poor man's tube pre-amp

rahimiv · « **on:** 18 Oct 2005, 06:19 pm »

I found this product made by CoolerMaster (they make cooling products for desktop/laptop computers)

Its called the Musketeer III and its apprantly some kind of a panel that smooths out the harsh digital sound from a sound card with a small vacuum tube. It was reported that the music from the computer sounded better with this thing. I dont have alot of money for tube pre-amps as most seem to cost no less than 1000, I was wondering if I could use this thing as a poor man's tube pre-amp?

heres a review of this thing...
http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/20051013/index.html

byteme · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 06:35 pm »

Hmm...doesn't look like it'd be worth the effort to me.

"You can hear the needle topping out during loud passages"

"Volume control is a cheap plastic slider that after a short time started makign squeeking noises"

If I were you and were looking for inexpensive tubed pre - I'd start looking around for a Philly Audio Blues 7b or 7a. Point to point wiring, decent quality components, great sound and very inexpensive. Plenty of good quality NOS tubes around for it and it looks great too!

beatdownvictim · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 07:07 pm »

If i were you i'd get one from http://www.space-tech-lab.com/
this guy's stuff looks absolutely fantastic and is hand made point to point. no fancy boxes, but hell his stuff is packed to the gills with quality. A lot of people have had success with his stuff. I think it'd be best to buy his stuff because he's another small guy out there that makes high quality tube equipment. You'd be doing yourself a disservice by not trying this stuff out. don't worry about resale, you wont want to sell the damn thing. Yes he's local, and yes i've met him, he's a nice guy, but compare his work to commercial stuff and you'll know it's the real deal.

ehider · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 07:10 pm »

Per your quote:

"I dont have alot of money for tube pre-amps as most seem to cost no less than 1000"....

Hmmm.... what about the Dodd Audio $450 pre-amp? If I recall correctly, it is based on an improved varient of the infamous Melos design that cost over $2,000 and the Dodd is even better sounding! For $450, I just can't think of a better entry level tube pre-amp offering. All of Dodd's product offerings are anything but "entry level" in performance regardless of how inexpensive they may be priced.

toobluvr · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 07:34 pm »

If you are interested in line stage only, another one to look at for well below $1k is JuicyMusic Merlin.

http://www.juicymusicaudio.com/juicymusic.html

While I don't have direct experience with this actual unit, if it is anything like my Blueberry Extreme, it is worthy of consideration. Excellent build quality, and superb customer support.

I notice your analog setup uses separate phono section.
For line + MM, you can get the Blueberry or BB Xtreme for under 2k.
Another $500 will get you the Cream MC option.
The BB will give you the tube magic you seek, and still offer good drive and transparency.

You can probably get this for close to breakeven by selling off your current line + phono section + i/c.

TheChairGuy · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 07:57 pm »

My personal experience with the Dynaco PAS-4 has been quite good...they are available for $350.00 used oftentimes and have a (very nice) Phono section.

It's about a 10 year old model, but it has individual buffers for each channel - making it far more dynamic (and quiet) than other pre's in it's price range. It was engineered by John Nunez of MFA for the new Dynaco (Panor) corp in the mid-90's.

Works just fine with splendid and plentiful new Sovtek 6922's (line) and 6922 and 12AX7's (Phono)

Good luck on your quest

I'm not much of a tube guy until I recently paired it with a Tripath-based amp....it worked to the extent that I no longer perceive negatives associated previously with tube pre-amplification.

ohenry · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 07:58 pm »

If you want something cheap and good for the bucks, look for a used Antique Sound Labs AQ2004DT for a couple hundred or this newer model for ~$350:

http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=ASLWL1&product_name=Wave%20Line-Stage%20Vacuum%20Tube%20Preamplifier

I have the AQ2004DT in a kitchen system and it's not bad at all and looks nice (and tiny).

marvda1 · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 09:33 pm »

www.tweekgeek.com has the dodd entry level pre on sale for $389 now.
not affiliated with them but i do own this preamp.

marvin

ehider · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 09:53 pm »

Holy Crap

That Dodd pre-amp for $389 is such a deal that I've sent the link to six of my buddies! I may even get one for my small system in my computer room. That's one heck of a deal IMHO

byteme · « **Reply #9 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 10:18 pm »

I, too, have heard very good things about Dodd gear. And that's a pretty sweet price for that unit!

Rocket · « **Reply #10 on:** 18 Oct 2005, 11:45 pm »

Hi,

Did Dodd audio fix the hum issues in their entry level preamp? I read at AC there were problems with it.

Regards

Rod

TommyC · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Oct 2005, 12:22 am »

Quote from: Rocket

Hi,

Did Dodd audio fix the hum issues in their entry level preamp? I read at AC there were problems with it.

Regards

Rod

This is what prevented me from buying one. Has anyone heard if it has been addressed

Parnelli777 · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Oct 2005, 12:59 am »

Can't speak from personal experience, but how about the Wright WLA12A? The price is right ($880.00) for an all octal, 6SN7 based preamp. Handmade in Kent, WA. I'm tempted myself on this one.

http://www.wright-sound.com/specs/1

tigzstudio · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Oct 2005, 01:35 am »

somewhere i read a post by dodd himself stating that the humm in these amps were fixed quite a bit ago.... I will try to find the post....

tigzstudio · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Oct 2005, 01:36 am »

http://www.excellentaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31523

i think it may have been from these forums, they talk about it a lot as the dodd ELP.

im still looking....

maxwalrath · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 Oct 2005, 03:45 am »

huh...cheap and tweekgeek takes credit. wonder how a dodd entry sounds relative to an EE minimax? might have to think about that....

Danny Richie · « **Reply #16 on:** 20 Oct 2005, 06:23 pm »

Quote

Did Dodd audio fix the hum issues in their entry level preamp? I read at AC there were problems with it.

I believe it was a grounding issue present in the very first units. That was corrected long ago.

Afterward Gary brought 13 of those units to my house to try them in my system.

On his system they were all dead quite after correcting the problem.

On my system all 13 units (yep we tried them all) were also dead quite.

The sale on them from Tweekgeek makes them a no brianer. This is actually a high end pre-amp that is just stripped down of fancy features.

Quote

wonder how a dodd entry sounds relative to an EE minimax?

I have heard them both but not A/Bed them. My bet though would be on the Dodd unit.