The London Sun For Reasons Unknown - Desktop Audio Update 27Sep16

The first compliment of tubes have been acquired for a comparison in the new Vali 2 headphone amp. Stock tube is a 6827 Canadian recent production (from who I don't know)... all tubes are 6922/EC88 compatible. I paid ~$75 for purchases made which include:

• a NOS (new old stock) RCA 6BQ7A from US/1983,
• a USED Amperex 6DJ8 from Holland/1965,
• a NOS Voskhod 6H23N from Russia (military)/1972,
• a NOS Sylvania 6DJ8 from US/1980,
• a NOS Tesla ECC88 from Czech Republic/1970.

To go more expensive and rare will require >$40 each and some folks spend thousands - dunno if I'll go there. I choose test tracks not for specific fidelity or range but for stuff I like. It's probably a dumb test for fidelity as I first look for clever songwriting - except The Killers who have style not songwriting. I do add a Flim & The BBs track for range and dynamics specific listening (heck it's got a 22Hz note in there). Test 368Kbps tracks include some of my favorites like:

• Wheatus/The London Sun/Too Soon Monsoon/2005
• Wheatus/The Truth I Tell Myself/Too Soon Monsoon/2005
• Wheatus/Punk Ass Bitch/ Wheatus/2001
• The Killers/Miss Atomic Bomb/Battleborn/2012
• The Killers/Spaceman/Day & Age/2008
• The Killers/For Reasons Unknown/Sam's Town/2006
• The Killers/Smile Like You Mean It/Hot Fuss/2004
• Big Star/The Battle of El Goodo/Record #1/1978
• New Pornographers/The Laws Have Changed/Electric Verison/2003
• New Pornographers/Crash Years/Together/2010
• New Pornographers/Letter From An Occupant/Mass Romantic/2003
• Essex Green/This Isn't Farmlife/Cannibal Sea/2006
• Vampire Weekend/Oxford Comma/Vampire Weekend/2008
• Vampire Weekend/Holiday/Contra/2010
• Vampire Weekend/Diane Young/Modern Vampires of the City/2013
• Flim & The BBs/Funhouse/Big Notes/1985

So listening to 90 minutes of stuff over and over requires listening without fatigue - which was a primary measure I used in comparing. At the end of the day, hearing the differences is hard. All subjective notions include:

• Listening Fatigue (gotta be able to keep the headset on)
• Low Noise (noise floor - don't want hiss or hum on quiet parts)
• Dynamics (speed of recovery to play the next note/passage)
• Power Over Range (highs and lows strong)
• Smooth v Harsh (self explanatory but it's a feeling)
• Midrange-Forward (if any, prefer forward voices and clarity there)

It was a good test and very hard to discern differences in many cases... my preference at this point is:

1. Tesla... best balance of all factors; clean, quiet, quick and smooth
2. Sylvania... great low end; not as clean as Tesla in mid-highs though
3. Voskhod... strong
4. Canada... cold
5. RCA... thin
6. Amperex... super smooth but used tube made this less powerful - not a good compare

Fall In The Gore 27Sep16

Big fish day for the Gore; like yesterday on the Fork, but better... I started late and arrived at far West Vail about 10:30am. I caught one small brown early on RS2 but nothing else as I moved upstream. The water was gin clear but thin... finding fish was hard (as there weren't many) and seemingly they were only in the deeper holes or runs. No prob - I arrived at the Show Hole and bridge. I was stoked as working the Show Hole yielded a nice brown I'd targeted... after a dozen casts at least. He took the olive #22 WD40. That was my queue @ 12:15pm to hop out at the bridge and head back to the car... I drove upstream to the Dawg Park. I'd had breakfast so fished before lunching. That's when it happened - I worked a couple of thin areas with nothing but again reached a deeper channel where I saw several nice fish. They rejected my advances to a point but I persisted and a nice 18" brown then a nice 19" rainbow took the olive WD40. After good fights on each, I had lunch on the bank adjacent to "the spot." I moved back downstream to the Gore merge with the Eagle River after lunch and caught one more brown on a red dry. The half doz this day wasn't great quantity but the targeting success and size was awesome for this water at this time of year.

Fall On The Fork 26Sep16

I had a good morning on the Williams Fork. I was shocked on arriving at the trailhead to find almost a dozen cars - local fly shops only gave 2 of 4 stars for fishing there right now but I'd not been out there yet this year. It was 45° when I hopped out of the car for the hike but it really warmed up. On the river there were plenty of #22 BWOs hatching and the 100cfs water was a bit off color. On the day I caught quite a few smallish fish, both browns and 'bows. And I caught one really nice 20" gold colored rainbow. Most fish were on the rainbow warrior or flashy RS2. The afternoon was short as it was much slower. 

Lights-Camera-Action 22Sep16

There is a movie being filmed in 11 Mile Canyon ~ I don't know the name or even what kind but it was taking a passel of trucks and folks and gear so it looked big time. It made for way too much traffic on the canyon road but didn't deter me from a fall outing on the So Platte there. It was a gorgeous fall day with the colors popping. I arrived on the water at about 9:30am there were major BWO (#22) mating balls all over the place. I had missed the AM hatch I guess. They might be tricos but looked bigger. I was fishing near the top tunnels to start. I caught plenty of decent fish but nothing very large - about half brown and half rainbow. Best producer was the flashy mercury grey RS2 but I caught fish on a PT and on Jimi's Axe too. When I did try the spinner fall with dries I got looks but no takes. Grrr. The river is pretty choked with vegetation but the water is cold and the flows are good.

Estes Park Brewery Comp 15Sep16

Kala and I followed a great hike in RMNP with a stop at each of the three breweries in Estes Park. We dined and tasted at Estes Pk Brewery first. Food was weak but the beer was ok - especially the tasty Renegade IPA (though we tried 4 others free!). We were served by an East European couple (dude bombed our selfie). From there we hit RockCut where we tried 4 IPAs: IPA, Bitter Librarian, Black and Black Coffee. Black Coffee was good but I preferred the BL, a collaboration. It's a new place with clean and cool vibe - they will be at GABF. We finished at Lumpy Ridge Brew Co - cool spot built in an old gas station (pay at pump first - heh heh). We saw a RockCut employee there drinking a tasty dark sassion. I liked the Romulan Territory but tasted several. I'd say the hike was great but a bit crowded until the far reaches - too, the wind and cooler temps at The Loch moved us to keep the fly rods stored - I saw just one good brookie but chose not to rig up. Who knew Pasteur had the patent on brewing beer and ale? - from 1873. Final Estes Park Brew battle - Renegade IPA from the oldest place.

RMNP In Fall 15Sep16

Kala and I camped in Moraine Park in the Rocky Mtn Nat Park ~ it's becoming a fall tradition. Despite a sketchy forecast, the weather was gorgeous for fall in the mountains. Shorter, cooler days have brought brilliant color to the aspens, elk to the meadows and dustings of snow to Long's Peak and the alpine. We hiked and fished and photoed throughout the Bear Lake and Glacier Gorge corridor. Some elk spent one night right outside our tent - a bugling bull and his harem of 15 cows. We didn't mind the sounds. We hiked to Lake Helene (from the tarn above I saw 3 lakes) & The Loch (Kala's reviewing the lake & glaciers) and fished the Big Thompson (and caught brownies). We even found a mama moose and her calf - they are really big and really crazy so we kept our distance - even though we may be just as crazy. Fall is spectacular in RMNP.

Quick Recon In BHSC 12Sep16

The Arkansas is still stained grey downstream of the Hayden fire - despite little recent rain. And while they called it "low" (flow was 390cfs) and "spooky" at Royal Gorge - I've more successfully fished when it was lower and clearer. It has "clearly" impacted fishing IMO. I caught some fish but not as many as "typically" during fall outings to this area. I caught the usual 12-14" browns at Pinnacle Rock. My best rig was a double dry of red foam ant (they love this in the morning) and a standard olive elk hair caddis (walking the bank there are a ton of caddis). Though, while I didn't see any fall BWOs yet, I did catch a couple on the venerable (now reimagined in UV2 Adams dubbing) mercury BH RS2 - as well as a green caddis larva. As to the lineage of the browns I caught - they appear to be a cross breed of the German and Scottish to me. Biologists indicate this is possible and likely when they cohabitate. I expect fishing above Hayden Ck would be better - but the drive will be left for the CoWW outing. If you are buying or tying for the outing, I do think a red Amy's Ant or Chernobyl Ant is a great bobber that does work for you too (I caught some and got other strikes on it). Remember, the fall coloration is red-orange for flies on the Ark - somehow this works. Here are some representative fish (the 3rd seems all Scottish, or the orange dots are very faint) and other stuff from the outing.

World Fly Fishing Championship In Colorado 07Sep16

There were a bunch of Umpqua/US flags set up along the Eagle above where I fished yesterday. I wondered about that... they are marking the beats for the World Fly Fishing Championships (http://www.wffc2016.com/)! Then I read the Summit Daily article (http://www.summitdaily.com/news/sports/23749250-113/world-fly-fishing-championships-return-to-colo-after) and we are hosting in our own Colorado backyard this year, the first time in the US in 20 years (Jackson Hole). Funny that other country's teams have prior said that the US would never be good 'cause we'd never spend 3 hours trying to catch a 10" trout... implying our fishing is just too good. This may be true as the US never did well in this tourney till last year when we were on the podium - after we hired Czech and Polish coaches to teach us their techniques. Interesting. I'm going to RMNP next week during the event here but I should've known about it and volunteered, just to watch. They are gonna fish a number of our haunts - the Eagle, the Blue, and the Colorado for the event. Colorado is so cool.

Eagle County Brewer Comp 06Sep16

Following a decent, but far from epic, day on the Eagle River, I visited the three breweries in Eagle County and tasted. Not unlike our Summit Ride for beer, I searched for their best IPA (perhaps I am searching county by county in CO). Two are in Edwards (Crazy Mtn and Gore Range) and and one is in Vail (VBC). There is absolutely no contest here - VBC wins by a landslide ~ go there with a chance to taste whatever they are serving. I tried four IPAs (session, coffee, DIPA, and IPA) and found the DIPA best. Compared to the other Eagle Co offers these all were better. VBC is skilled and has a cool vibe - worth the stop and worth the taste. Though, as I begin to tube roll the Vali 2 I do think I am "Unapologetic." So far the Sylvania 1980 NOS JAN SDJ8 shines above others - more are coming though (looking for Tesla and Vokshod) and I have not even begun to touch the upper tier of preamp tube for my my Vali 2. The world is cool.