The light show in those Mercury arcs do a great job of conveying just how much power is going through this beast. It’s incredibly beautiful. I have to build an amp with Mercury arc rectifiers!
Excellent!!. Most powerful I made was over 300 watts back in 1966. I used 8 807 valves Grid bias. Cathode follower push pull driver stage with pre-driver and two voltage pre-amps with shelving filter in between for T M B. O/P TX was two 150 watt ones with the primaries in parallel and the secondaries in series. 8 ohms impedence. HT was 600 VDC from a power transformer like a breezeblock and suitable S/S rectification.Screen supply 290 Volts. Cost next to nothing to build. Ex MOD bits etc.
As someone who's worked with tube amps from the 50s designed for a church seating 2500 (no idea the size) this is impressive! We're on our last tube! Let's hope the ol thing holds on, it's been there since the building went up
How awesome is that, nothing finer than tube audio and RF equipment. Not only Do you get a warm rich tone, you get visual stimulation as well. I bet that amp cost a small kings ransom.
All I can say is...WOOOOW! THAT is the most GORGEOUS looking, operating & sounding amp I have EVER SEEN! THANKS SO MUCH for this video!! I want one! ;)
Wow. I would imagine some of the really low bass notes can only be appreciated live since recordings can't capture them and few speakers can reproduce them.
man id love to see this live i cant imagine how loud this would be i have a 50W tube amp with kt88 and i think it's loud....... wonderful congratulations
In this video a second amplifier is connected, the 1kW amp works in a load resistor (I´ve mentioned that in the "Toccata video", forgot it doing here). I will try to make a video with the original sound of this amplifier in future.
Glowing tubes are voltage regulators for those who are interested. Not rectifiers as many debating. Rectifiers are on the other side of the amp, right next to input transformers. Interestingly, this amp has two full wave rectifiers(silicon diode, not tubes) according to schematics.
Y cuando los vecinos llamaron a la policia... la policia y todos los vecinos quedaron asombrados de aquel magnífico sonido... digno de los ángeles celestiales... luego todos quedaron para tomar una copa y celebrar el momento único y conmemorable...
These tubes are mercury rectifiers which are emitting the blue light during operation. The power is transformed from ac to dc and depending on the mass of power needed at the moment, the blue light is "flickering". The heavier it works, the more it glows.
I generally a fan of high power solid state amplifiers because they give you consistent reliable performance, but you get the special elegant visuals of tubes. This looks impressive and I bet the video does not do it justice compared to actually seeing it in front of you.
Some of us routinely use more power than that. Not everyone uses mercury-vapour rectifiers though. ua-cam.com/video/kv_VhT2vuP4/v-deo.html At these power levels, tubes are very efficient.
great, simply great, to see what engineering could do. to see this amp is like watch a work of art, imagine how the electrones fly through the vac. this amplifier is a monster, a beautiful monster from a time where the possibilities of technician where only a little bit of them what we can do today. treat this amp good and let it play from time to time, its worth to hear his voice also in 100 years. love this vid :-) *thumbs up*
Was für ein Verstärker!! Tolles Video, die Musik ist wirklich passend ausgewählt. Bei den technischen Daten bekommt man Ehrfurcht! Ca.70Watt Heizleistung und Ruheverlusten von 150W pro Endröhre, da freut sich jeder Stromversorger ;-). Das Monster löst bei jedem Sammler historischer Röhrentechnik den "Will haben Reflex" aus. Mein Glückwusch, toller Verstärker, erstklassiges Video, tolle Doku auf der Homepage.
a beautiful organ piece (Widor's Symphony No. 5 is one of my favorites) and a beautiful amp. could you put up an english-language website on the history/uses of this amp?
No, those are not the power tubes, more then likely the are mercury vapor rectifiers. The power tubes are the two huge brightly glowing bulbs that are glowing directly above the 'blue tubes'. This kind of power level in an audio amp was NOT common back in the 50's. Probably came out of a VERY large theater or stadium.
Wat kon Philips toch mooie dingen bouwen in de jaren 50!! Zelf doe ik "bescheiden" met een versterker met 8x EL95 (stereo) gedeeltelijk gebaseerd op een versterkeridee van Philips eveneens uit de jaren 50 die toen in hun televisietoestellen zat om ijzer (de eindtrafo) te sparen. Goh, aan ijzer in deze EL6471 geen gebrek, wat een prachtig en indrukwekkend apparaat! mombert...
The description, that is vislible at google, speaks abaout audio applications - maybe also in the 50s big speakers have existed, like the Blatthaller prewar...
As it can be seen, output tube plates are of a dull red coloration even without modulation (steady current on B class) to get almost white red when current peaks grows according to modulation on program peaks. Could be it dangerous for power tubes or otherwise RMS power is under anodic dissipation levels for these tubes even during peaks?. Which is the real working mode of this amp? A-B or pure B class?. Thanks in advance.
This really takes my mind back to another time! The bass takes power from the rectifiers and lights them up. Is this a full-wave 3-phase power supply with six rectifiers?
I didn't know tubes could generate that much power. Very impressive, especially with a pipe organ. Very dynamic! Question??? What speaker impedance can this be capable of driving, 2-4-6-8-16-32ohms?
Fantastic ..... thats the true soud and power of valve amplifiers.... The superb Orgelsinfonie Nr. 5 - Toccata is make the ground trembling :)) SUPER!!!!
@Thermionman1970 No doubt there are Tube amplifiers that have great sound, depending on design, some sound terrible as well. Same applies to Solid state, sound quality varies, When one wants flawless sound from Solid state, they would usually go for the high-current designs employing class AB, or Class A, there are Solid state amps that have terrible distortion performance, example: some commercial PA solid states used for nightclubs are designed to give out heaps of sound but harsh on the ear.
Is that the Daniel Chorzempa recording on Phillips 410 054-2? Are those 866-A merc rectifiers in the back? I must say, it puts on an impressive light show!
Six mercury rectifiers: Does this amplifier run on 3 phase power?(I can't pull up the link) I also noticed what looked like EL509 beam power tetrodes, I'm assuming they were driver tubes. Are they driving the cathodes of the power tubes in cascode, or they resistance coupled to the control grids? I wouldn't be surprised, if they're configured like a common class "B" power amplifier, but the secondary of the transformer drives the grids of the output tubes in class "A-B", instead of driving a speaker. None the less, beautiful amplifier, great video!!
+IseeNothing I sadly dont know much about these amps but from my extensive knowlege of 3 phase equipment this amp having 6 rectifiers is certainly 3 phase. The organ work played is Charles Marie Vidors organ toccata played by the brilliant but seldom heard of swedish organist Ben Van Ousten playing the powerful and amazing Caville Cohl organ in St Louen, Paris
syhooverman Another commentor said based on the schematics, there are two solid state rectifiers in the back and the mercury tubes are actually voltage regulators.
when I mean run them I am not talking about into a load resistor as you have done, I actually have a pair of JBL theater speakers here that are the size of large moving boxes and have a 2kw RMS rating, even though my 90 watt per channel receiver drives them nicely,. I would LOVE to hear them driven at a full 1kw real RMS power especially with this recording, it would be almost like being there! with the 32ft bass pedal shaking the floor and scaring everyone there! if it's too loud, your too old
For those of you who watch the original BBC Top Gear and now Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson: "Moooooaaaaar Powerrrrrrrrrr!!!"
well i know what i want for christmas!!! on the serious side,that amp is amazing! i'm glad you have it so it didn't End up on a junkyard or something when they removed it from the stadium it lived in:)
I loved your video!! What an amazing amp!! That music sounded so scary I love it!! All during your video the music kept making me think of that really Old Movie THE CAR. I hope one day I can hear one of these monster Tube Amps In Person. Beautiful Amp!!
Sorry for this stupid question but why the tubes seems to glow each one as if their location in the circuit were frequency dependant... is it so? Excuse my ignorance but the only tube amplifiers i know are Class A or Class AB guitar amplifiers and even so those kind of amplifier don't ionise the vacuum like this high wattage amplifiers and they give away a faint glow at full power. So if somebody would like to explain this... thanks! Thanks for sharing this video...
+TheMetalMusicMachine The tubes that are glowing appear to be responding to the envelope power rather than the frequency. The big ones on the top are the actual output tubes. I'd need to see a schematic to comment further but I suspect that some of those with the corona are the power supply rectifiers - it would take a damn healthy analog supply to feed this beast.
Yeees, I realized after posting that question... It struck me when I went to sleep that night after watching some other videos about rectifier valves... I was thinking about 3-phase alternating current... Thanks for replying... ;)
The blue light emission is produced by electric currents going across the gaps and gates, between the electrodes. Means: electrons are shooting through the (underpressure) gas volume and ionizing the gas molecules. In the Organ Bass sequences here high amplitudes are produced, so currents are high in these passages (brighter light).
At what point do these things start generating xrays (or ionizing radiation of any variety), and how much lead do I need to shield it??? (seriously - I will post the tube number as soon as I am able to find it)
Bonjour ! Je serai bien curieux d'écouter fonctionner cet ampli sur du Cabasse / JBL ou autres dans le règne !!!! Ca doit être .... vraiment .... un autre monde !!!!!! Merci pour cette video Splendide !!!
The light show in those Mercury arcs do a great job of conveying just how much power is going through this beast. It’s incredibly beautiful. I have to build an amp with Mercury arc rectifiers!
Roses are red, violets are blue, when I listen to this amplifier, my entire neighborhood does too! :-)
Excellent!!. Most powerful I made was over 300 watts back in 1966. I used 8 807 valves Grid bias. Cathode follower push pull driver stage with pre-driver and two voltage pre-amps with shelving filter in between for T M B. O/P TX was two 150 watt ones with the primaries in parallel and the secondaries in series. 8 ohms impedence. HT was 600 VDC from a power transformer like a breezeblock and suitable S/S rectification.Screen supply 290 Volts. Cost next to nothing to build. Ex MOD bits etc.
As someone who's worked with tube amps from the 50s designed for a church seating 2500 (no idea the size) this is impressive! We're on our last tube! Let's hope the ol thing holds on, it's been there since the building went up
This amplifier and the music is an absolute pleasure to watch over and over again.
found this who knows how many years ago and it still gives me the good chills
An amazing piece of art.
This beats any new amplifier anytime.
Just the light show by itself in fantastic.
Excellent audio too.
Thanks for posting.
How awesome is that, nothing finer than tube audio and RF equipment. Not only
Do you get a warm rich tone, you get visual stimulation as well. I bet that amp cost a small kings ransom.
this amp looks like it is enjoying the music it plays!
All I can say is...WOOOOW! THAT is the most GORGEOUS looking, operating & sounding amp I have EVER SEEN! THANKS SO MUCH for this video!! I want one! ;)
Wow. I would imagine some of the really low bass notes can only be appreciated live since recordings can't capture them and few speakers can reproduce them.
man id love to see this live i cant imagine how loud this would be
i have a 50W tube amp with kt88 and i think it's loud.......
wonderful congratulations
Thank you for your comment. It`s French Romantic organ music, Widor: Toccata from his 5th symphony
In this video a second amplifier is connected, the 1kW amp works in a load resistor (I´ve mentioned that in the "Toccata video", forgot it doing here). I will try to make a video with the original sound of this amplifier in future.
Glowing tubes are voltage regulators for those who are interested. Not rectifiers as many debating. Rectifiers are on the other side of the amp, right next to input transformers. Interestingly, this amp has two full wave rectifiers(silicon diode, not tubes) according to schematics.
no, in the later versions had diodes instead of those 6 rectifier tubes
the power of the gods combined in an insane machine
This was probably one of the most beautiful things on UA-cam!
Y cuando los vecinos llamaron a la policia... la policia y todos los vecinos quedaron asombrados de aquel magnífico sonido... digno de los ángeles celestiales... luego todos quedaron para tomar una copa y celebrar el momento único y conmemorable...
The recording is Ben van Oosten, organ St.Ooen. The mv-rectifieres are of the type DCG4/1000
Beautiful...
This combines my love of organ music, vintage audio, and electricity.
These tubes are mercury rectifiers which are emitting the blue light during operation. The power is transformed from ac to dc and depending on the mass of power needed at the moment, the blue light is "flickering". The heavier it works, the more it glows.
I generally a fan of high power solid state amplifiers because they give you consistent reliable performance, but you get the special elegant visuals of tubes. This looks impressive and I bet the video does not do it justice compared to actually seeing it in front of you.
Now that's what 1000 genuine watts looks like.
It has a 3-phase power plug so it likely needed even more than that..
I just looked at the web page 220/380V so BIG power. I think it's just the amp out that's 1000W, it would be about right for a cinema or auditorium.
Some of us routinely use more power than that. Not everyone uses mercury-vapour rectifiers though.
ua-cam.com/video/kv_VhT2vuP4/v-deo.html
At these power levels, tubes are very efficient.
It is intended for big sports stadiums. It were produced by order.
complete with self contained light show!
Now that is what I call an amplifier. Look and learn dear audiophiles.
I could watch those rectifiers all day,
Beautiful.
Is there any way I could find the schematic for this Giant? this is incredible and the
shear output is mindblowing
Its absolute nice to see the "thing is alive" Superiour clip! Thanks for it!
TEARS! It's beautiful!
Yes, tears at the sheer power and majesty of it. Truly beautiful.
great, simply great, to see what engineering could do. to see this amp is like watch a work of art, imagine how the electrones fly through the vac. this amplifier is a monster, a beautiful monster from a time where the possibilities of technician where only a little bit of them what we can do today. treat this amp good and let it play from time to time, its worth to hear his voice also in 100 years. love this vid :-) *thumbs up*
Tube amps are the best amps :D
Greg House: "order a functional MRI of his brain. I want to see the music."
Philips, 50 years earlier:
Pisses self at 2:46. WOW! what a wonderfully visual show of mans control over the electron.
leaves me utterly speechless!
Mrphatbastard1 your what sits on the edge of bathtub?
Rosie O'Kelly Me too - when I saw your melons.
Love this
Was für ein Verstärker!! Tolles Video, die Musik ist wirklich passend ausgewählt. Bei den technischen Daten bekommt man Ehrfurcht! Ca.70Watt Heizleistung und Ruheverlusten von 150W pro Endröhre, da freut sich jeder Stromversorger ;-). Das Monster löst bei jedem Sammler historischer Röhrentechnik den "Will haben Reflex" aus.
Mein Glückwusch, toller Verstärker, erstklassiges Video, tolle Doku auf der Homepage.
I can't even imagine how amazing this would sound in real life. Sooo much power for a tube amp. Beautiful music.
a beautiful organ piece (Widor's Symphony No. 5 is one of my favorites) and a beautiful amp. could you put up an english-language website on the history/uses of this amp?
The organist i think is Ben van Oosten on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at St. Oeun in Roeun.
I just love the warmth of FETs with pilot lights
look how the lamps glow !
they are so beautiful
I've love to see the amps they used for radio broadcast in the old days.
Is this one?
This amplifier is a dream!
Los átomos bailan al són de la musica, es arte PURO Y DURO!
An apt title for this video might be: "Widor's Toccata - Ride the Lightning!" Fabulous video and equipment - thank you so much for sharing...
No, those are not the power tubes, more then likely the are mercury vapor rectifiers. The power tubes are the two huge brightly glowing bulbs that are glowing directly above the 'blue tubes'. This kind of power level in an audio amp was NOT common back in the 50's. Probably came out of a VERY large theater or stadium.
Thank you very much for your words!
This is cool. I’ve always been fascinated with vacuum tubes.
The organ's 32-foot pedal diaphones (fog horns) really make the blue mercury vapor rectifier tubes conduct and light up. : - )
That blue light really is amazingly pretty
Wat kon Philips toch mooie dingen bouwen in de jaren 50!! Zelf doe ik "bescheiden" met een versterker met 8x EL95 (stereo) gedeeltelijk gebaseerd op een versterkeridee van Philips eveneens uit de jaren 50 die toen in hun televisietoestellen zat om ijzer (de eindtrafo) te sparen. Goh, aan ijzer in deze EL6471 geen gebrek, wat een prachtig en indrukwekkend apparaat!
mombert...
The description, that is vislible at google, speaks abaout audio applications - maybe also in the 50s big speakers have existed, like the Blatthaller prewar...
目が覚めるようなオルガンの演奏！好きです！！
I love the way the amp meter jumps at 2:45 when the bass pedal notes of the organ sound
Great vid! Wonderful light show too! Better than LEDs !!
A nice piece of EE. And those 3-phase mercury rectifiers... WOW
As it can be seen, output tube plates are of a dull red coloration even without modulation (steady current on B class) to get almost white red when current peaks grows according to modulation on program peaks. Could be it dangerous for power tubes or otherwise RMS power is under anodic dissipation levels for these tubes even during peaks?.
Which is the real working mode of this amp? A-B or pure B class?. Thanks in advance.
beautiful yet powerful
Awe-inspiring! What speakers were used in this demo?
Never knew tubes glow blue.
What's the gas inside? Mercury vapor?
Thought they were a vacuum.
This really takes my mind back to another time! The bass takes power from the rectifiers and lights them up. Is this a full-wave 3-phase power supply with six rectifiers?
I'm assuming the two el34 tubes are drivers
Awesome device 3 Phase power amplifier. Musical climax !
that's why I collect these things in fallout 4
can we get some Pantera on that??
YAAAS! I wanna hear Lamb of God play through that system now!
Play Bach on the Biggest, that album will most certainly test the limits of your amp and speakers.
Just give me 5 minutes alone with this and you'll see
I was just listening to Lamb and Pantera. You guys seem like cool people
I didn't know tubes could generate that much power. Very impressive, especially with a pipe organ. Very dynamic! Question??? What speaker impedance can this be capable of driving, 2-4-6-8-16-32ohms?
Fantastic ..... thats the true soud and power of valve amplifiers....
The superb Orgelsinfonie Nr. 5 - Toccata is make the ground trembling :))
SUPER!!!!
@Thermionman1970 No doubt there are Tube amplifiers that have great sound, depending on design, some sound terrible as well. Same applies to Solid state, sound quality varies, When one wants flawless sound from Solid state, they would usually go for the high-current designs employing class AB, or Class A, there are Solid state amps that have terrible distortion performance, example: some commercial PA solid states used for nightclubs are designed to give out heaps of sound but harsh on the ear.
That amp driving 10 4x12" cabs would be a decent guitar rig!
Is that the Daniel Chorzempa recording on Phillips 410 054-2?
Are those 866-A merc rectifiers in the back?
I must say, it puts on an impressive light show!
Hervorragend, fabelhaft und toll!
Six mercury rectifiers: Does this amplifier run on 3 phase power?(I can't pull up the link) I also noticed what looked like EL509 beam power tetrodes, I'm assuming they were driver tubes. Are they driving the cathodes of the power tubes in cascode, or they resistance coupled to the control grids? I wouldn't be surprised, if they're configured like a common class "B" power amplifier, but the secondary of the transformer drives the grids of the output tubes in class "A-B", instead of driving a speaker. None the less, beautiful amplifier, great video!!
Coolest video ever.
When it somes to quality and/or raw power, you just can't beat tubes(valves).
The blue glowing tubes are the rectifier tubes and i think it has 3 phase ac input.
+IseeNothing I sadly dont know much about these amps but from my extensive knowlege of 3 phase equipment this amp having 6 rectifiers is certainly 3 phase. The organ work played is Charles Marie Vidors organ toccata played by the brilliant but seldom heard of swedish organist Ben Van Ousten playing the powerful and amazing Caville Cohl organ in St Louen, Paris
syhooverman Another commentor said based on the schematics, there are two solid state rectifiers in the back and the mercury tubes are actually voltage regulators.
I corrected him, those six tubes are the rectifiers on these earlier models
when I mean run them I am not talking about into a load resistor as you have done, I actually have a pair of JBL theater speakers here that are the size of large moving boxes and have a 2kw RMS rating, even though my 90 watt per channel receiver drives them nicely,. I would LOVE to hear them driven at a full 1kw real RMS power especially with this recording, it would be almost like being there! with the 32ft bass pedal shaking the floor and scaring everyone there! if it's too loud, your too old
A 5:07 minute goose bump... NOW, I know why the lights @ the crib have been dimming! Damn...
For those of you who watch the original BBC Top Gear and now Grand Tour on Amazon Prime, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson:
"Moooooaaaaar Powerrrrrrrrrr!!!"
well i know what i want for christmas!!! on the serious side,that amp is amazing! i'm glad you have it so it didn't End up on a junkyard or something when they removed it from the stadium it lived in:)
I loved your video!! What an amazing amp!! That music sounded so scary I love it!! All during your video the music kept making me think of that really Old Movie THE CAR. I hope one day I can hear one of these monster Tube Amps In Person. Beautiful Amp!!
What speakers are you using?
Sorry for this stupid question but why the tubes seems to glow each one as if their location in the circuit were frequency dependant... is it so? Excuse my ignorance but the only tube amplifiers i know are Class A or Class AB guitar amplifiers and even so those kind of amplifier don't ionise the vacuum like this high wattage amplifiers and they give away a faint glow at full power. So if somebody would like to explain this... thanks!
Thanks for sharing this video...
+TheMetalMusicMachine The tubes that are glowing appear to be responding to the envelope power rather than the frequency. The big ones on the top are the actual output tubes. I'd need to see a schematic to comment further but I suspect that some of those with the corona are the power supply rectifiers - it would take a damn healthy analog supply to feed this beast.
Yeees, I realized after posting that question... It struck me when I went to sleep that night after watching some other videos about rectifier valves... I was thinking about 3-phase alternating current... Thanks for replying... ;)
1st time tubes impressed me. This is not Philips EL6471, this is Sir Philips EL6471.
i can just imagine the heat just barfing off this thing . you could heat your house from a pair of these and not to think of the hydro bill
The hydro bill you'll be paying when you're forced to rent your own hydroelectric dam!
Im wondering how much this guy pay for electricity bills??
The blue light emission is produced by electric currents going across the gaps and gates, between the electrodes. Means: electrons are shooting through the (underpressure) gas volume and ionizing the gas molecules. In the Organ Bass sequences here high amplitudes are produced, so currents are high in these passages (brighter light).
How much are they worth, and what speakers were you driving, and where? So many questions :)
Holy shi- -cries- it is... beautiful!!! What is this music played on this piece of artwork?
why overdrive it?
Love the sound....
At what point do these things start generating xrays (or ionizing radiation of any variety), and how much lead do I need to shield it???
(seriously - I will post the tube number as soon as I am able to find it)
Magnificent amp. The Saint Saens is perfect.
+don stromberg Definitely
Yes,it is.
wOW that's a sceary piece of kit thanks for showing us it
What kind of medium is playing through this amp? Vinyl, digital, tape?
Mercury vapor rectifiers would be my guess
Amplifier and visualization, all in one! :)
Thaks for your comment. Yes, as you´ve explained
What kind of speakers did you used for the 1000 watt?
Nice to see how that old equipment is in working orde!
Thanks for showing us.
Ik zou deze versterker graag eens op mijn setup willen hebben
Bonjour !
Je serai bien curieux d'écouter fonctionner cet ampli sur du Cabasse / JBL ou autres dans le règne !!!!
Ca doit être .... vraiment .... un autre monde !!!!!!
Merci pour cette video
Splendide !!!
This Antique Philips EL6471 Vacuum tube Amplifier.