Tubeyist sounding Pre-amp?


What pre-amp has the most tubey sound?

I don't even car if it HAS tubes - I just want that sound - it can use MOSFETs for all I care.

Thx
randy-11

Showing 2 responses by larryi

The comments above illustrate how much the idea of "tubey sound" varies.  If that is suppose to mean a warm sound (upper bass, lower midrange prominence), I cannot think of too much gear that is the antithesis of this kind of sound than Audio Research, particularly pre-Reference 3 gear.  It would help to know, by comparison of what the OP has heard, a bit more about what the goals are because the different kinds of sound of tube gear is at least as vast as solid state.

In one post above, CJ, Atmasphere and Cary are listed as tube-based brands, and yet, the gear they produce sound quite dramatically different.  You cannot reasonably lump together all of the tube gear from just the Cary line alone because the sound among models is so different.  The SLP-98 linestage is very different from the SLP-05 (the former having a much warmer sound). 

Chayro, I like the sound of Viva gear.  I have a Viva fono phonostage myself.  I checked out your profile and found that you have a Trenner & Friedl speakers, a brand I like too.  We also share the same brand of turntable.  It must mean we share the same notion of "euphonic coloration."  But, that description merely means we like the sound of whatever we attach that label.  There are plenty of tube gear I would not call euphonic and many of these are the most popular brands (at least as far as internet hype).