I have been running tube gear for more than twenty years and never had a single tube go bad. The tubes in my current linestage were of unknown age and usage before they went into my unit which I have owned for more than 15 years. The amp I’ve had even longer and it too had old tubes installed when I got them. My phonostage, which has tubes and a separate power supply, suffered the only “failure” I’ve ever had—a shelf fell on the power supply wiping out the twin 300B’s that served as rectifiers; this happened a couple of weeks ago.
Solid State Preamp to replace tube unit
I currently own a CJ tube preamp. Ive always owned tube preamps and I would like to get my first solid state preamp.I am fed up with buying expensive hard to find tubes that last 3 months or new production tubes with that not so great sound. I pine for consistency. I probably wont sell my CJ I'll just keep it. My power amps are NAD M23 for the summer and CJ Premiere 12's for the winter.
Since I dont dabble in the solid state world I am not sure what to get. I figure since this is my first SS unit 4-5k preowned??. Some brands I have considered CODA< Pass, AYRE, Classe, Bel Canto, Krell etc. Note: I have tried the Parasound and Benchmark but they didnt do it for me. I dont like anayltical sterile sound. If it is a touch warm/colored that is probably good as I am coming from a very warm CJ tube unit.
Must haves are a remote with balance control. Multiple outputs (XLR and RCA). I have an outboard phono pre. Thank you for reading and for your suggestions.
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- 130 posts total
- 130 posts total