Tube Preamp

Faustin

I am thinking about looking into a tube preamp. Some of the DIY amps look intersting. Anyone have any thoughts or experience with Bottlehead components?

mhardy6647

I have an old Bottlehead Seduction phono preamp, which is OK, and a very early pair of Paramour SE 2A3 monoblocks, which (given their price and simplicity and parts quality) are very, very good. I also actually have a NIB, unbuilt Bottlehead Foreplay (I) preamp... but that's another story entirely.

I also have one of the cute little $99 Quickie battery preamp kits to build -- gotta get around to that some day. We had a chance to listen to one with my "big" SE 2A3 amp (based on the JE/Angela Labs "Simple 2A3" design) at a get together last November, and it (the Quickie, that is) acquitted itself quite well, I thought. That's why I got one for myself ;-)

Doc, "Queen" Eileen and their crew are good folks. Their philosophy isn't for everyone, and their stuff isn't exactly cheap anymore (with the exception of oddities like the aforementioned Quickie) but their hearts, and ears, are largely in the right place and my experience across nearly two decades (!?!) is that their customer service is top-drawer.

Not sure if any of that helps, though.

paramours 112413 by mhardy6647, on Flickr

Faustin

Thanks for the input mrh. Was thinking about the Smash pre. The Quickie sounds intriguing but thought I would spend a bit more money on something.... $300 - $400. Other options or suggestions are welcome.

soundfreak1

In the 400.00 range youight look into the well liked DARED pre. Very nice in that price point, comes with remote as well. Dozens of threads on the cp too read.search them. Well worth looking into. What amp and speakers are you going to use??

Faustin

soundfreak1 wrote: »

In the 400.00 range youight look into the well liked DARED pre. Very nice in that price point, comes with remote as well. Dozens of threads on the cp too read.search them. Well worth looking into. What amp and speakers are you going to use??

Thanks for the input. I would use the pre with my Adcom GFA 555 and Marantz CD 5004 player. I currently have an Adcom GPT 500II pre, I run a set of SDA 1c's that are modded or modded RTA 12c's with Peerless tweets on that set up.

soundfreak1

I ran a parasound 1200 , rta12c's with the dared and it was beautiful. The polks like the dared very much. Far beter than the adcom pre.more detail less boomy, smoother highs.and you can have fun tube rolling.

Faustin

Contemplating a Dared SL-2000a with remote for $379.00. It is supposedly a demo unit with approx 20 hours on it. Any thoughts on price? Is there any way to determine how many hours may be on it?

soundfreak1

Thats a reasonable price. Are you getting it from dared? Hours are not important as recomend tube upgrade anyway.

Faustin

soundfreak1 wrote: »

Thats a reasonable price. Are you getting it from dared? Hours are not important as recomend tube upgrade anyway.

Not sure where it is from. Saw it on Ebay. The same seller has a couple of new ones also. Approx 50 miles from where I live. May be an audio shop?? He is advertising a new unit for $469.

Faustin

Ended up purchasing the Dared SL-2000a yesterday. Was going to get the demo unit for $379 but for whatever reason it was not working properly, so he sold me a new in the box unit for the same price. Listened a little last night and I am liking it. Now I suppose I will start the "tube" journey. Looking for thoughts on different tubes to replace the ones that came with the unit. Some of the nos tubes sound interesting but not sure if some are considered better than others. I was reading an article that was talking up the 12AT7 RCA black plate from back in the day. Also, what is the burn in period for tubes? Is it the same 200 - 300 hours like the caps on a crossover rebuild. Let the opinions roll.

tonyb

Send H9 a PM, the man knows that pre inside and out and which tubes work well.

soundfreak1

tonyb wrote: »

Send H9 a PM, the man knows that pre inside and out and which tubes work well.

Ditto! I went to nos RCA'S to Seimens nos to Telefunkin matched nos. Lots of choices.

dhart86

I definately recommend the Brimar rectifier tube or mullard. When I had the this pre amp I also used RCA and Psvane 12at7 tubes
I really liked the Brimar/psvane combo

soundfreak1

+1 on the brimmer type rectifier.

Faustin

Thanks for the input. Seems like the Brimar rectifier is getting harder to find. Ben doing some searching for any rectifier and the pickings are slim and expensive.