Fully Restored Knight Basic 60 Tube Stereo Power Amplifier - Extensive Restoration Performed, Amazing Performance And Incredible Cosmetic Condition, Simplified Biasing!

For sale is a Knight Basic 60 (KG-85) that has been fully restored from the ground up. The performance of this amplifier is simply astonishing. Ample power to drive any set of medium or large high efficiency speakers with ease. The noise is incredibly low, not a hint of hum or hiss is heard even with the volume cranked into high sensitivity speakers. Bass is huge yet balanced, mids are ultra sweet and highs are full of air yet are still accurate and crisp. The big bottle 6L6GC have a ton of air to the sound and the stereo imaging is second to none. Just an all around amazing performer at a fraction of what the equivalent McIntosh amp sells for. We currently have a MC240 in the shop and we prefer this Knight over it!

This design is Knight's take on the famous Mullard 5-20 circuit (the Dynaco ST-70 is also based on this circuit). The Knight version has a much beefier power supply and the dual rectifiers have ample current handling and won't be failing prematurely like the 5AR4 does so often in the Dynaco ST-70.

As can be seen, cosmetically the unit is in absolutely wonderful condition and did not require any actual cosmetic work. Just basic detailing and wiping down. This was a one owner unit that was cared for incredibly well.

The preamp tubes in the amp are a pair of matched gold pin Realistic 6267 (made in Germany) and the preamp tubes are a pair of matched gold pin Realistic 12AX7 (made in Japan). The power tubes are a nicely matching quad of low hours Sylvania 6L6GC. They balance perfectly with the front mounted bias controls. The rectifiers are brand new JJ 5AR4's.

Electronically, the amplifier has been completely refurbished from the ground up. Each board was removed and had every single resistor upgraded to metal film (metal oxide for the power supply) and every signal cap upgraded to modern high quality film! All electrolytic capacitors have been upgraded including upping the voltage and capacitance ratings in the power supply dramatically (after the internal choke, as to not cause the 5AR4 rectifiers to arc). Essentially the entire amp was rebuilt from the ground up to be an awesome sounding and ultra reliable performer!

The goofy original stock bias scheme was redesigned so that the connection between the tube and resistor is never broken. The original design did break this connection to measure current and such a scheme has many potential issues. Our solution completely eliminates these issues while still allowing for easy balancing of the power tubes.

Now checking current for each tube  is as easy as inserting the included custom made probe into one of the four amp jacks and plugging the banana plugs into a volt meter. The millivolts that you read will be directly related to the current and will read around 45-55mA per tube (the current set balances out around 52mA per side). The balance pots still control balance for the phase inverter and is balanced equally with the power tubes! This is a clever design trick that helps minimize distortion!

If there are any additional questions or notes required, we would be glad to facilitate. The amp is now ready to go for many years of daily enjoyment! It is truly plug and play ready to go!! We do highly recommend the use of a line conditioner or variac to run this amp at exactly 117V AC - this will provide the absolute longest tube life and best overall performance.

We will package and ship this amp incredibly carefully with all tubes removed and packaged for safety as well. We ship using UPS with full insurance.