Switching to solid state amp?


I have had tube amps for the past 20+ years and have totally enjoyed their sound in my system.  I am thinking of trying a solid state amp.  Pass Labs comes to mind but would be open to anyone who made the switch, was happy and what brand worked for you.  Btw I will still be using a tube preamp.  Who has been happy with the switch?

bobheinatz

Showing 3 responses by atmasphere

Ralph the amps are about 15 years old. These are George Wright Sugnature amps. Very nice when they work.
George (may he rest in peace) was pretty competent and there should be no reason to think that the amps can't be refurbished properly. If you really want them to work right over time, I would consider having the filter capacitors in the power supplies replaced. While they are not really so old now to be a problem, in five years they will be.

If these amps have made it 15 years already they really should be able to do that again if properly maintained, which really should only be about the tubes once the power supplies are sorted.
Ralph I had my current amps worked on recently and one of them came back dead. So not reliable. I will need to replace.
'Dead' is usually something simple! If the amp was just serviced and was dead upon arrival, it could also be something simple from shipping. If I were you, if these amps have given you reliable service in the past, I would simply get the amp fixed. If you sell them and one isn't running, you're going to take a beating on it anyway.

How old are the amps?
@bobheinatz , what sort of problems are you having with your current amps? Do you think they can't be fixed so they'll hold up?