Aleph 3/30 Owners: What preamp do you use?

Drubin is correct about the input impedance issues with Aleph amps.

I borrowed an Aleph 3 from Viggen for a few weeks and loved its sound but the 23K ohm single ended only input impedance resulted in some bass loss and dynamic constriction when mated to my Blue Circle BC21. Gorgeous guitars though!

The Aleph 30 added balanced inputs and raised the input impedance to 47K ohm in hopes of addressing this issue. I believe some of the other Alephs were as low as 10K ohms.

Most of the problems I've heard of with the Alephs had to do with passive preamps and to a lesser degree tube preamps, but solid state preamps should have an easier time mating to the Alephs.

It seems many people try to stay in the 10-100 times range when matching a preamp's output impedance to an amp's input impedance.

Good luck!

I just thought of something. Is there a reason why you're not considering a Rogue or Cary amp? Is it the price of these amps or the thought of having a whole gang of tubes to deal with? If so, I can definitely appreciate that, and that's the reason why I've only used solid state amps with my Blue Circle tube preamp. I've tried the Aleph 3, Blue Circle BC22 and BAT VK200 all with varying success.

I have an aleph 30 and an aleph p. It doesn't have a phono stage, so I'm no help there, but I wanted to encourage you to go for the aleph amp- it's awesome!

Aleph 3 with Audible Illusions L1 flat out sings.

Gunbei: You have hit right on it. I would probably like a tube power amp like a cary or a rogue, but, with that I have read about the Aleph, it seems that you can get a lot of the same thing with a little less up front and a lot less in the long-run. Anyway, the Rogue 66 pre has an output impedence of 650 Ohms. How does that sound?

I have been using ss integrated amps for the last few years, and I have decided to try tubes. I figured that the easiest way to do it might be the ol' ss power/tube pre method.

Also, I'm kinda drawn to quirky designs, so the Aleph looks attractive. I think that it's great that Mr. Pass had the temerity to build a low power ss amp in the age of mega-watt boat anchors. I like products with passionate attitudes behind them. Of course, I realize that the Pass X series amps are awesome, but you gotta pay really, really big bucks for those! Anyway, I greatly appreciate your very helpful comments.