Wanted : Valve Pre Amp - WHY?

[jandl100]

Preamps, even more than most gear except maybe speakers, are a very personal thing.
You can't really go on rep or reviews, it really does come down to a combo of personal taste and system synergy. You just have to try the damn things in your own system with your own music choices and your own ears.

I recently had a Puresound L10 - it didn't last long here. While it didn't do anything wrong, it didn't really manage to capture my attention. Watch out for insufficient gain issues with the L10 as well, only about +5dB I think, low anyway, and sometimes I had it at max wishing there was just a little more to be had. It all depends on the overall gain of your system.
Others love it - the chap I sold mine to soon moved it on - because it so impressed him he spent Big £Moolah on the Puresound L300!

Whereas the Herron valve pre has settled right in and I expect it to be here for quite a while. Love it.

Disastrous experience with a demmed ARC LS26 - just sounded vague, coloured and awful.

I was using a Schiit Saga passive pre for quite a while and really liked it - but I'd be fibbing if I said it was as good as the Herron.

I've had bad experiences with even expensive AudioSynthesis passive preamps - they seem to suck the dynamics out of the music. Although someone else said you needed to go with the ones with balanced connections - maybe so. Other folks love them in any guise.

A Restek Consens transistor pre stayed for getting on for 2 years (blimey!) and really hit the spot. I guess I really only moved it on because I was tired of looking at it!

A left-field Lexicon MC-1 AV pre/processor used in pure pre mode was amazingly good, £350. Sold it after a while to a high-end-focused forum chap who wanted a cheap temporary stand-in and he too was amazed how good it was! You never can tell.

So, yep, no short cuts to be had, imo. You just got to try the darn things and hope for the best.

[mikeyb]

Thanks Jerry, as you say one man's meat etc.

I've been offered a nice little Pre that on reading about it would appear to be perfect. I'm undecided, so no change there lol.

I've also been offered another cartridge that I was after a while back too, so I'm kinda boxing myself into a corner cash wise as I decided a while back NOT to buy just for the sake of trying something in the hope of moving it on if it doesn't fit in.

The two gain valves I fitted in my power amp on Saturday ( had a dead one so figured I'd replace the pair).

Only listened to a couple of lps so far and I like what I hear, more the sound I'm after so I might not even need a different Pre, I'm on holiday after tonight so I'll get more time over the next few days to assess the change and that should help me decide.

The Satchmo plus Head Amp will be here soon too so I'm keen to hear that before making any decisions

[take5]

I'll pm you
Actually I won't, I forgot about the size of the l2 it's far too big for where it has to go on my rack

Mike, you may not be aware that men with large Pre amps are well known to also have other large things.
It’s along the lines of “ man with large feet equals man with large ”WxxxxE “

Does wonders for self esteem, and all the hi fi world will know that “that guy over there has a large..........pre “

Anyway if you want to borrow it (even with no intention of buying), that’s ok. It will give you an idea of what good
valve pres are about.

I’m up soon and can meet up again, same place.

[Primalsea]

I don’t think that conventional pots are necessary bad just that if the volume control is unbuffered, at the front end of the preamp circuit quality becomes a paramount issue. Here a stepped attenator will be a better choice, especially one with low capacitance and good quality contacts. If the volume control is buffered then a conventional pot is not necessarily a bad way to go.

[WESTLOWER]

The Satchmo plus Head Amp will be here soon too so I'm keen to hear that before making any decisions

I think you maybe very impressed with what the Satchmo does!

[hifinutt]

Preamps, even more than most gear except maybe speakers, are a very personal thing.
You can't really go on rep or reviews, it really does come down to a combo of personal taste and system synergy. You just have to try the damn things in your own system with your own music choices and your own ears.

I recently had a Puresound L10 - it didn't last long here. While it didn't do anything wrong, it didn't really manage to capture my attention. Watch out for insufficient gain issues with the L10 as well, only about +5dB I think, low anyway, and sometimes I had it at max wishing there was just a little more to be had. It all depends on the overall gain of your system.
Others love it - the chap I sold mine to soon moved it on - because it so impressed him he spent Big £Moolah on the Puresound L300!

Whereas the Herron valve pre has settled right in and I expect it to be here for quite a while. Love it.

Disastrous experience with a demmed ARC LS26 - just sounded vague, coloured and awful.

I was using a Schiit Saga passive pre for quite a while and really liked it - but I'd be fibbing if I said it was as good as the Herron.

I've had bad experiences with even expensive AudioSynthesis passive preamps - they seem to suck the dynamics out of the music. Although someone else said you needed to go with the ones with balanced connections - maybe so. Other folks love them in any guise.

A Restek Consens transistor pre stayed for getting on for 2 years (blimey!) and really hit the spot. I guess I really only moved it on because I was tired of looking at it!

A left-field Lexicon MC-1 AV pre/processor used in pure pre mode was amazingly good, £350. Sold it after a while to a high-end-focused forum chap who wanted a cheap temporary stand-in and he too was amazed how good it was! You never can tell.

So, yep, no short cuts to be had, imo. You just got to try the darn things and hope for the best.

yes so true , however after i miserably had to sell my ref 5se [ new ] to fund a house , i had a L10 and it was such a consolation , although the ref 5se was streets ahead in terms of realism i just found the L10 so musical and really worked well with my amps

am i right in thinking the satchmo is based on the herron pre , i have the schiit saga now thanks to jerry with the firebottle mononblocks and it sure is good , i am sure that nice ref 3 at midland audio would beat it , and the satchmo though

[mikeyb]

yes so true , however after i miserably had to sell my ref 5se [ new ] to fund a house , i had a L10 and it was such a consolation , although the ref 5se was streets ahead in terms of realism i just found the L10 so musical and really worked well with my amps

am i right in thinking the satchmo is based on the herron pre , i have the schiit saga now thanks to jerry with the firebottle mononblocks and it sure is good , i am sure that nice ref 3 at midland audio would beat it , and the satchmo though

@ £9000 I would hope so

[WESTLOWER]

am i right in thinking the satchmo is based on the herron pre?

No, don't think so.

[AD Audio]

I'm not aware of any connection between the Herron and Satchmo and Herron give scant details of their circuitry. The Satchmo is built under licence from Oddwatt Audio using one of their designs. I customise the power supply, casework and some other details along with adding options like stepped ladder attenuators and autoformers, remote control etc as the client wishes.
David

[hifinutt]

ah my mistake , thanks for clarifying . the ref 3 is 3299 s/h so bit less than 9k but perhaps you meant new