BAT vs. Quicksilver

If you have a new home, a larger listening room and you are a little short on funds, I think the last thing you want to do is to go around switching amps.

The question is do you like the BAT? If you do, the logical thing to do is to sit tight, not "push" the BAT too hard--I never had that problem--and wait unitl you are ready to buy a second BAT. You are not going to get any tube amp that has twice the power of the BAT and sounds as good for less money. You're gonna have to pay more, probably much more or settle for inferior sound.

In the long run, you'll be happier and save money by waiting until you're ready to change your system.

"Wanting is more satisfying than having." Mr. Spoc.

I agree with Albertporter about the BATs. Great design, and great sound I might add, but you are stuck with 6C33C-B tubes (me too). And they run so darn hot in the BATs you may think your house is on fire. But you know that. What you may not know is that the 6C33C-B sockets may have to be replaced once in a while partly because of the heat.

On the positive side, the BAT sound is not such a bad thing to be stuck with. It's a bit dark but you can tweak it with the two 6SN7 input tubes. You can have lots of fun with Sylvania, Tung-Sol, RCA, CBS NOS for not too much money (except for the Mullards). Even the inexpensive Electro-Harmonix with gold pins don't sound bad either.

One huge advantage of the Russian 6SN7 and the 6C33C-B tubes is that they can be bought inexpensively (from Europe) if you do not care to match them--BAT says it's not necessary thanks to the auto-biasing circuitry. For three hundred dollars, you can have two new sets of 6C33C-B plus two new sets of 6SN7 Sovtek which should last you for quite a while. If you're afaraid the single source of 6C33C-B may dry up, you can buy 100 (!) of them at about $8-10 each. Your BAT will turn to dust first before you run out of tubes. If you insist on matching the 6C33C-B, they cost about $160 for a matched set of four or $300 from BAT.

Converting the BAT VK-60 from stereo to mono is a snap. There is a kit (4 wires and a jumper cable) that BAT sells for $50 which you should have had already if your amp was converted from mono to stereo before. You open the back of the amp (Torx wrench T10), stick the jumper in (there is only one place it can go) and solder the 4 wire across the LR outputs and you're done!

Check carefully. With a new tube amp comes new a sound--that's a good thing--and a new set of problems--not such a good thing. Get the whole story for each amp before buying, not just the pros but also the cons.

Good luck.

PS: Two BATs are better than one, or was it two heads?