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Showing 1 of 25 conversations about:
ReadWryt
67
Oct 21, 2020
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These tubes want 120 Volts at the plate and grid. How they derive that from 12 V @ 1 A is anybody's guess. This is what they call a Starved Plate design, and it doesn't really employ the tubes as anything but a cheesy trick. Whenever you see something purporting to be a "tube preamp", look for the hefty transformer needed to make a real tube pre work, that's your first tip off. This is less preamp and more of an Audio Effects device, but at $45...if it makes your material sound better to you, what does any of that matter in the long run?
bluesman
17
Oct 23, 2020
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ReadWrytHere is an real world example of what this does. This video shows a similar pre-amp and what it does in real-time to the frequency response curves compared to a speakers baseline response as you turn the base and treble contols. https://youtu.be/PD8s3BGTvgA?t=367
Peccavi101
23
Oct 23, 2020
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ReadWrytAren't almost all of these smaller tube headphone amp/pre-amp units the same in that respect ? Is it your worry that the tubes are basically superfluous (peacocking?) and the sound effects could be accomplished without them ? I'm honestly curious as I've been having a back and forth in my own head about getting one of these.....
ReadWryt
67
Oct 23, 2020
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Peccavi101No, there are real tube preamps/amplifiers out there, a good example being the DARKVOICE 336SE https://drop.com/buy/dark-voice-366se.
Peccavi101
23
Oct 24, 2020
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ReadWrytYes, thank you, and I have seen that one and others like it and the power supply is obvious on some, but what I was wondering, and excuse my ignorance, for as an audiophile (long absent from that as my hobby/work) I had not spent much time exploring tube pre-amps, but though that perhaps some smaller units might be using an outboard PS (??), PLUS, of course there's quite a price difference.
ReadWryt
67
Oct 25, 2020
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bluesmanThis demonstrates nothing that cannot be done with a quality solid state preamp though. Again, personal sound tastes aside, the tubes here are merely a gimick. Starved plate systems really don't do what a real, fully powered tube preamp does.
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