My tube Akai Reel to reel

[sloober]

http://homepage.mac.com/johnhuber/Vari-Mac/PhotoAlbum53.html

There is also a link to my variac in a mac at the top of the page.

Enjoy-
John

[jpdylon]

Very cool. I use an ohmite VT-8 at work. Bullet proof variac IMO. Even at its age it still works like a champ.

[RWood]

Nice pics. I have an M-6, and M-7 and an M-8, and can answer your question about the 6267 tube and the rubber dampener.

That tube is more frequently referred to as an EF-86, which is the pentode input tube that Vox originally used in it's guitar amps circa 1959-60. It is a great tube, it hits the phase inverter hard, and contributes to the tonal characteristics of those infamous amps. The Akai uses this tube to amplify the signal to the record head, to imprint it to tape.

This tube can tend to be microphonic (you'll see an internal shield that wraps the tube's grid and cathode). This is the main reason, btw, that Vox stopped using the EF-86 in favor of a traditional twin triode. But Akai not only uses this thick rubber sleeve to reduce microphony, they go even farther by shock mounting the tube socket. Take a look at the socket for that tube and the preamp tube next to it (the 12AD7) and look how they used rubber grommets to mount those sockets to a mini-chassis that connects to the main chassis - a great, thoughtful design. Also makes it more rugged for mobile recording use.

Congrats on your acquisition,

RWood

[spaceman]

Cool, I have the Roberts version of those same amps, identical as far as I can tell. If you do a search on Roberts, you'll find some interesting info on them, if you haven't already. :smoke: