Vintage vs. New Tube Amps

Thanks to everyone for your responses. Since I have a better idea about what vintage gear is available, it would be great if people could suggest some new gear, a tube integrated with a maximum cost of $1000 used.

I hear good things about the Cayin TA-30, Prima Luna, Pathos, etc.? What do you folks think?

I was a Scott collector at one time and had almost the whole range, was just short a few pieces. I was also into vintage for a long time. I have come to the conclusion for my ears that most (not all) vintage pieces are just not up to snuff with the stuff around today. (Vintage meaning Scott, Eico, etc, not ARC, CJ which I still beleive some (not all) of the older pieces are still up there in sound quality). I say that, but it all depends on the sound you are looking for and what you will listen too. In stock form, I didnt like most vintage amps. I had a famed Marantz 8b and it didnt really do it for my, I liked a rebuilt (new caps only) Dynaco ST70 and ST35 much better. Dont flame me, just my preference to my ears. I used to hate 6550 amps as bright or missing magic. But I now have Cary SLM200 which use 6550 and they are awesome.
This is my opinion, with the price of some used modern equipment costing equal or less to some vintage pieces, modern is the way to go.
Good luck with your decision.

Thanks very much for all of your responses. Another concern I have is about tube biasing. The output tubes in the Scott require biasing. Is this something your average Joe, meaning a person without technical ability, can easily do?

you didn't mention your budget. the dynaco ST-70 is good - in the mids especially - and is easily worked on if necessary. you can find them just about any day of the week, frequently for cheap. you can then get a more modern tube pre (like an early Audible Illusions) for a few hundred, getting yourself a nice tube pre/power for under a grand

you can find integrateds (Scott, Fisher) for a lot less than that but if you don't know a friendly and cheap tech who can work on these things, they might end up costing you a ton in repairs. that being said, the old integrateds can sound great - and you even get to play with "filters" and bass/treble controls (so un-audiophile!)

The scott is a very musical piece and offers an excellent built in phono and headphone. But the newer Conradjohnson amps sound better but require an additional phono and headphone seperates

Being a vintage collector, vintage amps( RCV, etc) are certainly worth it. Tuners/Receivers are particularly great in vint gear. Just get someone knowledgable to either restore , update or mod it. No brainer considering the cost of new. Then you can consider a refurbished vint "NEW"! Good luck- I love those tone controls!!

hi,

I have both a new Cary SLI-80 and a rebuilt EICO hf-81.

if you are favoring the vintage route then you are best off getting a rebuilt amp. There are a number of vendors that specialize in selling rebuilt old amps or rebuilding onw that you own.

see here

http://www.nosvalves.com/sale.htm

http://www.hotglassaudio.com/home.htm

There is surprisingly little being said. Most of the vintage amps are now 40 years old and really need a total overhaul if you are intending to use it full time. They also relied mainly on EL 84 output tubes. Unless your a serious collector then you enter another domain 6l6s, 300b, and vintage EL 34 amps are lengendary and very costly. There are so many good modern production relatively inexpensive tube amps with few of the reliability problems that its really a no brainer. I happened to have both. The modern amp will cost you something a really good one will cost you a lot. I use a Consonance M 100 plus for a modern EL34 40wpc intgrated which has a remote. The sound of a vintage EL 84 amp is quite distinctively sweet and pretty but I wouldn't use one for daily consumption. Consonance is but one name you can find around the distributor is the Audiogon dealer Quest for Sound, (good guy) He carries a less expensive competitor Sound quest which is his personal brand. Other house brands are Prima luna which I have not heard personally out in California, TAD another Audiogon constant etc.These are all Chinese and mostly point to point wired they cost about 3 times what a relatively raw mass production old Scott cost.