Preamp Deal of the Century

Aloha Slowhand,

I am using Svetlana 6L6GC's instead of the 5881's. Several guys on the Tube Asylum have said that the Svet's are really good. I have to agree so far. I had ordered RCA Black Plates, but the consensus on the Tube Asylum is that they are over-rated especially for the price, so I cancelled them.

I am also using a Mullard 5AR4 rectifier.

So far I have rolled the Syl 6SN7GT's and the Ken Rad VT231's (also in military boxes). Actually, I just sent an email to see if he has anymore.

The Ken Rads are awesome, but the difference I heard between the Syls and Ken Rads could also be attributed to break-in of the preamp. I put the Syls in from day one and just switched to VT231s yesterday. I also tried a couple of tweaks to my system last night that really elevated the sound, so if I were to stick the Syls back in they may sound just as good now. Will try them again in a month or so.

But I gotta tell ya, this thing is really singing. I never listened to it with stock tubes, but with the tubes I just described, this pre is simply amazing.

Aloha,

Warren

And BTW, this thing is drop-dead gorgeous. I ordered mine in Chrome/Piano Black/Gold knobs.

I know the gold knobs sounds strange, but they really set things off. I felt like chrome knobs would have been too much of a good thing. I like the way this looks a lot.

In a couple of the posts above there were concerns about the build quality, but it far exceeds what I expected. The Piano Black finish is as good as the grand piano in my business. And you can't even begin to see a joint line in the corners of the boxes.

Well done, Mick. You have allayed any and all of my fears.

Aloha,

Warren

I replaced my stock 5881 with a Sovtek 5V4G, its a bit taller. It sounds really good. I didn't get a chance to listen ot the stock 5881 due to other problems I was having. But the sovtek works just fine and it cost only $7.99.

Since the title of this discussion is "Preamp Deal of the Century" perhaps people not in posession of a Supretek should read the comments in another discussion about the H-Cat P-12. I don't own either, I just want to find the best for the money, but according to an ex-Supratek user the H-Cat is 'king of the hill'...for about the same amount. We are either on the verge of a revolution or its all smoke and mirrors - so far I don't know.

Its not a revolution, just capitalism operating as it should. Other manufacturers hate a guy like Mick because he doesn't play the game of making everyone think that we should actually thank the manufacturers for the astronomical prices. They've got a closed system where the magazines incestuously support the manufacturers' agenda and vice versa from the manufacturers through sweetheart deals to the mags. I am not saying its a star chamber conspiracy, but there is a strong, determinant and tacit one occuring where the dynamics of the market are highly distorted. This occurs because the freedom of information is controlled by those entities and people most interested in distorting it for their own gains (Does any of this sound familiar? Enron, etc?). The mags will never cover a guy like Mick because he's not going to plunk down 20K for a six month black-and-white advert contract. This unbridled ideal of infinite self-interest distorts, for the consumer, the balance between democracy (freedom of information) and capitalism (freedom of self-interest). Like many sub-systems within the greater economy, the dynamics of our little microcosm are distorted where individuals at the top of the hierarchy have gained sufficient control over the means of information dissemination to redistribute value from the serfs to the nobility.

Hey, didn't we fight this already two hundred years ago? I take that back, it is (could be still) a revolution.

What is the nature of the Matrix? Control.

If you still can't hear this, then just buy the pre.