I'd like to try valve

[Haselsh1]

Talking from personal experience of course I once heard a tranny amp that kicked me in the nuts with it's sound quality. That was back around 1983 and was a Musical Fidelity 'The Preamp' and a 'Dr Thomas' power amp. Since then I have heard all bloody sorts of stuff but nothing comes close to a good valve midrange and treble and even then you can swap it all around by changing power valves. I'm sure there are really good tranny amps out there, maybe.

[Macca]

Talking from personal experience of course I once heard a tranny amp that kicked me in the nuts with it's sound quality. That was back around 1983 and was a Musical Fidelity 'The Preamp' and a 'Dr Thomas' power amp. Since then I have heard all bloody sorts of stuff but nothing comes close to a good valve midrange and treble and even then you can swap it all around by changing power valves. I'm sure there are really good tranny amps out there, maybe.

There's only 3 valve power amps I have heard that I would use myself. Radford, Marco's Tube Distinctions and Alan Firebottle's OTL (the bigger of the 2 he had/has).

Those three are the only ones that have sounded 'right' to me. Of them the only one you can buy nowadays either used or new is Radford.

All the others either sounded poor ( getting hard/harsh sounding with complex programme) or sounded glorious but a little soft and not quite real. Certainly not the way playback in a studio sounds like.

Of course there are a lot of valve power amps I have not heard.

[chris@panteg]

I do like a good Triode amplifier, one of the best I've heard or to personal taste anyway is the Border Patrol 300b se or the PP version with the accompanying choke input filter psu, it sounds surprisingly strong with good clean bass, along with the lovely mids and highs.

[Marco]

There's only 3 valve power amps I have heard that I would use myself. Radford, Marco's Tube Distinctions and Alan Firebottle's OTL (the bigger of the 2 he had/has).

Those three are the only ones that have sounded 'right' to me. Of them the only one you can buy nowadays either used or new is Radford.

Au contraire, mon ami... If someone were to thrust £5k into Anthony's hands today, then in the fullness of time they're be the proud owner of a Copper amp!

Marco.

P.S Don't underestimate the significant influence of the Croft on what you heard...... It's a pairing, after all, and trust me, the Croft has been voiced (very carefully by me) to bring out the best out in the Copper amp.

[Macca]

Au contraire, mon ami... If someone were to thrust £5k into Anthony's hands today, then in the fullness of time they're be the proud owner of a Copper amp!

Marco.

.

Oh right, I thought he had packed it in. Well that's good if you've got the five grand, well worth considering.

[Bigman80]

Oh right, I thought he had packed it in. Well that's good if you've got the five grand, well worth considering.

Pretty sure an OTL could be prised from Alan's hands too, Although, the Monoblocks carry more of a passing sonic resemblance. Some might say "uncanny" similarity

[Marco]

Oh right, I thought he had packed it in. Well that's good if you've got the five grand, well worth considering.

Niento... It's just not something he does much of now, simply because there's so much work involved in producing them, as (properly laid out) point-to-point wired circuits are, which in my view is the best way to built a valve amp.

PCBs are fine, but they add their own 'sonic signature' to proceedings, which I can usually hear. Anthony's amps start out with a pencil and paper - so everything is built by him from scratch to his spec.

Marco.

[Gazjam]

Alternative valve topologies are available..

[Marco]

Indeed - and I'd certainly put Nick's designs into the same category.

Have you fitted that mains lead yet?

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

Back in the days of the Ramada Hi-Fi show I had countless opportunities to listen to all kinds of equipment at my local dealer and all of the then hi-fi shows. Later in the mid nineties I became a dealer myself selling valve amps, turntables and high sensitivity speakers. It was so easy in those days to get to listen to endless gear and do some direct comparisons but that was of course twenty years or more back in the past. Recently I had the opportunity to listen to lots of valve gear and for me and Sue the clear winner was Prima Luna. I really didn't want that old 60's style of warm, woolly sound that for me belongs way back in the past. What I was looking for was a more modern approach but still with that classic valve purity and liquid midrange. I certainly have that in bucket loads. We have now lived with our pre and power combo for around a year and a half and I have no intention of changing for anything else. To the OP, I can only suggest that if it is at all possible, get out there and listen. You really cannot make a true decision until you do. And, try and do a direct comparison between valves and tranny amps. There are valve amps out there that can do so much more than eight Watts per channel. Again, I wish you success in your search. Enjoy the journey.