To me , reggae , never sounded better on my tube amps. The voices and music become much more lifelike. On well recorded material, you can make a real emotional connection to the recorded material. When i first heard that i never went back to my SS NAD amp or the big Marantz . The tube amp that did it for me, actually a receiver, was the Fisher 500C. But since you are in England, Rogers, Phillips, Williamson, and i don't even know who the other vintage brands are, but that they are excellent sounding. Keep an eye out for something like that too.My budget would be £400 to £500, so what options might I have. I listen to quite a bit of reggae though and sometimes classic rock so like a tight deep bass. I have been reading that bass is not so good with tubes, please correct me!
£400- £500Whats your budget? Yaqin makes some good stuff, but so do a lot of other China factories. Cayin, Opera/Consanance, Line Magnetic, Audio Space, the list is long.
The bass isn't quite as tight, but it's not flabby on a good valve amp. But, there are massive other gains with valve amps. And things start getting special with a valve phono preamp.
I am selling my Quad SS gear at the moment and there seems to be a healthy demand for it here in the UK. You would have a bigger budget if you parted with it.
A basic choice is between amps that use EL84 valves (like the Leak Stereo 20) or bigger ones (6L6, 5881, EL34 etc), that is between 10-12W per channel with EL84s or 20-30W with bigger ones.
Another consideration is whether you need to buy new, or whether you are able to do some basic maintenance yourself.
For used gear, check the for sale sections in the hifi mags (Hifi News and Hifi World) and the ads from dealers.
Better still contact hifi works in Cornwall. http://www.hifiworks.co.uk/. I've just looked at their site and there is/was a Scott 299 going for £350. That is a classic with a big following on AK. It would probably need some work, but there is lots of love for Scotts here. Or there's a Trio W24, serviced for £300. No affiliation.
Yes it would seem that way. Thats why I was looking at the chinese stuff as you can sometimes get more bang for your buck (or pound)Leak and Quad tubes would be above OP's budget, but Rogers a possibility. Tube gear is less plentiful and more expensive in the UK than the US.
I have The Quad 34 and 306
I feel the same way, once you hear music through sweet tubes its hard to not hear how most solid state gear sounds dry and clinical. I do find tubes lack more in the deep bass unless you have enough power and a large output transformer. I've wanted a fisher 400 for years but enjoy building amps too much to dish out 6 or 700 for used these days.To me , reggae , never sounded better on my tube amps. The voices and music become much more lifelike. On well recorded material, you can make a real emotional connection to the recorded material. When i first heard that i never went back to my SS NAD amp or the big Marantz . The tube amp that did it for me, actually a receiver, was the Fisher 500C. But since you are in England, Rogers, Phillips, Williamson, and i don't even know who the other vintage brands are, but that they are excellent sounding. Keep an eye out for something like that too.
I seldom feel the need to roll tubes, but vintage tube gear does need to be restored before regular use.Getting into tubes is a lot of fun but it's also a can of worms too. Tube rolling will become part of your vocabulary and tubes units tend to be temperamental and might need to be worked on.
True dat! Kinda like old cars, furniture, second wife.I seldom feel the need to roll tubes, but vintage tube gear does need to be restored before regular use.
I would say some of the newer chi-fi amps - I have just bought one of these and am keen to try it out. Lots of good reviews for this here on AK (including from mjw21a above):
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/AIQ.../1644878382.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.ZDyLFp
Another consideration is that your Quad gear probably isnt sounding as good as it once did, as it could benefit from a recap IMO.
I seldom feel the need to roll tubes, but vintage tube gear does need to be restored before regular use