Valvebloke here !

[Valvebloke]

Hello World .

Perhaps the username says it all, or enough at least. But in case it doesn't I'm Graeme, I've lived with valves for as long as I can remember (my father built hi-fi) and I have a particularly soft spot for vintage power amps. Over the years I've acquired and restored quite a few of these. When I took early retirement a few years ago I decided to add a business to what was already a hobby so I now work on other people's kit, for money in, as well as on my own, for money out of course. With luck the day will come when the former exceeds the latter !

I've currently got a pair of Quad IIs in the living room, driving a pair of Yamaha NS1000s (some love 'em, some hate 'em), with the digital tunes handled by a Quad CDP-2 and a Squeezebox Touch and the analogue ones by my trusty Rega Planar 2 (owned from new !) fitted with an RB300 and an Ortofon 2M Black.

I've got a workshop too, and a website, the link to which should appear below once I've filled out my profile details. And yes, the chap on the website who looks like Arkwright out of Open All Hours is me !

VB

[CageyH]

Welcome aboard.

[Mr Kipling]

H-H-H-H-H-How do Mr V-V-V-V-V-V-V-Valvebloke.

Valves. Don't you just love 'em!

[walpurgis]

Hi Graeme. Welcome to AOS.

Sounds like you're handy with a soldering iron. We have a lot of valve equipment fans here, many building their own, so you're sure to be in good company.

Please post some photos of your system in our 'Gallery' and any projects on the go in our 'Drawing Board' section. They'd be much appreciated.

What music do you listen to?


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

[Macca]

Hi Graeme.

Quad II with NS1000 sounds a bit unusual. As Geoff says we're gonna need to see some piccies l

[Firebottle]

Hi Graeme, glad you're here.
Bit keen on valves myself, any modifications to the Quad II?

Alan

[Valvebloke]

Hi Graeme. Welcome to AOS.

Sounds like you're handy with a soldering iron. We have a lot of valve equipment fans here, many building their own, so you're sure to be in good company.

Please post some photos of your system in our 'Gallery' and any projects on the go in our 'Drawing Board' section. They'd be much appreciated.

What music do you listen to?


Enjoy the forum,
Geoff.

Thanks Geoff, it sounds like I'll have to get the Box Brownie out ! There are already some pics of the Quad IIs around in physical space, if not in cyberspace, because they're the ones I fettled up for Tim Jarman's HFN review earlier this year. I even managed to find some OS valves which both met the tech specs and still looked pretty - with most of the printing and stickers in place and facing forwards. The NS1000s look less and less nice the closer you get. They were saved from a house clearance chap's "To Burn" heap, but not before he'd roped them onto a pile of stuff in the back of his pickup thereby cutting into the nice ebony veneer along the back edges . They work fine though.

Hmmm. Music. I was going to say I like all of it, but to be honest I'm not a big fan either of rap or of 18th century opera. And there's far too much Sibelius on Radio 3. Checking the artists list on my Squeezebox Touch, here are the A's:

Aaron Copland
ABBA
Adele
Al Stewart
Alanis Morissette
Alex Harvey
Ali Farka Toure
Alice Cooper
Alison Krauss
Alison Moyet
Allman Brothers Band, The
Alt-J
Amy Winehouse
Anatol Ugorski
Andre Cluytens
Animals, The
Annie Lennox
Anouar Brahem
Antonio Vivaldi
Arnold Schoenberg
Arvo Part
Austrian Death Machine.

Make of that what you will, although I should say it's probably not a large enough sample to be statistically signifcant .

VB

[Eagle owl]

Hello and welcome Graeme.

Geoff.

[Valvebloke]

Hi Graeme, glad you're here.
Bit keen on valves myself, any modifications to the Quad II?

Alan

I haven't modded my own Quad IIs, but I do have some sets modded by other people. I've got a pair of Quad's own current version - the Quad II Classics (it's hard to be certain about the transformers, but even setting these aside there are a few other circuit changes relative to the originals). In addition I have highly modded pairs by Glenn Croft, John Howes and the late Doug Dunlop (Concordant). I also once had a close look at a Lindley-Tyson pair. It is worth saying though that some of these folks seem never to have reproduced the same mods twice !

For what it's worth it's my view while the modded versions may each do one or two things better than the originals, the originals still deliver the best all-round performance. Just my two penn'orth of course.

VB

[Spectral Morn]

Hi Graeme welcome to AOS

Would I be right thinking you run an audio business of some sort ? If so, if you wish to trade here then you will need to speak with Marco the forum owner and have your account upgraded to trade status. If you wish to post here as an ordinary member, with no promotion, mention of your services/products then that is possible but Marco will clarify any conditions that may be required in order that you can do that.


Regards Neil