Suggestion for a valve amp (£200 budget)

[Thea-masta]

Im looking into buying my first valve amp, i've done some research on them and know the "pros/cons". Is there any personal advice people could give me about them? And what decent/half decent amp i could get within my budget?

Thanks.

[Hdale85]

What are the reasons you want a valve amp over a solid state?

[Thea-masta]

Good question. The main reason being that my 1986 solid state amp is slowwwly dieing, and i have never owned a valve amp in my life, so id like a change from the norm just so i have a comparison for future reference.
I also hear they can handle distortion alot better?
They also handle power surges better if im correct, the reason being is that the electrics in my house are god damn awfull.

[Hdale85]

Well, tube amps can be much more finicky about speakers. Also a good tube amp is no where near your price range.

[Thea-masta]

hmm..whats there issues with speakers? And what is a "good" tube amp, the same sort of characteristics as a solid state?

[Hdale85]

good meaning a well made design and well built, they aren't cheap.

There isn't an issue really they can just be really picky about what speakers you attach to them. A lot of them won't do anything under 8ohm speakers.

[Johnloudb]

Like Dougie says, tube amps do like an easy load to drive (6-8 ohms), with reasonable sensitivity, 88dB+. I've noticed the Prima Luna Prologue Series amps and integrated amps get good reviews and are reasonably priced, for tube amps. Prologue 4 is $1400, but for $300 dollars more you can get the 5.

http://www.upscaleaudio.com/ProLogue-Series_c_96.html

But, best to listen to it before you buy. If you have to order one make sure you can get a 30 day trial. You may find you don't like tube amps or that they don't work in your system.

John

[Hdale85]

Yes the Prima Luna's are probably some of the best I've got a friend that has some.

[mjb]

The problem with valve amps is NOT speakers, or finicky loads, the problem is your price range. Increase it by a factor of ten, and maybe you'll find something worth testing. If you can build your own, kits are much cheaper. With standard (relatively insensitive) speakers, you'll be looking at a push-pull design with KT-88 or 6550, possibly EL34. Anything more exotic like a single ended 300B or 2A3 is going to need better than 90db speakers.

http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/paramount/paramount.htm

http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/tubes.htm

http://www.ampdesign.de/

[Hdale85]

Not sure his budget even really fits into DIY.

[Thea-masta]

Thanks for the advice, ill think ill just save up some more money.
Johnloudb - Ill look into these and see what i can come up with.

mjb - theres alott of scientific numbers and letters in there that i dont quite understand..but ill look into DIY kits and see what i find.

Cheers for the help guys.

[Hdale85]

If you're not experienced at building electronic kits I don't think I'd mess with a tube kit. They run higher voltages generally then other electronic devices and could kill you.

[Johnloudb]

The problem with valve amps is NOT speakers, or finicky loads, the problem is your price range.

The distortion goes way up with increased load, and high powered valves amps like the VTL cost a fortune. The Prima Luna starts out at 35 watts.

[Thea-masta]

Dougie085 - Im a qualified Electrical-engineer and Mechanical engineer

[Hdale85]

Really........and how old are you? I was under the impression you were young.

[Thea-masta]

19 end of september is that young?

[Hdale85]

Hard to believe you're a qualified electrical engineer and mechanical engineer at 18 years of age. In fact nearly impossible to believe. What I stated was a serious suggestion, I've been building electronics and what not for about 10 years and even I would have to be really careful building a tube amp. It's extremely high voltage and even worse high current.

[Thea-masta]

Im not messing with you..i started college in my last year of school and did that for 3 years got a national diploma in engineering in the first year and a BTEC and 2 city & guilds in electrical engineering in the last 2 years, (youve got to remember im in the UK schools work a little differently over here, No offence meant or anything.. But yeah i've worked with circuit boards for about 2 years now, just not amplifiers. I'll have to take your advice on how hard it is.

[Hdale85]

It's not that it's hard, just can be quite dangerous.