HELP ... Need Advice/Recommendations on Tube Amp
Manual biasing should not be a big deal when you are looking to purchase a tube amp. I have Quicksilver amps and in the ten years that I’ve owned them I only had to bias them is when I replaced the tubes. You might take a look at Quicksilver they are point to point wired and built like tanks! http://quicksilveraudio.com/amplifiers/ |
Be aware, the Rogue Stereo 100 is really a 50w or 55w amp in Triode mode which is how you are likely to prefer listening to it. The 100wpc is in Ultralinear mode where you will get tighter bass but lose a lot of the detail and nuance that make tube amps so special. It is still a wonderful sounding amp but want to make you aware of what you are getting. I have read some great reviews of the Carver but haven't heard it. |
I use a PrimaLuna Dialogue integrated. PL also makes a stand alone amp. I couldn't be more satisfied and am "thrilled" at the tone, body and dimensionality I'm experiencing. In my many decades as caring about good audio I'd owned several tubed amps and went SS when I got tired on manual biasing, monitoring tube life, system hum etc. What I have now has made owning a tube rig a no brainer. There is virtually none of the issues I had experienced in the past. BTW, I owned a VK-5i pre-amp at one time running into a SS VK 500 amp. Good luck in your search. I'm never going back to solid state again. |
I would highly suggest looking at the BAT VK55 used its in the same price range and its a really nice amp. It will match up nice with your preamp. Im interested in the new carver as well, heard it at the local store, going to bring it home and try it one of these days. I think they are hitting a nice price point with the new carver amp. |
Jolida power amps are easy to bias and simply giant killers at their price point. Before joining the "Single Ended Amp Slave to Efficient Speakers" cult I used a Jolida 502p for years and it sounded great, and was far less expensive than any other similarly equipped amp out there. I think they've improved them recently (model 3502p?) with "actual" balanced inputs and a switch to allow many differing tube types beyond the 6550s, KT88s, KT120s and 150s I used in the thing. |
Be aware, the Rogue Stereo 100 is really a 50w or 55w amp in Triode mode which is how you are likely to prefer listening to it. The 100wpc is in Ultralinear mode where you will get tighter bass but lose a lot of the detail and nuance that make tube amps so special. It is still a wonderful sounding amp but want to make you aware of what you are getting. I have Rogue M-180 monoblocks and much prefer the sound in Ultralinear mode. Here's a quote from the Stereophile review of the M-180s. I agree with their assessment of the differences. "Early on in my listening, I did a great deal of comparing the Rogues' triode and ultralinear modes. Given my love of single-ended solid-state amps, I was sure I'd prefer triode mode. Wrong. Though triode sounded a bit more relaxed, its lack of power was very obvious in my system. Triode mode also seemed to cast over the music what I heard as a slight veil or scrim, whereas ultralinear mode played to the M-180s' strengths of immediacy and in-the-room image palpability. After those early experiments, I pretty much left the Rogues in ultralinear mode." Perhaps with some gear triode mode would sound better? I haven't heard the Stereo 100, so don't know if the voicing is the same, but would assume that results will be similar. |
