[usp1]

Newbie to tubes here. I want to try out a relatively inexpensive tube amp to get a feel for the tube sound.

Has anyone heard a Sophia el34? I cant seem to find a whole lot about it when I google it.
How would it compare to an Anthem amp-1. I can get either one of those for about the same price. Not having heard either one I am not sure if it would be worth buying either one of these.

Thanks for any help.

[AudioSoul]

    The Sophia is made in China, The Anthem is made in Canada. I have an Anthem preamp and it sounds great and is built very good. I would think the Anthem power amp would be as well....

[Ericus Rex]

I've never heard either the Sophia or the Anthem amps, sorry.

If you're looking in the $500-600 range I'd recommend a Quicksilver GLA or a Rogue Stereo ? (I think it's Stereo 70 or 80, not sure).  You could get either in your pricerange used and both are excellent amps.  Neither are currently available on agon but worth the wait.  If you can spend a little more there's a Music Reference RM-10 on Agon with extra tubes for 1,075.  That's a fantastic amp!

Welcome to tubes!

[usp1]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have a SS pre right now that I can use until I can get a good tube pre. I was looking around the 600-700 range for the amp but if it is possible to do much better around 1K I might wait. I saw some tube monoblocks for around 1k. And there was TAD 60 on agon as well. (The Byzbee website is a bit scary with all the hype but reviews on the TAD though few seem uniformly good)

[AudioSoul]

   Some people prefer a SS pre with a tube amp. I would'nt count out a SS pre till you heard them together first. Unless of course the SS pre is of low quality........

[usp1]

The SS pre is the emotiva usp-1. My only complaint about it is that mated with the rest of my equipment - emotiva xpa-2, music hall mmf-2 cdp and swan d2.1se speakers there is pronounced sibilance.

[Pez]

Shameless self promotion time aa Check this bad boy out aa

[hmen]

I bought a used Sophia EL34 on ebay. It was very poorly made and I would not recommend it to anybody. I think you should seriously consider Pez's offer. I don't think you can do much better in that price range.

[woodsyi]

I still have my Sophia EL 34 amp.  I have been meaning to try my soldering skills on it but I never have enough time.   Everything is in working order but I got way too many other stuff to ever play with it.  It actually sounded pretty good with Mullard fx2 power tubes and Telefunken drivers -- the tubes are worth more than the amp.    I will offer AC discount if you want to try it. 

[usp1]

Woodsyi, I would be worried about being able to resell it if the sophia  is such a poorly thought of amp. Of course all depends on how much of an AC discount there is...

[Pez]

Sophia = $600 + shipping for what, 28 measly watts? If you're coming from Solid state you are going to have a rude awakening with that puny amount of power. 

Radii = $650 shipped 76 watts of push pull power. Do it... aa