Old Amps that can still Kick Butt


Not being a believer that time necessarily = progress, I would like to offer the following example of a sonic gem that has transcended time and can totally kick butt in a modern milieu:

The Robertson 4010. I got one of these about two years ago because it was in immaculate condition, the price was so low and I was inquisitive. I hooked it up and let it warm up for a couple of days. OMG this thing was in the super amp league: Transparency to die for, slam that you couldn‘t‘ believe for for a 50W amp.. Peter Moncrieffe wasn‘t wrong in his review of this amp: this thing is in the Sterreophile Class A component category hands down. Even after all these years.

What amps have you encountered that have defied time and can still kick butt today?


128x128pesky_wabbit
Has the OP ever had anything but older, vintage gear in his rig? What is the context of the comment in regard to performance? What amps have been directly compared to arrive at such a proud conclusion? Just curious!  :) 


This certainly has not been my experience. Starting in about 1980 when I took out my first loan to buy the then new revolutionary Pass designed Threshold 500. Then 20 years later after auditioning many amps and bought a Pass x350, which in every respect bested the Threshold (jaw droppingly so), and the switching over to an Audio Research Reference 160s. In each case the previous generation definitely could not kick butt in comparison to the new one... each generation has had much higher current... the butt kicking part). There would never be going back and a bit of nostalgia. Each generation has absolutely trounced the previous. Also, I think accounting for the time value of money, the investment I made in each amp was probably roughly the same.

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If the is a place you could feel an amp held up over time would be in a tube amp, where there was a certain sweetness (not accuracy) that was particularly appealing. Or if you are not actually appreciating better more accurate performance. Over the last fifty years solid state more closely approached the positive attributes of tube gear and tube gear more closely approached the position attributes of solid state gear, converging on best possible sound... as refinements in material science and component construction and selection will continue. I suppose the state of the art will level out at some point, but it sure has not yet.

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I guess it is great that some people feel this way. This is how I got the same price in trade in as I paid for my Pass x350 16 years earlier. I got a ridiculous amount of money back for my Threshold as well, on a sound / dollar basis.
What @atmasphere said, +1.         I would add: there have also been major improvements in the materials and manufacturing of rectifiers, resistors and capacitors, since the late Eighties.
A lot of those old amps had (now obsolete) low noise high bandwidth Toshiba and Motorola transistors which are not easily matched with today's offering. The unavailability of those parts is the main reason why amp manufacturers refuse to work on thirty year old equipment. So an argument can be made that some of the old stuff were better than today's, but not as a general statement.