2. amps-preamps
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Beginners Pre-amp


I'm in midst of changing things in my system and the next thing I want to try is a tubed pre-amp. I do plan to change my speakers to Paradigm S4 and would like to know which pre-amps would work. As for music it varies from Jazz(mostly) to live theater,dance,pop, etc...

My budget is at most 2500.00 new or used. I figured at that price point I can come away with something that I can live with for awhile and totally outclass the Pre-amp section of my receiver.

At that price point new I can come away with a BC21.1 as it allows me the options of the Shallco and a processor loop.

My questions are: What do the members here think of the BC?Will it work in my system. Is it a quite unit and and does it respond well to both tube rolling and PC upgrades.

Finally are there any others I should consider besides the VTL2.5/5.5. I know there's more but I drawing a blank.

Cheers
freakygreek
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Based solely on my own reading, and personal experience with the designers, I'd second the First Sound Presence Deluxe II ($2500 used, and you won't have the urge to upgrade any time soon), and I'd second the Modwright SWL 9.0SE. Finally, based only on user comments and price, I'd look into the aforementioned Herron VTSP-1A.

Between these three, you have a sure winner.
chriskeating
189 posts
 
I owned a BC 21.1 and thought it was great for the price. It is superbly constructed and looks cool too. You can coax excellent sound out of it with some nicer tubes and I had great results using a Stealth Cloude nine power cord with it. It has a ton of gain. I put a couple of Tantalums in one of the inputs to pad down the gain a bit.
c123666
871 posts
 
Beware of Convergent Audio Technology preamps. The owner/designer is very clear about wanting to service his own products and does not encourage upgrades. The capacitors are all very securely epoxied (or some type of glue like a rock) to the PCB. My tech called up CAT and was told there is a solution to reduce this glue but we could not have it; ie, send it back to CAT if you want work done on it.

I sold mine immediately. I kept it for about three weeks. I want to be able to upgrade capacitors and so on as required.
tabl10s's avatar
tabl10s
1,008 posts
 
I would look for a Blue Circle BC3. Very nice with lots of gain.
cellorover
358 posts
 
I do not know if I can contribute more than confirm what has already been said. IMO the best value for money and sound right now is the Modwright 9.0SE. I spent a lot of time with the beta unit and compared the production unit to other active and passive preamps in the $2500-5500 price range (CJ, BC, BAT, SF and Herron on the active side; Placette and Channel Island on the passive side). The Herron was lovely but the Modwright may have been better....in my system. Go with the Modwright and then work on a new front end. The stock tubes are very good and retubing costs nothing.
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