Quad II with a 33 preamp

[pavalon]

I have recently taken possession of a pair of Quad II valve power amplifiers and is seeking advice on a suitable preamp to partner these Quad II power amplifiers.

How good is the vintage Quad 22 preamp without spending silly money in upgrading the components for little gain in sound quality?

Not sure if it is worth the costs as I have read that the 22 needs a lot of work and a better option would be to go for a modern preamp from other manufacturers. My budget is a modest £500.

I am also exploring the options of possibly using ‘older’ preamps from the Quad stable such as the 34/44. Again these would need upgrading too for better sonic performance.

I do have an aging 33 that I can be using until a better preamp is bought for the permanent set up. However I am confused with how to connect the 33 to the valve power amps.

The 33 has 2 switched AC mains outlet sockets supplying power using a 2 flat pin (very similar to the American style 2 pin power plug). I assume that these will be fed to the Bulgin plug that is fitted to the Quad II valve amps.

The Quad II are also fitted with a single phono socket replacing the 6 pin Jones connector – Where do I connect this to the 33…..which Din input socket?

Another point of clarification regarding the power supply – would the Quad II be normally connected to the power socket and not directly to the 33 preamp if another brand of preamp was used.

I look forward to hearing your advice on the above. Thank you in advance.

Peter

[Rare Bird]

Concordant 'Excelsior' or the loverly Rose Industries 'RV-23S' id have thought would be nice..

[Kenneth]

I have recently taken possession of a pair of Quad II valve power amplifiers and is seeking advice on a suitable preamp to partner these Quad II power amplifiers.

How good is the vintage Quad 22 preamp without spending silly money in upgrading the components for little gain in sound quality?

Not sure if it is worth the costs as I have read that the 22 needs a lot of work and a better option would be to go for a modern preamp from other manufacturers. My budget is a modest £500.

I am also exploring the options of possibly using ‘older’ preamps from the Quad stable such as the 34/44. Again these would need upgrading too for better sonic performance.

I do have an aging 33 that I can be using until a better preamp is bought for the permanent set up. However I am confused with how to connect the 33 to the valve power amps.

The 33 has 2 switched AC mains outlet sockets supplying power using a 2 flat pin (very similar to the American style 2 pin power plug). I assume that these will be fed to the Bulgin plug that is fitted to the Quad II valve amps.

The Quad II are also fitted with a single phono socket replacing the 6 pin Jones connector – Where do I connect this to the 33…..which Din input socket?

Another point of clarification regarding the power supply – would the Quad II be normally connected to the power socket and not directly to the 33 preamp if another brand of preamp was used.

I look forward to hearing your advice on the above. Thank you in advance.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Currently, I am using a 2nd hand QUAD QC-24 in driving a pair of Ls3/5a with very good results. Actually, I have just found one on ebay UK asking for £550. The results would be better if you upgrade some of the component inside. What do you think ?

Cheers



Kenneth

[pavalon]

Concordant 'Excelsior' or the loverly Rose Industries 'RV-23S' id have thought would be nice..

That Excelsior preamp is a great vintage amp shame that these are rarely available here in the UK.

Thank you for you suggestions.

Peter

Hi Peter,

Currently, I am using a 2nd hand QUAD QC-24 in driving a pair of Ls3/5a with very good results. Actually, I have just found one on ebay UK asking for £550. The results would be better if you upgrade some of the component inside. What do you think ?

Cheers



Kenneth

The QC-24 on sale is collection only. Does it come with a remote control?

The Quad IIs have been upgraded by the previous owner so hopefully should not require any further work in the foreseeable future. Just want to fire them up with the correct connection to the 33.

[StanleyB]

The 33 uses some nastly CMOS 4066 ( or 4016) ICs to do the audio routing. Just to get and idea of how much that IC robs from the signal you should try bridging the signal across it. The ON resistance of the chip used in the original production was several tens of Ohms.
Hooking a 22 onto it won't produce the sort of sound that the 22 is capable of when matched to a better preamp. The Q33 gets my vote for one of the worst audio switching method for such a nice looking unit.

[Rare Bird]

Since when has 'Q33' used CMOS IC's?

[DSJR]

Stan, you may mean the 34 and/or the 44, both of which can be upgraded/refurbished by the likes of the Dada kits into something very nice indeed and perfect for the II's. The 33 in stock form, in my opinion as a bodger of same and end user, is that it's just too old and now does affect the sound passing through it quite noticeably. The net-Audio boards turn it into something quite different however, but by then you've spent silly money...

From personal CURRENT experience, may I suggest any of the preamps made by Glenn Croft? The Micro Basic is a tad "raw" in presentation, ALWAYS putting the music first and being hopefully as reliable and long lived as the II's themselves. Perfect for balancing the over-romantic sounds of the II's, the end being more than the sum of the parts in my experience.

[pavalon]

Glen Croft products are very well regarded with great reviews. I would love to try one with the Quad IIs. Anyone here have any experience with this combo?

[phoenixpete]

I used to use a Quad 44 when I had my IIs, the 44 has the 3 different connections for various power amps and I think mine had the outputs for the quad II's, 303 and the 405 power amps.
I had mine connected up to 2 303's and my pair of II's as in the picture.
Why did I sell all of that stuff

[Macca]

Glen Croft products are very well regarded with great reviews. I would love to try one with the Quad IIs. Anyone here have any experience with this combo?

I think Joe Blackadder used a Croft micro basic with Croft-modified Quad IIs not so long back.