On my trip to the Orient recently, I had the opportunity to visit a few of tube amp makes from solo custom builders to manufacturers. It was interesting to say the least.
Below is the most interesting working prototype near final production unit I saw. This one allowed:
a. The selection of three types of tubes. The maker wanted one tube amp to allow a large varieties of tone that comes from a large variety of tubes.
b. Specific impedance for headphone matching.
c. Switch between ultralinear and 'standard' which I assume to mean triode mode.
The flexibility seem pretty remarkable.
I got to test it out although there's no conclusion as to the tonal quality on my part since it was with speakers I did not know and an environment I was unfamiliar with. That and the fact that I'm a tube newbie. I visited with the designer a couple of times since he was close by. We spent a fair bit of time talking about how they may want to market this unit in the USA so it will be interesting to see what they do. He reassured me that he believe that the headphone output is superior to many headphone amps due to the impedance matching. Also, he states that the ability to switch tube types does not negatively affect the tone as he had multiple circuits down stream from the switch depending on the tube. Not sure if that's possible.
Here's my question for you pros: Has anyone done something like this before?
As to who the maker is, feel free to posit a guess. I'll post in a week if there's interest.
UL
