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View Full Version : Suggestions for cheap passive preamp...possibly for quad 306 etc?


philv
11-01-2019, 20:42
Cheaper the better.
max £50

Must have at least 3 rca inputs

Cheers
graham67
11-01-2019, 23:11
You won't get one for 50 but a little bit more will get a tisbury passive which is one of the better cheapie stepped attenuators. Go for the current version which has a 3 position attenuation switch essential for usage with the 0.5v input 306.
walpurgis
11-01-2019, 23:21
You won't get one for 50 but a little bit more will get a tisbury passive which is one of the better cheapie stepped attenuators. Go for the current version which has a 3 position attenuation switch essential for usage with the 0.5v input 306.

Yes. The input sensitivity on the 306 is too high for use with many passive or active pre-amps. Adjustable attenuation will definitely help.

If you can find one, the Promitheus TVC pre-amp works great with the 306 and offers high sound quality. It's a very good match.
philv
12-01-2019, 00:23
Not to worry.
Quad 306 not available anymore.

I’m shortly to be ampless!
Tryant
12-01-2019, 09:50
There's a nice little Creek 4330 on the bay last time I looked. That should work nicely with AN-K's.;)
If set on another 306 and a stepped pot in a box, make sure it has enough steps for you.
Or, have you tried a T-amp?
walpurgis
12-01-2019, 09:59
Not to worry.
Quad 306 not available anymore.

I’m shortly to be ampless!

It's still worth looking for a 306, it's a nice sounding amp.
Tryant
12-01-2019, 10:04
It's still worth looking for a 306, it's a nice sounding amp.

The 306 is a good little amp but second-hand prices are getting silly. Just a couple of years ago you could pick up a clean unit for £125. Now it's double that. A few will have passed through the hands of bodgers too.
DSJR
12-01-2019, 10:11
One cheapie that also looks cute is the Schiit one, but by the time it comes to these shores, I don't know how competitive it is.

The Tisbury is well made and you might find one at a good price. Personally, I'm not sure about the cheap attenuator it uses, as for me anyway, it seemed to deaden the sound very slightly (atmosphere in a recording is important to me) and this was in my own home made passive preamp (in an ugly Hammond project box) away from 'work.' This one I made up years ago, now has 25k film pots, the same as one of the pairs of old Crown amps I repaired.

P.S. Quad amps can work well with a simple passive pot-in-a-box. Check absolute phasing though, as I can't bloody remember if it's the Quad preamp, power amp or even both (!) that invert the phase...
mikmas
12-01-2019, 13:16
P.S. Quad amps can work well with a simple passive pot-in-a-box.

Don't have any knowledge of the 306 but in my experience with various 'pots-in-boxes' the 303 and 405-2 work and the sound is great but the travel of the pot is negligible before it becomes too loud.
With the 405-2, I tried firstly pre-attenuating resistors in the box and also tried fitting a pot into the 405-2 itself (a la Keith Snook)

Neither solution was ideal so went back to Quad pre-amps ....