When I joined the single ended tube amp cult (the meetings surprisingly require elaborate disguises and often feature meaningless chanting) it was sort of an experiment as I became curious about all the fuss and mythology about these amps, so to speak. The tonal palette revealed in the amp I wound up with, a Dennis Had hand made little 12wpc gem called an Inspire Firebottle HO (high output), was a surprising and simply a game changer. I'd been using a classic push pull tube amp for some years prior to the Had amp, have owned countless nice SS amps, use tubed guitar amps for over 50 years, and still...blown away by the Had. Paired it with relatively efficient (alleged 91db Silverline Preludes, 93db Sonist Recital 3s) and although preferring the Preludes over the Sonists tonally I was compelled by curiosity (again) to try Klipsch Heresy IIIs with the 8ohm nominal 99db efficiency. Added a tube preamp, and am happily enjoying the rig on another level entirely...tied to efficient speakers, el tubo a mundo, and enveloped in a self indulgent smugness about the whole thing.
