Transformers and Tubes (whats the best)

[mikey5]

Hey guys. This is sort of a follow up to my last post on hot rodded Marshalls.

Eric Hellstyle pointed me towards Ceriatone, and after listening to some of the Chupacabra clips, I must say I am interested.

Being that the amp is so darn cheap (if I decide to buy), and that Nik is flexible and will put in differnt components, I would like to put the best trannys and tubes in to this thing.

I dont know anything about what transformers, or tube style would be the best in this style of amp.

I have heard lots of good things about Mercury Magnetics, and Heyboer.

I also have heard that KT88s are better for gain than EL84s.

So you guys tell me your thoughts on this.
What kind of tubes would you put into it if you were me?
What Trannys?
Or would you leave it stock?

(goal in mind being high gain marshal tone)

Thanks.

Here are some Chupacabra clips.
http://ceriatone.com/productSubPages/HRPChupacabra50/Chupacabra50Docs.htm

[Keven]

bear in mind that kt88's are really loud. nothing to do with the EL84's ballpark.

[Dmoney]

Merc Magnetics are good but pretty costly.
Personally I don't think you can really justify the cost easily. You're paying for add campaigns and all kinds of stuff which that company does that other transformer manufacturers don't really tend to do.
Heyboer are meant to be VERY good and possibly cheaper than Merc.
O'netics are also very good, and replaced mercury magnetic across the whole Soldano range (expect for the SLO, which uses DeYoung's)
I find Hammond perfectly good for what I've built.
There are also Majestic and Edcor.

You could even get a custom wound transformer from probably any of the companies, although the custom merc would probably be crazy expensive.

I just at the Chupacabre pics. It has EL34's, not EL84's. EL34's are what I prefer to get marshall kind of sounds. I've tried KT88 and they sound good but for me I prefer EL34's slightly more.

[Telerocker]

For hotrodded marshalls-sounds EL34 is the way to go. Mercury Magnetics are used in boutique amps.

[HTH AMPS]

Heyboer are very nice indeed, great value - used them in my 100w high gain head (they are actually Marstran transformers, but I believe they are made by Heyboer to Marstran's specs).

[jpfamps]

The Heyboyer are very good.

They are wound on a paper former like old transformers, with paper interleaving.

I personally don't think that the price of Mercury Magnetics is justified by the quality, which I don't think is stellar.

Of the UK manufacturers, Majestic are very good. There one-off price isn't that outragous either, and would be cheaper than importing a Mercury MAgnetic transformer from the US.

[ericsabbath]

I have lynx audio transformers in my main amp
they're the most efficient transformers I've seen, but I guess they would be expensive to ship from brazil
M4 grain oriented steel laminations, paper isolation
they don't even get warm and my 50w amp feels more like 90w (with EL34's)

best cheap options in the US are magnetic components (used by mesa, granger, baron and in those US$7000 two rock amps) and heyboer (metroamp, peters, titan, splawn)
magnetic components cost almost half the price of the heyboers and 1/4 of a mercury

I feel like mercury magnetics make some amps sound stiff, sterile and overly bassy
they have dozens of different models, though

I don't think ceriatone transformers are sub spec'ed or bad at all
I've read several reviews by people who swapped their ceriatone transformers for heyboer and mercury and could barely hear any difference
they're made by a malaysian company called Promitheus Audio
they seem to be a small company and most of their stuff look handbuilt

[jpfamps]

best cheap options in the US are magnetic components (used by mesa, granger, baron and in those US$7000 two rock amps) and heyboer (metroamp, peters, titan, splawn)
magnetic components costs almost half the price of the heyboers and 1/4 of a mercury

Yes, the Magnetic Components transformers look a real bargain.

Solsound in the UK sell their Fender repro transformers, and I've been meaning to give them a go.

[HTH AMPS]

there is also Shinrock in Germany, but its hit/miss whether he's currently making anything or you'll get an answer - shame as the stuff I've got from him was fantastic.