Vacuum Tube Home Amps
 

Anyone run a Vacuum Tube Amp?

Like it?

Suggest it?

nope, cant help there steve

I've heard that they have a very warm sound.

I have varied musical interests I need a versatile, powerful amplifier.

i used to be a audiphile and i would say the solid state amps are more reliable and can sound as good,depends what your using,cd or record player..but for my guitar amp its tube all the way!

Well i have a record collection from my days as a DJ. Some of the old Disco stuff sounds amazing on vinyl. I recently sold my Technic's decks to another GFYer but I'm tempted to pick one up for at home.

Tubes may be less reliable... if you buy garbage.

Stick to old skewl Mullards and keep it biased cold and the tubes last forever.

Only problem is the carbon composite resistors that most use. Don't skimp on parts. Use good resistors and you'll sound good for a long long time.

I have an old preamp laoded with mullards. Over 20 years old. sounds wicked.

Thanks that's the kind of info I was looking for. I only buy quality even if i pay a bit more, quality lasts.

Tubes are the way to go. They can be expensive. I have seen a couple kits, that are surprisingly good. I run an old school Luxman receiver, not a tube amp yet. My bro has a Scott tube, it's awesome.

Go all out, get a couple of McIntosh blocks!

McInstosh all the way!!!

I've got an old Dynakit my dad built in the '60s that I use for playing records. Still sounds smooth. Only 35 watts. You can pick them and their parts up on Ebay pretty cheap.

I have a 1979 vintage Realistic receiver.Tandy (Radio Shack) was venturing into audiophile quality and this was priced aggressively (CAN$799 then) and it was receiving very good reviews.

After 26 years, I have not had any problem with it, except a slider that covers some of the buttons has fallen off. Just cosmetic.

As already posted, the sound is best described as warmer. Or richer. Especially when playing vinyle. I have a Dual 606 turntable that I purchased at the same time, and has only needed a capacitor replaced.

I don't expect that these engineering marvels will last forever, but I hope they serve me well for quite a few years yet!

And as for speakers, I bought a pair of Boston Accoustic A200's back in 1979 as well. They lasted 21 years. I replaced them with BA's again. Won't settle for less.

my bad, my preamp is over 30 years old.. 39 years to be exact. It's a Heath. man does it ever smooth out the mids and high while keeping the bottom end tight.

If you're planning to venture into tube territory get something really good and don't look back. Nothing will compare to it except those $50k high end high wattage monoblocks with 7 channel surround tube preamp going on.... But at that price ($400k total) I think a decent $15k setup will suit you just as fine with 35 watts per block.

Also, keep in mind that wattage is not directly proportional to volume when it comes to tube amps. A single 35 watt tube monoblock can give a 300 watt solid state stereo system a run for it's money in percieved volume.

This is especially true in guitar amps. I have an 18 watt bluesbreaker I built that can outblast a 100 watt 2x12 solid state, using just a 1x10!

SO anyways. basically, a decent pair of 30-35 watt monoblocks will do you fine

Get them serviced every so often and they will last as long as you do :) Simple cap jobs and replacing drifting resistors can bring any old amp up to like-new working condition.