Backert Labs Rhumba 1.1 demo: Logistics

agfrost

Hey Illinois guys,

If there's a week where it works out best during the holiday window (between now and 1/3) to squeeze me in, I'm more than happy to have it over the holidays and can be "dealt in" anywhere in line. Live near Wheaton and handoffs should be no problem.

Jay

tonyb

Jay,
Lets see how it goes with Ernie, maybe we can squeeze ya in before me. I can't pick it up around the 30th anyway as I have some plans for that weekend. Lets wait and see what Ernie does, maybe he'll let it go a couple days early, maybe he'll keep the sucker and move to the Bahamas, who knows.

Andy,
Looking back, maybe we shouldn't have decided to ship a delicate piece of gear around in the busiest shipping cycle of the year. Those guys are just soo gentle. lol

I'm sorry for the wear and tear your gear is receiving. I feel bad now because I was the one who suggested the demo. I have every bid of confidence in our guys to treat your pre with respect and care, not so much the shipping handlers though. I think if we do this again, we should avoid this time of year altogether.

My apologies Sir.

erniejade

Jay, Im in Bolingbrook and work in Schaumburg. I have 0 issues going out of order on the rotation or a hand off to you. The unit will be here sometime next week. We can work it all out.

Also, don't let Tony fool you. Tony is just afraid of one of our wine lunches again.

tonyb

erniejade wrote: »

Jay, Im in Bolingbrook and work in Schaumburg. I have 0 issues going out of order on the rotation or a hand off to you. The unit will be here sometime next week. We can work it all out.

Also, don't let Tony fool you. Tony is just afraid of one of our wine lunches again.

lol....actually Tony looks forward to them. Anytime I can drink wine and chew the fat with friends is a good thing. I say we invite Jay next time....and make him pay. Sounds reasonable for initiation into our secret society. It's either that or he drops his drawers and we get out the Texas fly swatter.....his choice.

BackertLabs

tonyb wrote: »

Looking back, maybe we shouldn't have decided to ship a delicate piece of gear around in the busiest shipping cycle of the year. Those guys are just soo gentle. lol

Well, shipping issues can arise at any time of the year, and we are just happy to have the unit out there for people to hear. No worries! Plus it's great that the Illinois Boys will be handing it off rather than shipping over Christmas/New Year's. I feel like it worked out great.

tonyb

BackertLabs wrote: »

tonyb wrote: »

Looking back, maybe we shouldn't have decided to ship a delicate piece of gear around in the busiest shipping cycle of the year. Those guys are just soo gentle. lol

I feel like it worked out great.

Cool Andy, you may not feel the same when you get it back with a quarter inch of drool all over it though. Not to worry....H9 has had the lip problem all cleared up.

heiney9

I can wait until after Jay or I can hand off to Jay. My time just has to be after New Years.

I should start formulating which of my 12AU7/ECC82/CV491 stash gets used. I'll pick my top 3 which sound amazing in the Eastern Electric and go from there.

1956 Valvo (Hamburg) long plate D getter
1957 Mullard (Blackburn) long plate dbl post sq getter
1949 Tung Sol 12AU7 black glass/black plate square getter.

If I have time-

1956 CBS 5814 black plate, sq getter
1965 Raytheon CK 5814 gray plate windmill getter.

I just acquired a nos pair of 1955 Brimar CV491 long black plate, square getter.

We'll see how many I can honestly roll. I want to give it a good listen and not turn it into a roll-athon.....lol. But I think it's important to see how rolling affects the sound. Is it roll friendly? Or maybe it hardly matters. So far from what I've seen, it's roll friendly. To someone like me that's extremely important, to some it may not be.

H9

erniejade

Tony, I think H9 is going to need some wine after all of that!

agfrost

I'm flexible and can accommodate "whenever". I'm also afraid to google "Texas Flyswatter."

Nightfall

Edit: brain ****.

MrBuhl

heiney9 wrote: »

1956 Valvo (Hamburg) long plate D getter
1957 Mullard (Blackburn) long plate dbl post sq getter
1949 Tung Sol 12AU7 black glass/black plate square getter.

I think it's important to see how rolling affects the sound. Is it roll friendly? Or maybe it hardly matters. So far from what I've seen, it's roll friendly.

H9

I can't wait to see your review on this H9 - (and thanks for making me short out my computer with the drool that spilled on it after your tube list for rolling). Even a tube noob like me has read about those black glass Tung Sol's!! Oh my my my you must be sitting on the most amazing treasure trove of sonic goodness!!

BackertLabs

MrBuhl wrote: »

making me short out my computer with the drool that spilled on it after your tube list

Yeah - seriously!

BackertLabs

heiney9 wrote: »

I think it's important to see how rolling affects the sound. Is it roll friendly?
H9

We've been told that both of our models are very friendly in this respect. Terry London, who has reviewed both, loved their responsiveness to rolling. In the Rhythm 1.1 review he said that the tube access door made rolling easy, and sound-wise its transparency and quiet background "made tube rolling quite enjoyable and allowed me to get the exact overall sound I wanted with different amplifiers. My favorite tube, with both the Pass Labs XA-60.8 monoblocks and First Watt SIT 2 amplifier, turned out to be NOS RCA triple mica black plate 5814 tubes."

heiney9

MrBuhl wrote: »

heiney9 wrote: »

1956 Valvo (Hamburg) long plate D getter
1957 Mullard (Blackburn) long plate dbl post sq getter
1949 Tung Sol 12AU7 black glass/black plate square getter.

I think it's important to see how rolling affects the sound. Is it roll friendly? Or maybe it hardly matters. So far from what I've seen, it's roll friendly.

H9

I can't wait to see your review on this H9 - (and thanks for making me short out my computer with the drool that spilled on it after your tube list for rolling). Even a tube noob like me has read about those black glass Tung Sol's!! Oh my my my you must be sitting on the most amazing treasure trove of sonic goodness!!

It really only takes patience and dedication to scour Ebay each and every day several times a day for a couple years to......A) find the tube you're looking for and not just taking the sellers word as gospel. So you need to interact and know what characteristics to look for, etc. B ) have a willingness to wait for a good deal.

My favorite 12A*7 or ECC8* is Valvo made in Hamburg, so I "collect" those in all 12A* designations. Most come from Europe, but I did buy a Zenith labeled Valvo short late here in the states.

Because I buy used or many times NOS off Ebay to minimize my risk of a bum tube deal, I rarely pay ultra high $$$. I just wait for the next auction. I am pretty good at vetting the sellers and I have really only had a couple tube issues that went south in hundreds of transactions.

Just tonight I picked up a lot of 8 tubes and there was a strong 1949 Tung Sol black glass/black plate in the lot. I paid less than $30 and this includes (3) early 50's RCA 12AU7 black plates.

H9

P.s. Plus I find tubes in the damndest places on the internet. Just also bought a 1956 Brimar ECC82, long plate, bent square getter from a lady in England that mostly sells cartridges and styluses in her on-line store. She had some thoroughly tested tubes, mostly singles for really, really cheap. I just had to buy it. With shipping I paid less than $15US. I've seen that same tube go for $110-150/pr.

heiney9

BackertLabs wrote: »

heiney9 wrote: »

I think it's important to see how rolling affects the sound. Is it roll friendly?
H9

We've been told that both of our models are very friendly in this respect. Terry London, who has reviewed both, loved their responsiveness to rolling. In the Rhythm 1.1 review he said that the tube access door made rolling easy, and sound-wise its transparency and quiet background "made tube rolling quite enjoyable and allowed me to get the exact overall sound I wanted with different amplifiers. My favorite tube, with both the Pass Labs XA-60.8 monoblocks and First Watt SIT 2 amplifier, turned out to be NOS RCA triple mica black plate 5814 tubes."

I love me some Pass gear. My next amp could be a FW F6! I have a couple pairs of NOS 1958 triple mica bp 5814's. I'll see what those sound like in the Rhumba.

I'm getting excited.

H9

W WALDECKER

I talked to Andy of Backert labs last night. I am going to buy the original prototype Rhumba 1.1 with remote that I was listening to at the Capital Audiofest 2015.I have a nice rare pair of circa 1958 Amperex Holland 12AU7 Script logo D getter long plates with the foil strip that should really work well in this preamplifier.

tonyb

Score....congrats man. If it passes your sniff test, can't wait to get my ears on it.

muncybob

Color me green!

BackertLabs

Rhumba 1.1 video short

voltz

That was Wicked

nooshinjohn

That is way cool. I always wondered what it was like to be a movie star!

agfrost

Silverfrost is now internet famous. Silverfrost will refer to himself in the third person.

MrBuhl

That made me grin like a kid!

ken brydson

Very cool. Wish I signed up just to see my name in lights, lol...

motorhead43026

Everybody is famous for 15 seconds....lol.

W WALDECKER

Here are the1958 Amperex Holland 12AU7 script logo 17mm long plate D getter with the foil strip.

BackertLabs

W WALDECKER wrote: »

1958 Amperex Holland 12AU7 script logo 17mm long plate D getter with the foil strip

One of my favorite pairs of tubes ever was like this - Amperex Holland from the 50's but not Bugle Boys... MAN those were sweet

W WALDECKER

https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?&id=OIP.M6db8a45f21bba55769ff01a3ff5427b3o0&w=300&h=148&c=0&pid=1.9&rs=0&p=0&r=0 I picked up my late Christmas present to myself today. Andy came down from Delaware and met me halfway in order to deliver to me the prototype Beckert Labs Rhumba1.1 tube preamplifier. right now I am using the stock JJ 12AU7 tubes.my first early observation is that
a poor or mediocre recording will not be smoothed or glossed over with this preamp. on the other hand I listened to the track the Black Page from Zappa Live in New York and it sounded like the band was playing in my living room.

nooshinjohn

Congrats man. Looks like they have a winner on their hands.

erniejade

Nice!!!!!!! Tomorrow I will be doing some serious listening