Tube Vs. SS Preamps


Oddly in +25 yrs in the hobby, I’ve never really owned a tube preamp. Can you comment on what the differences are in general sonic terms? I want a really fatigue free sound with lots of body (I run class A and class AB solid state amps).

Do you find SS preamps to be fatiguing typically, more so on average than tube ones? Or is it simply the added bloom that's appealing with tube preamps?

greg7

Showing 1 response by russbutton

I run VTA SP-13 preamp which runs an Aikido line stage.  It was intended to drive a high input impedance tube amp.  A Dynaco ST-70 had an imput impedance of 330k ohms.   But I run my preamp into a solid-state active crossover, which has an input impedance of only 10k ohms.  That was a major problem when I first got it.

I went back to the designer and told him about the input impedance I had to deal with and he immediately knew the problem and the fix.   The coupling caps on the preamp output were at .33 uf.  He sent me some 1.5 uf caps to add on, which fixed the problem.