Dodd Preamp Question

It is very good. How good?.....is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder.

01-29-09: Jeffga
I have tried the Siemens, Amperex and Mullards and can report that in my system there is no contest, the Mullards are by far the best sound. They are not at all tubby or bloated or rolled off on either extreme.

Glad to hear another Mullard user de-bunk the "tubby, rolled-off, bloated" stereotype these tubes garner from some on this site.

I recently tried some early 60s, Siemens CCa grey riser tubes...(the ones to have...no excuses about how they weren't the correct CCa...) in a tube preamp that uses 6922 tubes, and the CCa while creating a very large and dynamic image were shouty and aggressive in the upper mids and highs. The sound they produced became fatiguing fairly quickly.

I have installed CCa tubes in three different components and in three different system configurations that I have owned over the years, and the CCa have never remained installed for more than a few days. I have never found them natural sounding, although other have found them to be so.

The Siemens were CCa's and I can completely concur with Tvad in that they were not a relaxed sound. In fact, they were somewhat fatiguing to my ear. Not terrible by any means. Perhaps it was the vintage of the tubes or such. Again, this is just my opinion. Now, in my system, I will say that the Dodd preamp tends a bit to the lean or "white" side of the tonality spectrum for a tube preamp. This gets mitigated thru tube selection. In my case the Mullards cured this effect. BTW, Gary Dodd's system is similar to mine (uses large GR Research speakers)...so the tonality from the speakers will be similar. He uses tube amps and I use an Edge NL10.1.

In regards to the Modwright preamp. I have owned this piece in the past. Here is my opinion.....the Dodd with the right tubes is much more musical and involving. The Modwright may be more neutral but less "magical" (more towards a ss feel). Now in the right system this may be a good thing. In fact, the two sound very similar if the Dodd has the wrong tubes in it. It is more of a "flavor" preference. I can attest that IMO the Dodd is much quieter than the Modwright. I think the Dodd is a better value. In fact it is a great value.

The only preamp that I have owned which bettered the Dodd is the Wyetech Opal (at 3-4x the list price). I have owned a few good ones (Lamm LL2 Deluxe..quite good, Supratek..did not care for this unit, ARC, Sonic Frontiers Line 3, Placette Active..very good but not as musical...plus a few others).

I can honestly say that the Mullards took this fine piece to a new level. I listened again last night (Chris Isaak) and it was amazing. All grain and brightness is gone and the "sparkle" is still there in abundance.

Which vintage and geter Mullard? Possibly milspec?

Anyone compare the Dodd to a Ultraverve?

The Mullards I generally use are early to mid 60s Blackburn factory production. "O" getter. They have a more controlled and balanced sound with less grain than the tubes produced in the Mitcham plant, IMO.