Mr Pastern... get the soldering iron out

[DavidU (Dave)]

Originally Posted by glenluceskies

So sad valve technology is almost extinct, except for the niche markets, such as guiter amps.

True, this is what I do.

[dpastern (Dave Pastern)]

Thermionic valves have a lot going for them as a rule - if the amp is built right and has even harmonic distortions, it's generally a bit warmish, but smooth, mellow, without any of the harshness or sharpness that plagues all but the best designed transistor amps (example, Krells, Mark Levinson, mostly running in pure class A mode). Cheaper valve amps seem to have odd hd and are sharper, more like transistors in some respects. Some say valve amps have a chubby bottom end (bass) and a overly warm and rounded top end - none of the valve amps that I've heard have ever exhibited this. The best sounding amps I've heard have all been valve. The nearest thing to it was a pair of Mark Levinson No 31 monobloc amps. mmm yummy.

Old isn't necessarily bad. People quite often make that mistake.

Dave

[DavidU (Dave)]

The making of valves in Sydney
http://www.retrovox.com.au/amv1052.html

[GrahamL]

Thanks Dave that interesting stuff , I'll show my son whos made a couple of amps.

[Starkler (Geoff)]

Reminds me of when I was a kid scavenging parts from discarded tv sets and building valve radios. They always sounded better than any transistor radio of the day.