Golden Tube amps

Just to chime in a bit.....See if this link works to the Yahoo! group for Golden Tube Audio equipment.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/golden_tube/

I have owned an SE-100 (1-6SL7GT, 2-EL34 (driver), 8-EL34 (output)) for over 12 years with just one initial issue. A capacitor went in the small input circuit board that the 6SL7GT is also mounted. GTA replaced it.....no issues since.

Yes, if an issue arises, there are many guys out there that repair these.

Very, very nice sounding amp......a little warmer than VTL 100 mono's. Absolutely beats the heck out of the Aragon 4004 Mk II I had before it (made it sound two-dimensional, grainy and much less life-like by comparison, and the 200w solid state amp didn't even produce better dynamics or bass to trade).

My only issue with the amp is the gold anodized front.....doesn't match anything else I have. Can this be changed? I love the look of the Cary V-12's.....and the GTA has me convinced that I like the 8 x EL34's. If anything happens to the GTA, I'd like to try the Cary.

The Golden Tube has been a great match for my Alon II's and ProAc Studio 200's. Both speakers, I believe that may prefer tube amps.

Foeraus, I think your comparison of the Golden Tube amp to a solid state amp is like comparing apples to oranges. But at least so far you are the only one that has made a direct comparison of one tube design (Golden Tube) to another like your VTLs.

Tube & solid state both have their advantages & disadvantages, matching the type of amplification to one's speakers can be a critical factor in deciding which direction you want or have to go.

Generally speaking some of the best solid state amps only offer a 2.5 dimensional sound. I too have owned the Aragon 4004 MKII and when paired with a good tube preamp it was much closer to a grain free three dimensional sound and to this day it still represents a major audio bargain at its price point.

My above post on Golden Tube Audio gear was not so positive although I did think the gear looked damn nice at the time. On loan from a local HiFi store I tried a Golden Tube used preamp & power amp (can't remember the exact model numbers of either but it was a few years ago). The store manager told me I would not be overly impressed with it and it turned out to be true. Maybe if I spent more time with it and had the chance to tube roll I could of possibly came to a different conclusion.

I thought they had a decent sound for the money. Compared well to my Mccormack dna 0.5. Better than anything new you could buy SS. My problem was reliability. Had it serviced twice. I still have it, would be interested in some of the mods. My old spectral 50 blows it away, though.

Foeraus, thanks for that link. It works fine, and I'll see if someone there has an answer.

waltcertain

I have an old SE-40 (parallel single-ended 40 wpc stereo) which sounded glorious, especially for the coin...but the circuit was unreliable and I threw in the towel after having it repaired twice.

It's still in my garage in Boca Raton, FL, free to anyone who wants to pick it up.