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To Tube or not to Tube......

For quite some time now I've been thinking about switching from a solid state to a tube power amp. My Threshold T-100 has been real good to me and I do like it, but it's really the only "high-end" amp I've ever owned, so it's all I know. I'm intrigued by the "warm" sound of tubes and do have a tubed phono amp and CD player, but I am by no means well-versed in the sound of tube power amps having never really auditioned one. I know that goes against the prevailing wisdom and I should listen before I buy, but I don't think I will have the luxury of doing that.

That being said, I've gone through about 20 pages of this forum reading about the benefits and detriments of tubed power amps but nothing I've read has swayed me either way. The posts I've read have been informative re: bias issues, reliability, blowing fuses or whatever else might blow up or go wrong with the tubs, etc. So, if I were to go the tube route, I would not want deal with too much of that hassle. At lease I know that the amp I have doesn't have any such issues. That's why I was leaning toward amps like BAT with their auto biasing (I also need balanced inputs), and would want at least 60-100 wpc. I would be willing to deal with adjusting bias so long as it was a relatively simple process.

I figured I would pose my main question to the exerts here (and this I did learn for this forum): given what I already have in my system, what tube amp would be a good match for me? My pre-amp is a SS Threshold, JM Lab speakers with a "minimum impedance of 4 Ohms," EAR 834P phono stage, & Unison tube cd player.
Much appreciated.
ebuzz
mbovaird
140 posts
 
IMHO - a modestly priced tube amp can often give many of the top SS Class AB amps a run for their money. Tubes offer a tonality quality and roundness and naturalness that a lot of SS amps cannot. On the other hand, SS offers speed, dynamics, bass control and punch.

Somewhere in the middle we have Class A amps. I am very interested in hearing the new Pass XA.8 amps.

If you can afford to, it might be best to have both SS and tube amps. Get tired of one, switch to the other for a while. But this is more $$ and more real estate too.
unsound
6,115 posts
 
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=jared+of+subway&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=D896FB99C5799B611C928788090EF4B49B6FF087&selectedIndex=31
mikirob
950 posts
 
Save yourself a lot of $$$ and follow Wolf's advice; he is a wise person, as well as fellow musician, who knows the difference between SS and Tube reliability. Wolf's thoughts echo my thoughts, brothers, father, mother, and nephews, all musicians. Best of luck.
ebuzz OP
104 posts
 
I am sort of leaning toward the Jolida, but the JD1000P. I think Wolf would approve, no? Something new with warranty would be nice.
wolf_garcia
4,650 posts
 
It's critical that I approve af everything that goes on, as otherwise a critical mistake could be made. Also, I hear something about the lack of "speed, dynamics, bass control, punch" with tube amps from time to time and I simply don't get it. Unless playing something at really high levels or having a mismatch someplace I think modern tube amps have plenty of everything SS amps have...in fact a good test of tube "snappiness" is any tube guitar amp compared to any SS guitar amp...great tube guitar amps always feel more "touch sensitive" meaning "insto blasto immediato", which is from the Old Roman term for "better guitar amp." Remember, tubes and transistors are doing the same damn thing in circuits, and a properly set up tube rig will kinda kick butt, so to speak.
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