Line level preamp

[CageyH]

It's been plugged in for three hours now, and it sounds good so far.
Treble is clear, midrange is rich and the bass sounds very good. On George Ezra "Budapest", you can hear the fingers strumming the double bass.

I'll try some different material when Mrs H goes out.

[CageyH]

I really like the sound of this pre. It has a nice balanced sound, it brings out the detail well and gives nice definition to bass notes. The treble isn't too bright and the midrange sounds spot on. Really enjoyable, and all with 50p valves?
It's the first and only valve pre-amp I have listened to in my system, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I have spent the weekend enjoying it's performance.

The only thing I don't like is the lack of a "soft start" as my mono block amps are left powered on at the manufacturers recommendation. I just needed to power them down when connecting the amp. Not a big deal, and as it's a prototype, I can let Alan off this minor detail. I am sure he could fix it if he decides to develop this wonderful little amp further.

[DSJR]

Almost anything's better than that darned Arcam box you're using

See, internal neatness says nothing about sound quality if the fundamentals are done right

[Firebottle]

An update on this thread.
After nicking the Tocos pot for other duties some time ago this pre was languishing doing nothing. I also had the power supply section from a 'failed' headphone amp going spare.

Now that I have developed my super linear circuit I thought I would rebuild this to provide me with a test bed for further work.
As luck would have it I had another home brew case the same size, so I have built the conventional power supply into that.

I've fitted a 1.2m umbilical to connect to the back of the power supply:



The pre now uses two 6J6 valves and is quite stunning. It seems strange that you can add a piece of gear into the system and it becomes more dynamic

Played some Paul Simon - Graceland and Tracie Chapman last night, wow such realism.

Internals for those that have the need:

[Macca]

:

Even with my WAF-O-Meter on its most sensitive setting I am unable to get any reading at all. Is the 'Russian military equipment from the Cold War era' styling going to continue to be a feature of the Firebottle range?

I sort of hope so

[Marco]

Hahahahaha.... Me, too!

My motto with hi-fi kit: spend the money on where it matters most!

Marco.