been playing with some firebottle kin in recent days
P1060172 by , on Flickr
P1060171 by , on Flickr
used for a number of weeks with velleman valve pre which is a very modest pre but not bad at all . does not have the massive holographic soundstage of the modwright but then it cost about 72 times less . big bouncy muscular sounding , every big as good as the departed supernait 2 but that had better holographics . does not get too hot but those little valves can get knocked and lost one 2 days ago getting it back in the rack . fortunately thanks to a very efficient valve company billinton export valves i was up at running in less than 24 hours . impressive . this pre power was used with the very big sounding impulse ta`us
then for a few days used with the tannoy eaton legacy , again big sound and extremely transparent with FM radio , this transparency gave rise to a very very slight hardness at times but very enjoyable . this was using a bel canto pre 3 ss pre amp
so the msb [ costing about 14 times as much as the FB ] was smoother and better in holographics . that said we have previously tried the FB with the velleman with the eatons and that was very good so a better match i think than the ss pre
one thing i noticed was that sometimes there was a slight pop when turning off one of the amps when used with eaton [ not the other ]
i noticed in the instructions that it says the input is dirctly coupled so DC on the input should be avoided . i don`t quite know what this means and thinking of trying another pre amp which says
"DC filament power helps to create an amplifier with low noise and exceptional sonic qualities. " this amp is based on a herron pre amp design i think
and wondering if that means the amps are incompatible , perhaps someone technical can enlighten .
now thanks to our very own jerry [ a big thanks ] i am using the FB with a schiit saga valve passive and that is smoother top end than the velleman and for the money is a cracker
eLFjmVv by , on Flickr
ou might slip, you might slide, you might
Stumble and fall by the road side
But don't you ever let nobody drag your spirit down
Remember you're walking up to heaven
Don't let nobody turn you around
… Walk with the rich, walk with the poor
Learn from everyone, that's what life is for
And don't you let nobody drag your spirit down
Eric Bibb
Tried these lovely monoblocks with a number of pre amps now . Always sounds good , best combo was with the saga pre. Now using a sugden a21se as a pre amp and it makes a very good pre amp although I find the remote a bit imprecise. Still using the stock tubes although have some telefunckens to use sometime
261b4cedbd79c498545aefa536dd33fadda06ae4_2_375x500 by , on Flickr
P1060525 by , on Flickr
Last edited by hifinutt; 15-06-2019 at 22:26.
ou might slip, you might slide, you might
Stumble and fall by the road side
But don't you ever let nobody drag your spirit down
Remember you're walking up to heaven
Don't let nobody turn you around
… Walk with the rich, walk with the poor
Learn from everyone, that's what life is for
And don't you let nobody drag your spirit down
Eric Bibb
Still a lot of performance for the price. I do remember mine fondly.
They are delightful , They are beautifully made
Last edited by hifinutt; 16-06-2019 at 17:38.
ou might slip, you might slide, you might
Stumble and fall by the road side
But don't you ever let nobody drag your spirit down
Remember you're walking up to heaven
Don't let nobody turn you around
… Walk with the rich, walk with the poor
Learn from everyone, that's what life is for
And don't you let nobody drag your spirit down
Eric Bibb