Full upgrade to the SE88i by Richard Bridges

Our thanks to Richard for sharing with us this great piece of work

As standard I thought the amp sounds great but it has so much potential. I have spent some considerable time getting the sound as good as possible. The result is a good crisp bass that is not dry or too heavy, great mids with just a touch of warmth and highs that are not rolled off or too bright. The sound stage is wider, detail is exceptional and the presentation is layered.

Here is the list of upgrades.

2x Gold Lion KT88 re-issues (matched pair).
2x 12AU7 Mullard grey plates (perfectly matched pair)
1x 12AX7 Telefunken smooth plate.

2x Nichicon Muse 470uF/50v coupling/filter caps.
2x Mundorf Silver in oil 0.47uF/800vdc (to replace the nitsuko 0.47uF/630vdc coupling caps).
2x Mills wire wound resistors. (12w 0.47r)
1x Nichicon 4700uF/40vdc power supply cap (replaces the shoei).
2x High ripple 22uF/400v power cap.
1x Nichicon 68uF/400v power cap.

The power cap upgrade has cleaned up the sound, lowered the hum on standby, sound delivery has become more punchy and crisp. Though the Mundorf caps are a tight squeeze, pricy but they certainly are worth it. I did get some Jensen Copper foil PIO caps but there was no way they were going to fit without some serious work. These valve and cap upgrades cost about £150 and I would strongly recommend them. What started off as a great sounding amplifier now sounds incredible.

I would not recommend silmic II 470uF/50vdc coupling/filter caps combined with the mundorf SIO caps as the sound becomes like hitting a surround sound button on a cheap stereo. The silmic II caps on their own with the standard Nitsuko 0.47uF/630vdc caps really improves the detail, bass and presentation though the top end is a little rolled off.


Richard Bridges