Good amps

[The Vinyl Adventure]

I can't tell you how please with this hlly I am Ali!
How can it cost so little? It really belies belife!

[dave2010]

Hamish

skip the bantam and go for the hlly... its much much better and not much more money!
my valve amp is better than the hlly in every sence, but it cost 10 times more than a new hlly... (did you mean to aim that at me?)

Which Bantam are you referring to? I mean the new Bantam Gold - have you heard it? If not, how can you be so sure the HLLY is better?

OK - another valve person! Which one have you got? Around £1.5k? There might be some around here who'd pay that much. I might - though there is "other user" acceptability to consider. How would your valve system compare with, say, a MF A5, which is similarly priced?

Also, if you have valve units do you leave them on all the time? If so, doesn't that consume power unnecessarily, and also perhaps be a potential fire hazard?

I leave some of my kit on a lot of the time, but I'm not sure I'd want to have valve systems on - I suppose it depends on the power though. Maybe no worse than leaving a small light bulb on, and of course would keep you warm in the winter.

Thanks for replying.

[Ali Tait]

I never leave valve kit on when I'm not there,too much potential for harm.Not a big problem,they normally warm up in 15-30 minutes.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Just the standard bantam, and I haven't heard the bantam gold. But I'd be willing to put money on the hlly still coming out on top over the bantam gold! I just can't see how the bantam is ever gonna have the bass authority of the hlly ... Perhaps I'm wrong, but I doubt it!

I have a tube distictions modified pure sound a30, it was indeed around £1500 but then I had to have a pre amp built as it was modded into a power amp!
It spends it's time switched off when not in use bit seems to only take 15-20 minutes to sound most of the way to how it should, then after about an hour it sounds 100%
i often switch it on half hour prior to listening anyway so that's not really an issue

i bought it off steve toy after he brought it round to mine, I was so shocked by how good it was with steves pre amp I asked Anthony of tube distictions to build me a pre like steves to go with the power amp.
I ended up spending much more than I ever intended but can't see me moving on from this amp/pre for a long long time!

[Ali Tait]

Agree about the Bantam Hamish,it uses a different chipset to the Hlly.The TA2022 is known for it's bass from what I've read.

[Ali Tait]

BTW,I believe the amp can be bridged,so you could have two with twice the power!

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Yep, I read that yesterday ... I'm on the look out for a second one at the mo

[Ali Tait]

Good,let us know how it goes if you get one.I'd guess even more bass authority.