Little bear tube Preamp T7 real tube amp or IC amp with glowing tubes for visual
Hi all
Just taken delivery of a Little Bear T7 Tube Preamp
One of the questions I had was is it a true tube amp or one of those low end chinese tube amps that are really IC amps and just use the tubes for visual effect.
The price from Douk was low enough for me to take a punt and see whats inside, the seller posted a picture of the populated circuit board that appeared to show that there where no IC's present so it should be a true tube amp, but is it
Pictures below
How it looks in all its splendor
Picture of the top of the PCB showing no IC's
But wait, whats this underneath
The 8 leg IC is a JRC2068 which is some form of OpAmp
http://www.datasheetcafe.com/jrc2068-datasheet-pdf/
So the question for those in the know, is is it a true tube amp or is that OpAmp really doing the amplification.
Thanks for any feedback
Paul
Current setup Thorens TD-160 Mk1 with Denon DL-110 MC Cartridge, Pioneer PD-8700 CD Player, Yamaha AX-592 Amp, Yamaha CDX-810 CD Player, Yamaha KX-480 Cassette Deck, Yamaha TX-492RDS Tuner, Monitor Audio Bronze 5 speakers, Van-Damme Cables throughout.