I just heard from Yazaki-san, and he sent me some photographs of the DA30 SET monaural amplifiers he made for his friend Ookubo-san, and they're so beautiful I wanted to share them with you!
DA30 SET monaural amplifier that Yazaki-san made for his friend Ookubo-san - so beautiful!
The DA30 SET monaural amplifiers Yazaki-san made for his Ookubo-san are based on using the vintage Western Electric 310A as the driver, a vintage Western Electric 274B as a rectifier, and the English GEC DA30 as outputs. The GEC DA30 is less well known in the USA than the Western Electric 300B is, but it is held in extremely high regard by aficionados within the Japanese DH-SET scene, but unfortunately they are very rare and difficult to come by these days.
Yazaki-san says these amplifiers provide the most beautiful tonality he has ever heard from an amplifier. The GEC DA30 is capable of putting out 8-9 watts, and Yazaki-san told me he selected the GEC DA30 over the Western Electric 300B for this amplifier because it had superior high-frequency response. He also went on to say that the oldest version of the Western Electric 310A, the 'mesh shield' that was produced in the 1930s & 1940s, was critical to getting the best sound from the circuit.
The top plate is painted in vintage Altec green, which is absolutely gorgeous contrasted with the wood chassis. Note the Tango transformers.
Also, if you look closely at the photograph above you'll see that the interconnects are Belden 8402 microphone cable interconnects, with vintage Western Electric WE16GA used as speaker cable. Sound familiar?
Inside of Ookubo-san's DA30 SET monaural amplifier - Arizona Capacitors and vintage Western Electric wire!
The insides of the Ookubo-san's DA30 DH-SET amplifiers should look familiar to those who followed the Capacitor Adventure posts, where Yazaki-san, Ron-san, and I modified my vintage McIntosh MC30s with 'Real Sound' upgrades, like vintage Western Electric wire, Blue & Green Cactus Arizona capacitors, vintage Mallory capacitors, the historically important Brown Devil resistors, SPEC Mica capacitors, and the like.
Yazaki-san's goal was to have us experience the 'Real Sound' experience in the MC30s Capacitor Adventure, with "the fusion of gorgeous vintage American sound and lofty British fineness of tone," and with the "large amount the transmitted information ... we could feel the much bigger volume of the sound, 3D like real stereoscopic sound field, rich and deep tonal character, and uplifting dynamic sound. In a word, the sound would be full of musicality."
The Blue & Green Cactus capacitors are custom orders by Yazaki-san from Arizona Capacitors (who actually are the folks who manufactured the historic West Cap brand of capacitors, renamed after they were bought out). The custom Blue Cactus capacitors are designed to sound like 'vintage American' West Cap military capacitors, and the custom Green Cactus capacitor combines the best of vintage & modern capacitors, to give very wide range and outstanding tone. There is also a 'top-secret' custom Red Cactus capacitor (not available for sale) that Yazaki-san uses on in the SPEC RSA-F33EX amplifier, that is "made of only Kraft paper as dielectric material. Yes, it is a genuine paper-in-oil capacitor with beautiful high range."
Like an artist choosing his paints to create a beautiful painting, Yazaki-san paints artistically with sound through the medium of very select choices of 'tone colors' with Arizona capacitors, vintage Mallory caps, custom SPEC ruby-mica resistors, and vintage Western Electric wire, and as you know, Ron-san and I were very impressed with the results!
Yazaki-san developed the drawings of the chassis he desired for Ookubo-san's amplifiers, and Yokoyama-san, a specialist from Valve's World, built them up using a combination of aluminum and wood.
Yazaki-san told me, "Thanks to his artisanal approach to the chassis, everyone commented on how splendid the Altec Green color was, how beautiful the monaural amplifiers turned out, and how fabulous the craftsmanship was."
I think Yazaki-san is an astonishingly good artist, and he has painted a masterpiece for his friend Ookubo-san in the medium of vintage Western Electric & GEC vacuum tubes, Arizona Capacitors, Brown Devil resistors, vintage Western Electric wire, and a beautiful wood and Altec Green chassis - bravo!
No, no, these DA30 DH-SET monaural amplifiers are not for sale, I just wanted you to see their beauty to give you a nice start for the day this Sunday morning! Enjoy!
Thanks for stopping by!
