Jim Nichols Push Pull 6BG6

This super industrial, scratch built 6BG6 amplifier by Jim Nichols is one of the finest sounding amplifiers I have owned. It has a ton of power, especially in comparison to the flea powered SET amps I own, but this amplifier also projects a sense of space and "life" to the music that is hard to match. It lacks just a bit of the "lit from within" feeling that the SET amps usually deliver, but comes so close one might expect to be listening to a single ended 45. This amp has a ton of finesse to go along with its brute force!

Heavy duty, elegant industrial 30 watt per channel push pull tube amplifier.

Two pairs of vintage RCA "beer bottle" 6BG6 power tubes. The nipple caps remind me of something that might be found in Frankenstein's laboratory. The tubes have a slight purplish glow when powered up. The input is a 12AU/AT7 family tube, and the 6SN7 are used as inverter drivers. I'm using NOS Hytron 6SN7 and a beautiful NOS Valvo 12AT7 here.

Dual rectification is a very unusual feature of this amp. The power transformer has two taps, so the power tubes are fed by the 5U4, while the preamp section has it's own power source, fed through the 5Y3.

Jim supplied the amp with a nice RCA cleartop 12AU7 input tube, but after a bit of tube rolling I feel the Valvo 12AT7 is a much better tube in this amplifier. Right away the already large sound stage opened up even more, with great channel seperation. Maybe the best I have heard from a non-monoblock configuration. Gotta love the vintage pilot light too!

The vintage, heavy duty power switch is right up front. The copper banding on the choke is another nice aesthetic feature.

Truly a massive vintage power transformer, along with vintage jukebox output transformers make this a really exceptional high powered tube amplifier.