and 12AT7s) to balance it out.
What setting do you have the sound profile on? I found "B" a bit to forward and preferred "A".
@TheJoyofVinylRecords I like the sound in b better but it did help in a I did not leave it a very long I think I will leave it a longer I switched back pretty quick thanks for replying
I acquired my tube amp from a secret audiophile zen master who crafts them from specialty cast iron, titanium tubes, and a carbon neutral wooden water wheel power supply. Being rather uneven as a water wheel can get, he feeds the juice from that into a special high capacity, slow leak capacitor which is hand made to feed the exact wattage specified for the tubes and whatever speakers you may wish to risk with it. The amp is rated at no less than 3/4 amp, and no more than 39.7 on the top end, with the wattage being fed to the speakers more dependent on how fast you can get the wheel turning, so you might not want to park your amp next to a babbling brook if you are expecting any volume at all, and certainly not the 11 set as the max volume. You might also wish to equip your amp with the optional Zen Master 85 loudness button, which when pressed, makes everything louder, HOW louder exactly no one has taken the time to measure, but take our word for it......your cat's ears will bleed. The REAL attraction is the new titanium tubes designed for this amp.....these puppies are INDESTRUCTIBLE, and might even add a certain amount of molton hot warmth to your music, with a soundstage so incredibly wide you might have to get a bigger house in order to truly appreciate it. You could fit Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band in this soundstage! And deep? My Gods, it's so deep you might not be able to hear that standing bass player stepping on that cat way in the back! As far as playing Frankenstein thru it.....well.....this kind of tube amp is more partial to Vampire musicals. The blood curdling shrieks are SO well rendered! And since this amp is built with cast iron, you can bet there won't be any stray vibrations running down your $5000 cables. Not that this amp uses standard audio cables......nope, this puppy uses 107% pure lead piping, feeding your music straight thru to your speakers with no loss of fidelity whatsoever. Some people HAVE complained of a "hollow" sound coming out of this rig, but hey, that's what tone controls are for, right? So, anyway, to top it off, for an additional $2374.99 you can get your amp with aluminum. Kind of like how new iPhones come "with titanium". So no, you'll have no idea what "with aluminum" imparts to your amp, but you can act all cool just like an Apple person! So, put your order in now, since these are hand built if you expect to get one before you retire. As usual, a great video, Rick, even if your tube amps are those cheap ones imported from Montana! Later, dude!
That tube amp with it's titanium tubes and water wheel reads like a steam-punk's nirvana!
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords
I thought he should have opted for the one with the Flux Capacitor. I think it's the Delorean Deluxe model II. 😂
I would have to assume that the different tubes played a big part in what you were hearing. I'm a firm believer in break in time. I would like one day to have a tube amp. If you decide to get the special edition "hint hint" I know someone that would be happy with the standard edition 😊 I nearly fainted when I seen the pic of you holding up that giant tube.
You are probably right on the tubes. Either that or the break-in time - or both! I've been listening in the "A" setting for the last couple of weeks (switching back to "B" every now and then for a sanity check) and still prefer "A".
Yeah - that was one big, heavy tube. Nearly dropped it!
Nice review, thinking about buying the 120se, do you think it will sound good with heavy metal and prog ?? (judas priest/dream theater) im 60 years old so don't like high treble, so could you please type what tubes you are using, for that smooth sound, Thx in advance
Greetings! I am currently using Mullard KT88s for, 2 12AX7 PSVane Horizons, and 2 NOS 12AT7 Telefunkens.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Can't find the mullard kt88s only kt88, so i count on that it's 4 of them, and from left to right 1234 where do you put the other tubes
@@mbracerh The Mullard KT88s are available at The Tube Store (www.thetubestore.com/mullard-kt88)
They are the power tubes and go in the 4 rear positions. The 12AX7s and 12AT7s go in the front and they are marked as to what goes where on the top of the TS120.
@@TheJoyofVinylRecords Ok. 1000 Thanks for answering
Great Job ! Sounds profile is actually different
'Current feedback '
The Standard edtion to me the upper mids sounded a tad more forward than special edtion and Less Forward than Doge 10 - GALION sounds amazing with me Dynaudio Towers ' really brought the Airyness and sparkle to the Dynes-
Yes top end is boosted (V'Curve) but the amp is refined enough not to sound overly bright !!
Did you get my Mullards !!
You should try Golden lions/TAD mixed !! Ohhh my God !!
G.L. in T-1/3 and TAD in
T 2/4 😊
You bought a badass amp !
What all speakers did you roll with ?
Hey Jay! You're right. It doesn't sound bright at all - in fact it's completely pleasant and I attribute much of that to the Mullards (yes - got them!). Which TAD KT88s? The Redbase? How would you describe the mix?
Oh - and speakers. The KLH Model 5s.
Clarity heaven ! Sparkle Airy '
But very reveling so on bad recordings No-no
TAD STR8 /Golden lions '
I use on my Dynes because they have a softdome that's not as sharp sounding as metal domes so they love the treble extenstion from TAD-Str8 Golden lions -
Theirs a reason high end Amps come with Golden lions ' even preamp tubes ' I been threw almost a dozen Kt88 and the one set of kt120 '
Model 5s got ya I know the mullards must sound good with them smooth tube I miss them and The measurements on them top level '
Nice down to earth review. Not what I wanted to hear as it appears I may have to save up a bit more...that being said, I''m sure I'd be happy with the standard. Now if I could just find one in silver.
I can definitely say you would be happy with the standard, Steve. The Special Edition is sweet to listen to - really enjoyed my time with it.
It would be interesting to one day discuss which artists and albums sound better played back through tube equipment and which you might prefer through transistor gear. I overwhelmingly like tubes better, but superb transistor gear is not something without it's charms also. Anything with a lot of piano and flute in it, I would lean toward tubes. Jethro Tull for instance; only tubes on Tull for me. In fact flute and piano might be where tubes shine the most over most transistor gear. The flutes are so fluffy that you wonder whether the word fluffy, didn't come from the word flute. Wouldn't think of playing Tull on anything but tubes. They did a Christmas album if you didn't know. Massed strings are another thing. Before I hardly did any listening to classical, one Christmas evening I was listening to the first Johnny Mathis Christmas album on Columbia, (he did an earlier one for Mercury). The massed violins came in on the left, on I think it was Sleigh Ride, and I remember thinking to myself, "Massed strings and tubes might be the nicest sound ever made." I had never heard strings so sumptuous and beautiful before; they were literally like a magnet, drawing me in. Chances are that any good piano recording will sound less thin on the middle and high keys, and quite a bit richer in the lower registers with tubes. Yet around that same time period, I put on The Ventures Christmas Album. The Ventures, a guitar instrumental group were incredibly well recorded. Hard to believe how well actually, especially from that far back. With The Ventures and tubes, the sound was nice but I preferred the Ventures with solid state. No piano, flute, vocals or massed strings.on that album. Solid state gave the music more incisiveness that the tube reproduction slightly lacked. I'm talking Ventures cds. Finding excellent copies of the original lp is hard and probably usually expensive. There are two different Ventures Christmas collections on cd. One is much longer and one shorter with different songs. The Ventures were just so good. A little known fact is that for nearly 30 years, the best selling rock instrumental album of all time was a Ventures album. Finally displaced by Joe Satriani, and his album that had a title about Surfing With Aliens.
Some other artistss that sound great with tubes include, Heart, Supertramp, Sade, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Yes, The Beatles, The Doors etc. I generally like tubes for acoustic jazz. Although ultimately, I think system synergism plays a big part.
Now I'm going to have to spin a couple Tull records this weekend. I never knew about the Christmas album. And I remember the Satriani album very well - took the world by storm when it came out (Silver Surfer on the cover). I had no idea that the Ventures had the distinction of being the best-selling rock instrumental up until that time. Learn some new every day!
Funny you mention Heart as well. Just listened to "Bebe Le Strange" two nights ago.
There is something that tubes do with flute that is so cool. Flutist Tim Weisberg is a very underrated artist. He's released about 15 albums, so at least the people at A&M records
really think a lot of his music. His music is considered Jazz/Rock Fusion. Jazz artist Herb Alpert owned A&M Records for many decades. Herb is the only person in history to win a Best Album Grammy as an artist and also a Best Producer Grammy. I think the album was called "Rise". Mobile Fidelity released it as a half speed mastered audiophile lp. But anyway, when I used to go out to audition stereo equipment, I used a Tim Weisberg track for evaluating bass response. It was a track called The Bruiser from Tim Weisberg 4. His bass player is something extraordinary.
I have a big Christmas music collection. Lots of artists made Christmas albums that people are unaware of. They include Tommy James & The Shondells, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Weavers, Peter Paul & Mary, The Coasters, Leon Redbone, Patti Labelle, Michael McDonald, The Manhatten Transfer, Roy Clark, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart and I'm not sure if Heart made a Xmas lp, but I know they did some Christmas tracks which have appeared on comilation albums. Little Queen is an underrated album of theirs.
itd be much more interesting to compare the best TS120 with the best doge 10, as the TS120 is an improved versino of the doge 10, manufactured by doge.
Almost makes me want to try a tube amp.....almost.... LOL!
🤣🤣🤣 Maybe someday!