Budget preamp recommendations for vintage valve amps

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Hi all,

I am looking for recommendations for a budget preamp for my vintage valve amps which comprise a Quad II, Leak Stereo 20 and Radford STA25.

My only requirement is that it should have manual volume control. My fear with a digital volume control is that if there's a glitch, I may end up with 100% volume...

Thanks

Hennie

 

[sergeauckland]

You don't say what 'budget' means, but in your position, I would go for a Quad 34 or 44. One thing to bear in mind is that the Quad II has an input sensitivity of around 1.4v, the Leak only 125mV. The Radford is, I think, around 500mV. The Quad 44 has three different outputs, 0.5v, 1.6v and 5v, so would be better in your case than the 34 whch only has a single output, albeit configurable for output voltage.

The 44 has a completely analogue volume control, so no risk of it going to 100% inadvertently.

S.

 

[stadsbeplanner]

You don't say what 'budget' means, but in your position, I would go for a Quad 34 or 44. One thing to bear in mind is that the Quad II has an input sensitivity of around 1.4v, the Leak only 125mV. The Radford is, I think, around 500mV. The Quad 44 has three different outputs, 0.5v, 1.6v and 5v, so would be better in your case than the 34 whch only has a single output, albeit configurable for output voltage.

The 44 has a completely analogue volume control, so no risk of it going to 100% inadvertently.

S.

hi, thanks, yes it seems my options will be limited due to the input sensitivities of the Leak and Radford, which need a pre that reduce gain rather than increase it.

 

[sergeauckland]

hi, thanks, yes it seems my options will be limited due to the input sensitivities of the Leak and Radford, which need a pre that reduce gain rather than increase it.

One other possibility, if you don't need tone controls, is a purely passive preamp. That will work fine with the Leak and Radford, as digital sources typically output 2V. A phono stage although typically outputs a nominal 500mV, that's at 5cm/sec recorded velocity, whilst most LPs are cut at least 10dB hotter, some a fair bit over that.

With the Quad, you should still be OK with a passive, but the volume control may have to go round rather further than perhaps one is used to, but nevertheless you should still be able to load the Quad fully from all normal sources.

S.

 

[Power Pop 23]

Perhaps a passive preamp like the Schiit Sys would provide the manual volume control you seek.

Schiit Audio: Audio Products Made in USA

www.schiit.com

 

[DSJR]

One other possibility, if you don't need tone controls, is a purely passive preamp. That will work fine with the Leak and Radford, as digital sources typically output 2V. A phono stage although typically outputs a nominal 500mV, that's at 5cm/sec recorded velocity, whilst most LPs are cut at least 10dB hotter, some a fair bit over that.

With the Quad, you should still be OK with a passive, but the volume control may have to go round rather further than perhaps one is used to, but nevertheless you should still be able to load the Quad fully from all normal sources.

S.

Is slew-rate limiting at uhf a potential issue with a passive device? I agree a Sys is so cheap, it's well worth a try.

Vintage Quad gear has become something of an investment however, so a late issue 44 is now around £400 I was sad to discover as I was gazing that way myself not long ago. The 34 can have its output increased I gather and they're plentiful enough under £300, although again, I'd look for the later dark grey cosmetic models as I believe the chip updates and so on, do help the sonics a bit.

On the UK used market, one of the Croft valve preamps would be ideal and so many were sold with Leak and Quad valve power amps to very good effect. they're easily serviced by anyone who knows valve circuits but actually, they seem to live long and prosper all on their own with absolutely minimal attention and the valves last well too. Since Glenn's passing, prices have shot up though.