"Iain M Churches" wrote in message
...

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

Two visitors this afternoon who dragged themselves to mine (from
Nottingham, no less) to hear my Triode amp wre obviously deeply impressed
and asked me 'How did you get into valves, then?

Answer: Easy - I tried dozens of ss amps and none of them hit the mark.
The minute I swapped a Parasound 5 channel arc welder (HC1205A ??) for a
valve amp, I never looked back!

That's two kids in their 20's into valves *already* - one to get a triode
amp next week and the other sometime in the near future!


Hi Keith,

I have always been surprised by the number of people who seem to have
only a passing interest in audio,but are completely taken aback when
they hear a good valve system.

Like many in this group, I grew up with valves (my Dad had a Leak TL12)
and
later Quad II's which were passed on to me. When I went to Decca, just at
the end of the valve era, I learned to appreciate Radford STA 25 and
STA100 amplifiers

Like most of us, I followed the trend and changed to a SS amp in the 70's.
I remained brand faithful and bought a SS Radford, the ZD200 at 100Wpc
into
8 Ohms. I still have the receipt. It cost me the magnificient sum of £245
plus VAT.That was a lot of money back then!!
Luckily, I put my valve amps in the attic.
One day feeling nostalgic, I dug out the STA25, only to find that
I preferred its interpretation of the music.


What I wonder is, will 'youngsters' who are discovering valves today ever go
back to ss??

My own son used a 'loaner/gift' valve amp from me for over a year and loved
it, but he was quite happy to go back to a Technics (his 'favourite brand'
for 2 channel hifi gear) ss amp and has no further interest in valves, it
seems.... (??? :-)


A few years ago, I set up a 50W valve amp in a 24 track digital
audio post production suite where I worked, just to see what the
reaction would be. After a month, I took it away, and producers
and clients began to ask after it, so I had no choice but to take
it back there. It stayed in situ for 5 years, the service dept added
it to their list of equipment to be measured and maintained,
and the company happily paid for a new set of valves every
1000 hrs:-)

The suite was fitted out for Dolby surround to picture on digi Beta, with
LR monitoring driven by SS Amcrons, (with a bandwidth approaching the
proverbial DC to daylight, and THD 0.001% or something amazing)
These remained with their power switches in the OFF position
for those five years.


:-)


Without exception clients preferred the valve amp.
A quad of EL34's take some beating:-)


Yes, as I am in the process of discovering!

I had wondered about EL34s for quite a while - ever since I was sent a set
in error (s/h/b EL84s for the above mentioned amp) and decided to keep them
anyway. I had often read/heard that they were a bit hard/harsh/clangy and
were best suited to guitar amps. But I also kept seeing them used in
'impressive' Illustrious Names amps in the comix and had often wondered what
it was all about.

I was about to build an EL34 amp myself, when I saw the cheap Chinese/German
amps on eBay and grabbed one at about half the price of the parts. My
favourite supplier, Phil Ramsey of http://www.bluebellaudio.com/, seems to
have lost the plot a bit lately**, so I thought I'd short-circuit
proceedings and give one a go and scratch the 'chinese valve amp curiosity'
itch at the same time! :-)

(I grabbed another one to 'butcher' at a later date, in any case....)

With the Chinese power valves replaced with JJ-Teslas (important) and the
driver/splitters replaced with (allegedly) NOS Mullards (not so important, I
suspect) and fronting it up with my EAR Line Stage, this 'cheapy chinky' has
turned into a snarling monster which is spanking a pair of B&W DM2As all
over the place atm!! (Damn near as much grip as Rob's 100wpc Beard P100, I
suspect!!)

(I reckon to give Phil North a damn good scare with it sometime next week,
at any rate!! ;-)



**Mid-life crisis, I suspect....!!! :-)