I had a good audiogon experience, Or Hello Tubes! Goodbye Income Tax Refund

[ZIPGUN99]

Ever since I heard one in a stereo store, I've been interested in the manley stingray tube amp. Not too big, not too small (50 tube watts per channel) and Looking cool doesn't hurt one iota. For several months I've been watching ebay and audiogon.com for one in my price range ($1000 and change). Some have record outs, and woofer outs, some don't, some have a black finish, some are chrome. Finally I saw one had everything I wanted, and I made the guy a lowball offer, and voila! I now got me a stingray! For less than half what it would cost me to buy it new.

looks like this (only with a chrome base):
http://www.manleylabs.com/BIGPIXPAGES/stingraypic.html

I was kind of afraid of audiogon at first.

It is a little odd, because it's not really like ebay, you're kind of on your own. But we exchanged phone numbers, and made the deal.
It turns out, the guy is selling his stereo stuff because his church group is sending him to Macedonia to put up a building to be used for drug treatment, because they have a huge heroin problem over there. So, In a way, i'm helping humanity by buying this amp. Yay for me!

The main thing I've noticed so far, Is that it definitely softens up the sound of CD's. I'm using Klipsh heresy horn-loaded speakers at the moment, and a lot of CD's sounded brutally harsh with those speakers and my big monolithic Yamaha solid state amp. I listen to everything flat anyways, so I don't really miss bass and treble controls. You do have to bias the tubes, but everything is out in the open, so its not that tough to do.

So anyways, keep audiogon in mind next time you're trolling for gear.

If you put the first 3 letters of your zip code into the search thing, it'll find you people selling stuff in your area.
http://cgi.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fs_srch.pl

[JohnG]

I've also had success buying thru Audiogon.


JohnG

[Steve Hoffman]

Bob, congrats!

Are those EL-84 output tubes in there? Same as in a Beatles' Vox AC-30 Guitar amp!

If so, the BRAND of tube can change the sound. If the thing sounds too soft for you there are types that can give a harder, punchier sound, etc.

Also, is this one wired for triode or ultra-lin.?

[Strabo]

Cool.

Thanks for the tip I din't know about that option.

Enjoy that amp.

edited out some stuff about cd's that shouldn't be here. Sorry

[chrischross]

Excellent pickup Zipgun!! I have the Manley 50W monoblocks which use the same EL-84 tubes that your Stingray does.

If I was just starting out with higher-end gear, I'd go with the Stingray. Enjoy!

Speaking of EL-84's, mine are due for replacement. What do folks recommend, without getting into expensive NOS prices??

[Ronflugelguy]

Zipgun, the mellowness is incredible! I noted that as soon as i hooked up my MAC 240. Welcome to the tube club as one newbie to another. BTW, that unit looks incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!:thumbsup:

[ZIPGUN99]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
Bob, congrats!

Are those EL-84 output tubes in there? Same as in a Beatles' Vox AC-30 Guitar amp!

If so, the BRAND of tube can change the sound. If the thing sounds too soft for you there are types that can give a harder, punchier sound, etc.

Also, is this one wired for triode or ultra-lin.?

this is what it uses:
8 x EL84 the tubes say Manley on them
2 x 6414
2 x 12AT7WA EI Yugo 12AT7's it got.

No, it's untra-lin. If I wanted tho, it could be sent back to Manley and have a switch put in for UL or triode use for $250 bucks.

[ZIPGUN99]

Originally posted by chrischross
Excellent pickup Zipgun!! I have the Manley 50W monoblocks which use the same EL-84 tubes that your Stingray does.

If I was just starting out with higher-end gear, I'd go with the Stingray. Enjoy!

Speaking of EL-84's, mine are due for replacement. What do folks recommend, without getting into expensive NOS prices??

The ones that are on the stingray say "manley" on them...that's all I can make out without taking the tube out.
What kind did your monoblocks come with, Chris?

[chrischross]

Now that you ask -- I don't think I've taken all that close a look at the tube brand. My understanding is that Manley uses Ei Yugo for the EL-84 output tubes as well. IIRC, the 12AT7's are NOS Sylvania (I got this unit second-hand, so the prior owner must've changed the stock Yugo's).

I've been meaning to try this guy (http://www.eurotubes.com) as he is a local source. My tubes in the right channel are finally starting to "go" after over 5000 hours of use (but who's counting).

I'll tell you one thing, once you go tubes, it is tough to go back to anything else.

Manley makes some awesome gear, and it is great to have some entry-level piece of the action. Now if I could just get some bucks for a decent tube pre-amp, and I'd be that much close to sonic nirvana.


Originally posted by ZIPGUN99


The ones that are on the stingray say "manley" on them...that's all I can make out without taking the tube out.
What kind did your monoblocks come with, Chris?