[charles28722]

I am considering adding a tube pre to my all SS system (again).  My new tube pre would be running to twin Parasound A21 amps vertically bi-amping my speakers.  The system sounds awesome now but I want to add the magic and warmth of tubes without sacrificing all that my current system is doing well.  Because I wish to remain balanced throughout the digital side, and need RCA inputs for the analogue side, ARC and BAT are on the short list with BAT being in the drivers seat.  The primary reason is that "the BAT sound" is reported to be "darker" and "warmer" than many others and may be a perfect compliment to upstream and downstream components.  Having experimented with cables recently, I know that small changes can have a huge posititive effect in terms of removing harshness and grain that I didn't even realize were there until gone.  Do you think that a BAT pre would be a positive replacement for a very nice SS pre if I want to add the warmth of tubes without muddying the sound?  I'm considering used and have been looking at VK-30, etc.

[JakeJ]

Hi Charles,

I think you are on the right track.  There are a host of tube preamps that will accomplish what you want.  Other candidates on my short list would be selected older Conrad-Johnson, Audible Illusions, VAC Vintage Williamson, Quicksilver Audio, as well as BAT.  ARC, meh, not so nice and warm.  Just my .02

JakeJ

[charles28722]

Thanks for the input, Jake.  Being unable to audition this gear, I am gathering as much intelligence as possible.  My gut feeling is that a BAT pre would have very good senergy with my other components.

Charles

[FullRangeMan]

BAT is very good gear, the power tube amps use the Circletron output topology, my personal preference tube output circuit, better than PP or Ultralinear IMO, but a bit expensive to made.

A repairman friend of mine afew years ago, was called to do some thing on a audio system that had a VK51SE and a VK75SE set, when he fully turn off the volume control of the preamp(VK51SE) the preamp fuse blow, so the owner told him the preamp volume control can not be fully turned off for avoid this fuse problem.

Anyway the BAT preamps are very good, even I preferring a more minimalist preamp, I could live happy with a BAT amp, mainly a low price used one.
Regards, Gustavo

[Big Red Machine]

Some day I will move up the BAT line, but for now my ancient VK3i and VK500 together are the most musical combo I have ever had.  Like the balanced connection and dead silence.  Very easy to influence sound through tube rolling and the ergonomics of the pre are very nice and straightforward.

ALso agree that cabling changes are revealed to their full extent and you can flavor with different alloys here.

[TONEPUB]

I'd definitely grab a BAT preamp.  They have great synergy together.  Also, you can use balanced cable, which may be a good thing if you want to get your power amp away from your preamp.

[bunky]

I have owned the VK3i and currently own a pretty minty VK30. the VK3i was the former BAT entry level tube pre offering and is very good. the VK30 replaced the VK5i in thier lineup and is a dual mono unit. the VK30 is also very good and i believe it is the more atractive of the two and has a user interface to adjust the gain and perform several other functions such as identifying inputs on the blue LED display.I may be putting the VK30 up for sale.thanks....WCW III

[borism]

I have owned my BAT VK 3ix for ~ 5 years now. Originally, I had a Classe CA 200 SS amp which was later replaced by a BAT VK 250. Both combinations of a tube pre and SS power amp were great. Now, I have gone completely "tube" with a MAC MC 275. My connections were always balanced. I can say that the BAT pre played very well with all these different power amps. So, I can't see why a BAT combination would not work for you. 

[charles28722]

Thanks everyone for the input.  I left town shortly after my OP and managed to overlook some of your replies.  BAT seems to have a pretty consistent following.  Now, if I could just find a way to demo a BAT pre...

Charles