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Topic: best power amp to use with a tube preamp |
A. B. Traynor
From:
4th Street& Royal ave New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
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Posted 1 Jan 2006 6:43 pm |
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| Is is best to use a solid state power amp with a tube preamp, or is it best to use an all tube power amp with a tube preamp? |
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Dan Tyack
From:
Olympia, WA USA
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Posted 1 Jan 2006 7:49 pm
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It's really a matter of taste. In my personal experience, the best sounding power amps I have used are (in order of sound quality):
VHT 2-90-2 (tube power amp with 4 KT88 tubes at 90 watts a side). HUGE bottom end, beefy, unbelievably loud and clean.
VHT 2-50-2 (tube power amp with 4 EL34 tubs at 50 watts a side). Less clean than the above VHT amp, but with a cool Marshall vibe. Great for playing rock and roll, less good for clean country.
MossValve 500 (transistor amp with something like 250 watts a side)
Stewart world 1.2 (transistor amp with about 600 watts per side).
The VHT amps are heavy and do require typical tube maintenence. They sound killer, especially in a loud playing environment.
The MossValve sounds very good, but is not in the same league as the VHT. It's almost as heavy.
The Stewart (or other lightweight transistor amps) sounds fine, and is WAY lighter (maybe 10 pounds versus 50). It will reproduce the sound of your tube preamp. But it doesn't add the kick in the rear that the tube power amps do.
Sorry to be so unscientific, but as I said, it's up to the ears of the beholder.
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www.tyack.com
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Jack Stoner
From:
Kansas City, MO
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Posted 2 Jan 2006 3:10 am
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Dan has it pretty much nailed. It's up to you and what you want. But, use an amp that is designed for musical instrument amplification, not one that is designed for P.A. applications.
I have a MosValve 500 power amp and won't part with it. I've tried several lighter amps including a Carvin model (same as Bill Stafford is using) and a Peavey DPC-1000 amp and they are great amps but don't come close to the MosValve 500 for instrument amplificaton.
The old ADA amps weren't bad either but the company is out of business and parts are basically non-existant (The power supply has some proprietary components including the transformer and if it goes the only option is to find another ADA amp that has a good power supply). The ADA 100 and 200 (total stereo watts) have a 12AX7 tube in the input (preamp) circuit and solid state power amp section. |
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Bill Crook
From:
Goodlettsville, TN , Spending my kid's inheritance
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Posted 2 Jan 2006 6:21 am
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I can understand why ADA went sneakers-up !!
I (at one time) owned a ADA tube pre-amp and wrote then requesting a service manual for it. I was more than willin' to pay for the schematics and such.
They emailed me back saying that I was too dumb (exact wording) to understand the insides of the device, (Not knowing that I have a BS degree in Applied Electronics) and must send it back to them for service. At a charge of $150.00 to service the unit, I feel that I could replace a 12AX7 tube myself.
No wonder they went out of business, with that attitude......
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http://home.comcast.net/~crookwf/
http://photobucket.com/albums/v479/billcrook/
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Erv Niehaus
From:
Litchfield, MN, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2006 7:27 am
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There are a couple of tube amps that I might recommend.
Peavey has tube model, the Classic Series 50/50 that is in quite high demand and Tube Works has a Model TR 4250. Both of these amps are two channel.
Erv |
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Jim Sliff
From:
Lawndale California, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2006 7:40 am
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The best examples of this type of setup are bass rigs, which happen to work REALLY well for steel.
Almost all of them use a tube preamp (Alembics are popular choices) along with QSC, Crest or other power amps, which are usually solid-state and anywhere from 500-1500 watts. Bass, like traditional steel, needs tons of clean headroom hence the high wattage.
FWIW one of my favorite amps for clean steel is an old SWR head that uses tubes in the preamp section and has a solid-state power amp. My son's 500-watt Eden Bass amp also makes a great steel amp.
As for me, I play through a Vibrroverb, Pro Reverb or Twin Reverb (or even a tweed Deluxe - 15 watts of tonal heaven)....but I play old Fenders and am looking for some mild distortion and warmth in my tone rather than the squeaky-clean Nashville sound.. |
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