SuperBAF Cheap Tube Amp Guide ~$1200 or less

I've got an earlier Glenn otl. Tube rolling is limitless but don't think it's worth the suttle differences. Got two sets I stick with. Gained enormous respect for the 650's after hearing them on this amp. Amazing how they excel. Would love to hear a tiii someday

 

Very true. My OTL does not even use 6SN7 as drivers and most of Glenn's other OTL's do or can do.

 

Any opinions on the Torp 1? The torp 3 gets good praise around here, but not much people mention the torp 1...

 

Yes, the possible customization is limited only by one's imagination, budget and yes, feasibility.

That said, the base Glenn OTL is $700, with one 5-volt rectifier, one 6SN7 socket and two 6AS7 output tubes. The transformer can provide 5 amps of heater current to the rectifier and up to 11 amps to the driver and output tubes. This allows one to roll a pair of 6336, 6528 or a quad of 6AS7 to better handle low-Z cans.

In my GOTL, I chose customizations to allow for more tube rolling only, such as 12 and 25 volt drivers as well as a pair of C3g, and thus, they have no effect on the basic sonic signature of the amp. But unfortunately, I am pretty isolated here in fly-over country, and haven't had a chance to compare it to any of the other amps in this list. Even so, for only $700, I suggest that it may well be worth looking into.

 

I'm guessing that @Marvey measured the MicroZotl 2 with the stock power supply, given the date of the measurements posts. I've owned the MZ2 for a couple of months now, (bought the loaner from the tour) and I really like it with the upgraded LPS. Some of the comments about it's deficiencies are somewhat inconsistent with my experience with it so I'm wondering how much of an improvement the LPS makes with the measurements and sound. I'm at a disadvantage of never hearing the amp with the stock power supply, and I honestly have never heard a headphone amp in that ~$1500 price range so I'm not a good one to judge how good of an amp the MZ2/LPS is if someone pays retail vs. something else in that price range. I was previously using a Lyr 2, which I really liked. The jump in musical satisfaction between those two amps was significant. But that's not really a fair comparison either.

I run my MZ2 with Fostex TH-X00 and stock HD-650s and I think they both sound great. I haven't messed with any tube rolling yet and haven't had much of an urge to. My only quibble about the MZ2 is that sometimes a little more power when using HD-650s would be nice but that's only an issue on a few softer recordings and after hitting the Pale Ale to excess.

 

Regarding the MZ2, what I found was that my Sigma-11 LPS smoothed out most of the harshness that existed with the stock SMPS but that it didn't solve the steely treble timbre, lack of bass detail/definition and such. Even after excessive tube experimentation and LPS, I couldn't get over its shortcomings. E.g. acoustic guitars just never sounded right. The T3 that I built to replace the MZ2 at work is superior, and cheaper.

 

speaking of vali 2, has anyone tried combining the vali 2 with jotunheim? the combo would still amount to a "cheap" amp. is that dumb? maybe it's dumb.

 

Thanks for the info. I never noticed the steely treble, but I haven't been listening to a lot of acoustic guitar lately. I do hear a little lack of bass definition, but it was considerably better in that respect than the Lyr 2. I thought about a T3 many times but Marv made me an offer I couldn't resist on the MZ2 loaner. The next amp upgrade for me won't be for a while, but when I do it I'll probably jump up to another tier of amp like something from DNA or EC. Right now I like how stuff sounds and the itch to upgrade has subsided for a while.

 

I think there has been another MZ2 --> T3 convert recently: @nephilim

 

Thanks for the clarification. I haven't heard a Vali 2 but used to own an original Vali and liked it a lot. When I upgraded that and moved to a Lyr 2 it was more of a side grade to get mo' power.

 

True!

REDACTED (by @ultrabike. Please see information below by @MuppetFace).

 

Sorry - too little thinking before posting.

 

Has anybody got any real life experience with Aikido amps? I've only heard one as a pre-amp and it was pretty meh.

 

Has anyone heard the MP 301-MK3 seems to have been or a while and the price point is pretty sweet!


http://www.musicalparadise.ca/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=54

 

Does anyone have an idea how the Bottlehead Mainline compares to the rest of the TOTL amps mentioned here? I've not seen much talk about it here. I thought I saw some threads about it on Changstar, but the site is down.