Jeff Rowland amp owners: What's your pre-amp??


Hello everyone,
I'm looking into purchasing a pre-amp for my Rowland amp, and just wonder what pre-amp you are using for your rowland amps?
ch5588
Thanks a lot for all the replies. As for the input inpendance match, I believe my 302 amp is either 32k or 40k ohm. Does it mean that most of the modern preamps (tube or SS) should be able to match the 302??

Thanks
Yes, 32K or 40K settings should be more than enough in most cases.

While these are just general guidlines, try to avoid a match between an amp and preamp where the preamp has 1/10th or less output impedence compared to the amp's input impedence. For example, some tube pre's have an average output impedence of 1,400 Ohms or so. Using the one-to-ten ratio, you would thus not want to pair it with an amp having an input impedence of less than 14,000 Ohms (many solid-state models do).

There will be either factors you need to check for, like appropriate preamp gain to get desirable levels of volume from a given amp, and amp sensitivity, which is the flip side of the preamp gain preoccupation. In general, you want to avoid amps with unusually high sensitivity, as most preamps will make them go very loud with only a few clicks on the volume control, thereby giving you only large gradations in loudness from soft to loud. Of course, you want to be wary of preamps with really high output (the CAT amps), as they for their part can drive a moderately efficient amp into clipping with juts a few turns of the volume control, the same lack of play in the volume control being the issue.
Model 8 with original choke power supply, which IMHO sounds better than later non-choke units and a CAT SL1 Signature with NOS GE tubes. Seems like a pretty good marriage.
Just noticed that some pre-amps are "DC coupled", such as the EC-4.7 from electrocompaniet . What's the advantages and disadvantages of using the DC coupled pre? Is there any concern of using this type of pre's with rowland gears?

Thanks Raquel for your detailed explanation on impedance matching, it really helped me a lot.

Thanks Daveyf for the recommendation on CAT pre.
With 'only' 5 years delay I rediscovered this thread.. . I am using a JRDG Model 312 stereo amp. I have driven it with the following fully balanced pres, in ascending order of preference. . . from lowest to highest:

ARC Ref 3.
JRDG Capri.
JRDG Criterion.

312 has same input impedance of approx 40K Ohms as older 302. None of the pres I used exhibited impedance mismatch issues. But Capri and Criterion, with balanced output impedances of 80 and 60 Ohms respectively, yield IMO most preferrable results. G.