I’m coming in late on this thread, having read the Op’s message on the digest. I hope bigkidz sees this, since it’s a bit closer to what happened in his life.
My friend Dave lived in PA very close to the Mason-Dixon Line. An eclectic dude, one of his interests in life was music, including playing trumpet in a local band in the mid-sixties. During that period, still in high school, he built both the Dynaco PAS pre-amp and Stereo 70 amp kits. A few years later, we all danced in front of them in the early 70’s.
Fast forward to half a dozen years back. Advanced prostate cancer and fast weakening of his body. The Dynaco stuff sat on a shelf in his house, not having been powered on for 30 years. He had a “better” setup in the room, decent 2010’s mainline items. While helping to care for him at intervals, I convinced him to let me see if I could if I could get this important part of our earlier lives functioning again. I wanted most of all for him to hear the tunes close to the way we heard them in our twenties.
I sent the Dynaco items to Joe Curcio “The Dynaco Doctor “, out in Washington state. Joe made them better than they were in the first place. However, I wasn’t quick enough. My friend Dave died before he could hear the sublime 60’s tube sound available to anyone with a soldering iron, the ability to follow directions, and the willingness to try something they’d never done.
I miss my friend, but I can still connect the Dynaco pair from time to time. They still sound great, and every track has just a little more feeling, if you know what I mean.