Richard
Your basic knowledge of thermionics is better than you think, by the sound of it. It is fairly easy to keep noise out of a good circuit because with a good power supply, the juice is so well regulated, no noise creeps in, in the first place. This is one of the nice things about Singlepower: they are designed AROUND the Octal tube, using a Jumbo power supply. Mikhail will provide pre amp capabilities for about a hun.
JLM
Once again, in response to your queries, I point out that I am not advocating anything here. I am sharing an experience. I am not changing "the rules" and suggesting that More=Less. What I am doing is weighing in with some experience on the matter of tube sound, and the fact that many people like the T sound using pre amps, and the fact that unfortunately the vogue au courant in pre amps is in the use of these miniature Triodes which only give a hint of what good tube sound can do, that they add abit of pixie dust around the transients and edges in the upper register, perhaps enhance "image," -which doesnt mean shit to any musicians out there, as a type of disqualifier.
I just feel it is unfortunate that many people get a tube introduction through a sort of diluted, suggested sound. The Octal tube, does things to the T sound along the lines of 1+1=7, in my experience.
An Albert pre amp is one made by Albert, who has a shop in Vancouver, and is well known for making extraordinary tube electronics whose sound is completely out of wack with its pricetag. I suggested the smallest model to Richard two years ago, exactly because it was very adaptable, and because it used full size tubes for a full size sound, and I had noticed that Albert made some outstanding single ended designs, using Octal and other full size tubes for input. These were more traditional designs, and that Albert must have been around awhile, to be inclined this way. Are tubes necessary, of course not. Not with the Vinnie T amps. Just like butter on lobster is unnecessary.
Qualifier: I spent abit more than a week recently using every minute of free time to visit with kids adjusting to wrecked bodies, burned faces, some Biblebelters now completely strung out on clinical opiates... the stuff you dont hear about or see on Fox News, so the addition of tubes here is unnecessary in the extreme.
