Tube Amps
As others comment, allowing for for easy bias adjustment with a built in meter is a good feature. But note that (1) some tube amps use LEDs that go dark when the amp is correctly adjusted (easy to do) rather than a meter (e.g., the Conrad-Johnson MV-60) and (2) some tube amps are automatically self-biasing with internal sensing circuitry so the user doesn't have to do any bias adjustments at all (e.g., the BAT VK-55). . |
appreciate your insites and input... the price range of $1500-2000 would be for either used or new currently i run a mac mc252 on a set of ushers x719 which are 8ohm and 88db. the room size is 12x12... i am fascinated by looks mostly and cool factor...is that worth the maintainace and biasing issues...btw what is bias tuning? is that a gain adjustment and is it a L/R or something else.. my other fascination is with class A rated output amps...are they worth it? sorry i am a novice but got a serious bug.. thanks |
I guess one would have to have one of these tube amps in their own system before one could judge.----There is one thing I can tell you ; they (tubes)do sound pretty different than most solid state amps--A generalization only--- Whether or not you like that difference is another thing. I say listen to a triode amp, not necessarly a single ended one but a push-pull triode. Then you can tell us.--- Some tube amps have a simiar to SS sound; and some SS amps have a similar to tubes sound.---Don't know of many SS amps that have a similar to triode sound; there may be some but the price won't be in the 1--1.5k range. |
The previous post by AVguy makes a good point: moderately priced tube amps can, and usually do, sound quite different than comparably priced solid state amps (due mainly to the much higher cost for transformers in the tube amps). The performance difference between tube and solid state amps have been narrowing over the past 10 years, but that's mainly true for the higher-priced models. If you want to experiment with a tube amp, you might look for a used Quicksilver amp, which is user-friendly and offers good performance for the money. You might also consider some of the very good tube amps now being made in Asia (mainly China and Taiwan), which offer good value due to their lower manufacturing costs. |
What type of music do you generally listen to? That also will play a big part in whether or not the tubes will be appropriate for your tastes, and help pinpoint which tube amps you might want to consider. Let us know what kind of music you generally listen to, and I'm sure that you will get plenty of excellent recommendations that would fit the bill. All the best, Howard |
