World Design Pre2 pre-amp - Review / Blog

[jandl100]

Got this on eBay for £230-something delivered. Arrived yesterday. Many folks seem to rave about World Design kit, and I've had my lovely Meitner solid state pre for, oooh, it must be months now, so I couldn't resist when this little pre came along!

As many folks here will know, these usually come as kits from WD (although they will make them up for you for a fair price). This was a kit one and to my barely competent eye seems to have been well put together. Just as well I didn't try to build a kit as it needs someone who'se actually competent with a soldering iron and can be trusted not to burn his house (and probably the rest of the neighbourhood) down as part of the kit construction process .



More inputs & outputs than an AV receiver!



And here is what it is up against in Chateau Jerry, my Meitner PA6i, hailing from Canada ....



Call the WD Pre2 a valve amp, though? One little ecc82 sitting pretty in the middle of the pre-amp module and that's it!

Solidly made, quite hefty, and looks dead cool on the rack. A little bit of blu-tack over the searchlight beam (aka the blue LED) and all is OK.

One slight oddity, maybe, is that sound only issues forth when the little switch in the middle of the fascia is on 'tape' rather than 'source'. Did the guy wire that up wrong or are my expectations wrong? Whatever, seems to work AOK with the switch flicked downwards.

The sound? Well, if I'd had to guess which was the valve pre from the sound I'd have chosen the Meitner solid state. The WD Pre2 is really explicit, with very tightly focussed images and quite an 'exciting' sound - I suspect there is a slight treble edge, although this calmed down after a half hour or so (or maybe I got used to it). Clarity in abundance. Female vocals are a real treat! I played a mono LP of a string quartet, and for the first time didn't hanker after stereo to help separate out the four instruments - the WD pre laid it all bare in mono. Nice, and very impressive.

I don't know what make the valve is yet, but a little tube rolling might not go amiss here (good fun anyway!). Perhaps a vintage Mullard? (I've my eye on one on eBay ).

Really enjoying this on my first few hours listen, as it seems to complement my Bel Canto eVo4 power amp which is a tad on the warm/'musical' side of the fence. But can I live without remote control of volume .... ?

[Clive]

You got the Pre2 and PSU for quite a decent price. To be pedantically accurate the Pre2 is WAD, not WD. WAD folded, the guys running it seemed to vanish. WD was then set up by Peter Comeau, he has introduced the Pre3 which is also a twin triode stepped down by an output transformer.

The Pre2 could be a little picky about placement, the OPTs in the Pre2 tended to pick up hum, often people would place the PSU a considerable distance away from the Pre2. If you have no hum then either it matches your system well or the Pre2 has been turned into a cathode follower. The coupling capacitor in the Pre2 impart quite a lot of character to its sound so it would be useful to know what it has.

[jandl100]

Coo - way too technical for me, Clive!

Cathode follower? Dunno. I plan to open it up to get at the valve - I could take a photo, would that help?

What sort of sonic 'character' do you mean?

There is certainly negligible hum.

[Clive]

Is the Pre2 heavy? If it has the original output transformers in there with the original circuit it will quite heavy. If it's lighter than the PSU then it's been modified. Most likely it's original. Many people who build these try different coupling capacitors, paper-in-oil sound very different polypropylene. Polyprop can be accurate or solidstate-like depending on your point of view. Likewise paper-in-oil can be lush and atmospheric or dull depending on system matching and your preferences.

[jandl100]

The pre is def significantly heavier than the PSU. Would a pic help elucidate the situation?

[Clive]

It sounds original. A pic might help id the coupling cap, unless you can spot it and say what type it is. I believe the originals had orange coloured capacitors.

[Ali Tait]

Gimme a shout when you come to sell it Jerry!

[Mike]

Gimme a shout when you come to sell it Jerry!

Ignore him Jerry...

It's my turn!

[Ali Tait]

I was first!!

[jandl100]

Highest bidder?