We featured Oslo Vacuum Lab (OVL) and its founder Hicham as part of our Ray Tubes blog series For the Love of Audio, where we talked about the philosophy behind OVL's products. Hicham approaches tube audio as an intellectual pursuit, constantly seeking to achieve what he sees as its essential nature. Today, we want to showcase that philosophy in action, through the product we've been partnering on: the 300BTC tube amp.
The 300BTC is a single-ended triode amplifier. It's a dual mono variant of OVL's acclaimed 300B mono block design, which (like the name implies) paired a single 300B output tube with a 6SL7 in the driver stage. Like all of OVL's amplifiers, the 300BTC is hand-assembled, point-to-point wired, and rigorously tested in the company's workshops in Oslo.
The choice of tubes reflects OVL's pursuit of purity and simplicity. With a single output tube per channel and carefully-chosen passive components ensuring minimal operating noise, the 300BTC's sound is wholly defined by its pair of 300Bs. That's where we come in. In a design like the 300BTC's, there's nowhere for substandard vacuum tubes to hide.
Our tubes are a perfect match for OVL because we care about the same things. When we sit down to develop a product like the RESERVE 300B, we ask ourselves, What is it about this tube that has captivated audiophiles for decades? How can we best reach that essential quality that makes the 300B what it is? Every design choice we make afterwards, every choice of material, is in service of answering that question. There's no greater joy than hearing our tubes in an amp that lets their true nature shine through.
It's not all about the sound, either. Like OVL, we believe that beauty matters. We take pride in making tubes that look as good as they sound. (Well, almost as good. The sound is hard to beat.) We happen to think that our tubes are the perfect complement for OVL's beautifully simple construction.
Interested customers can contact Hicham directly through OVL's social media. As always, if you know of someone who'd make the perfect partner for Ray Tubes, don't hesitate to get in touch at nelson@raytubes.com.
