Croft Series 4PP Preamp
My clear-out of 'life-laundry' continues slowly.. I have a fair bit of 'stuff' that I just don't need to carry around any more and I admit it's time to begin to move things on to an appreciative audience.
I'm offering my Croft 4PP preamp, which I understand to be the forerunner of the current 25'R' model. I bought it from the original owner several years ago and Glenn made some excellent suggestions in updating it to current spec as regards power supply caps and line inputs. This one was a big step up from the SMA4 I remember and had far more substantial power supplies. It was more like the two-box Mega Micro in basic design, although this latter used Octal based valves and even more sophisticated supplies.
The sound is basically honest with just a gentle hint of sweetness to show the valves inside, lacking the overt softness and slight 'hash' of previous Croft preamps. Unlike the AVI preamp I sold recently, this one definitely prefers shorter interconnects of a metre or two to the power amp. I'd dare to say the bass may well be better than current Croft 25 and 25R models, but I admit I haven't directly compared them. The mid and hf is a step above the Micro Basic though, which sounds rather scrappy in comparison I remember.
This particular preamp has had all the valves replaced from power supply to output stage (audio valves are CV equivalents), the intention being to make the sound as clear, dynamic and uncoloured as possible. I think it does this beautifully and it's playing now into my Crown power amps (25k input impedance) via 1.2m MG HD1000 phono to jack (I also used Klotz MC5000 and it easily shows the slight differences between the two), just to give you an idea.
I'm looking for £375, which I hope is a fair price for a classic design that Glenn can easily take to the next level if you wanted.
Last edited by DSJR; 27-07-2016 at 22:29.
Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me