Need advice for a tube pre-amp

[richidoo]

Thanks for trying the DEQ as source. I'm glad it sounded good. I know what you mean by too much tubiness. Low distortion designs add scale but not too much warmth. It can be done with octals too. Triodes are inherently low distortion. You just need to find one that's right for you. I'm very interested what you find out about Don Allen.

It is surprising what a difference only 0.001" jack diameter makes in the snugness. Some of the Switchcraft jacks I bought are small by this amount and many plugs are loose. The tightest jacks I have are only .0005" over.

I know the Enabled Fostex' are extra special. I'd love to hear them in the Brines box.

[topround]

Karl modded a Don Allen pre for a friend.
It was the cheapest built piece of scheiss I've ever seen!

Rich, not challenging you, but what we had on hand was crap, there must be another Don Allen out there The thing weighed about five pounds, and it looked like he spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it as cheap as possible...really!

Mike

[richidoo]

Not surprised at all. I once shopped for <1000 preamp, it is tough to find good stuff. But $1000 should be enough to build a basic line level preamp with a little left over for your trouble.   I learned to disregard anything written on Asylum.   No challenge at all Mike, I'm not advocating the guy, I never heard of him until JLM mentioned him. Just pouring gasoline on the fire.. 

[JLM]

Rich,

Thanks again for the links.  I read the same about Allen.  It all sounds good.

topround,

Grain of salt well taken, I've bought from recognized cottage industry before and it was a POS too.  I have no "need" to experiment much to acheive the nth degree of fidelity.  The Mapletree is looking better all the while.


I recently tried to purchase a pre from audiomagnus, but the order still shows "processing" and Paypal shows payment made.  I'm in the process of trying to cancel the order.  Once that is cleared up I'll move ahead.  Thanks to all.

[opnly bafld]

I you can stretch your budget a bit, I  would recommend an SAS Audio 10A.
http://www.sasaudiolabs.com/pream10a.htm

No mods needed, it won't fix anything that is wrong with your source, amp, or speakers*, but it will allow more of what the other components are doing get to your ears.

Lin

*it won't dim something bright, sweeten something sour, or put fat on something too thin. 

[Nature Boy]

+1 on the Eastern Electric Minimax preamp.  Easy to pick one up on Agon and tone can be modified with some tube rolling, particularly the rectifier tube.  I have had one system for ~ 8 years.  Sounds great!

NB

[richidoo]

DIY Kit?  Bottlehead Foreplay - $500 complete.

http://www.bottlehead.com/store.php?crn=220&rn=430&action=show_detail

You can do it!

[stereofool]

Here is another DIY option...

http://www.hagtech.com/clarinet.html

[JLM]

Rich/Stereofool,

I did assemble Hafler pre and power amps (1980) with help, but that was a long time ago and I'm really not interested in more 9 pin tubes, dual volume controls, or messing for about the same price as a Mapletree.

Rich, you're always welcomed to stop by to hear a unique speaker.


opnly bafld,

Current prices of SAS 10A is about twice what I want to spend.


And there's a couple of Modwright SWL 9.0 SE for sale (a bit out of my range, but I'm hot about them), a Audio by VanAlstine Trascendance Eight, Rouge Metis, and a Quicksilver line stage all on Agon.  What do all think of those?


Nature Boy,

How pronounced is the EE pre-amp in terms of "tubiness"?

[richidoo]

Tubiness of Minimax varies with the tube choice. With RCA clear top 12AU7 or the stock Chinese tubes distortion is very low, tone is clear and natural. With Amperex, distortion is seductively high, a sexy tube. RCA black or gray plate is in the middle. Bill has great advice on what tubes work best in the Minimax. The preamp is popular because it is transparent to the tube, at least the Tutay version I had.

Thanks for the invite. Where do you live?  Likewise if you are ever in Raleigh...

I had a T8 but I liked the minimax better.

[topround]

I have had the Modwright for a while in my system.
The Modwright is very open and extended but tonally grey, a very SS sound.
The T8 I  heard at a friends house, it was OK at best.
I heard the Quicky linestage, the cheaper one, my friend owned it for a while, it was not bad at all. A very tubey sound, he opened it up a bit with some caps. A decent sounding unit that really responded to some inexpensive mods. It might mate well with the digital amps. The Modwright and digital amps sounds like a bad recipe in my experience. The Mod needs a  fat sounding amp to balance it's utter neutrality.

Mike

[JLM]

Wow, more great advice, thanks so much guys.

Rich, I'm in Michigan (about 1.5 hour drive from Detroit, except for Salk and Geddes pretty much an audio wasteland up here).  But if you're in the neighborhood (summer/fall is the best time unless you're a snow skier). 

Looks more and more like a Mapletree 2A SE.  Now if I can just clear that business with audiomagus.   

[richidoo]

Don't discount the mods for the Mapletree. We had one at a meet last year, it had some technical problems, I don't remember the details, grounding or something. It was easily fixed but should have been fixed at mfg. I can find out the details if you want. Sonic mods can do a lot too, as topround suggests. The umbilical cord is ripe for upgrade. Plan on spending more than $1000 by the time you're done if you hire a tech to do the work. At least you can try RobS' without risk.

[topround]

Weds we will be putting in a Bybee music rail and Vcap POIMP caps to replace the Jupiter HT's in the outputs of my friends Mapletree.
Will let you know what happens

[JLM]

Rich,

Thanks for the heads up.

topround,

You're making my head hurt with techno talk.