Any SS class A experience to share?


I'm looking to upgrade from my beloved VAC Avatar SE only because I'd like tighter bass. Depth is fine, but I also want "slam". I'm thinking: Tube preamp with a Class A Solid State amp. The VAC is only 30 watts in triode mode and that is more than enough for my efficient JMLab mini utopias, so I'd rather not spend the money on power I don't need. Can anyone out there share their experience with these types of amps, especially when mated to tube preamps such as C-J, VAC, Hovland, Blue Circle, VTL, Asthetix, ...
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Though I don't feel I have personal experience with anything to recommend here, I do notice that many of the respondents seem to be focusing on the class-A request and the fact that Duddley uses tube power now to recommend 'tube-like' gear such as the Alephs, when what he's asking for is bass slam. Class-A or not, at least when it comes to the smaller models such as Duddley seems to want, I don't recall the single-ended Alephs as being noted for their slam.
There's ahuge difference between the well-known bass-shy Aleph 30w 3 and the larger ones. A 12AWG PC helps, too.
As far as bass slam with the Aleph 5; I don't know if I can comment as of yet. The Aleph 5 is a new amp for me (as of about a week ago). I've been running it thus far with the SR17 monitors which don't get down below 40mhz. I also can't comment on the Aleph 3/30 comparison that Subaruguru mentions, since I have not either of those amps. Though the SR17's have a remarkably tight low end for such small boxes, I cannot say I'd equate the effect to that classic SS bass slam that hits you in the chest (not really fair to expect that from a small monitor though). I'd be curious to hear more comments on this (Suabru?) since I've not tried the Aleph 5 with bigger speakers yet. Maybe I'll bring it home and hook it up to my La Scala's! One additional comment I can make regarding Class A, as it pertains to my Aleph 5: They most definitely sound better, and more refined as they get hotter. 1 hour minimum, but many folks leave their class-A's running 24/7 and claim they sound best that way (after a few days running). I haven't really been able to tell the difference past two hours (it sounds great at that point) to two days (sounds the same to me as two hours, as far as I can tell, though my listening has not been so deleberate to really make a really critical judgement), so I save the power and shut them down when I know I won't be listening for a while (the Aleph is in my work system, so it shuts down on weekends). If I heard this amp blind I would NEVER guess I was listening to an SS amp (I would guess tubes or hybrid).
From personal experience of pairings with the Mini Utopia:
* Spectral could be an option
* YBA Passion (stereo)
* Symphonic Line Kraft 250A (the best bass "slam")
* Plinius (the newer model -- SA100?)
HOWEVER,
1) do try auditioning; the Minis are nice speakers (IMO), musical & precise, however I never found them "lush" or forgiving and their bass wasn't designed to go down very far.
2) check for low input impedance (i.e. matching) on these power amps: for example, the Kraft's input impedance is ~10kOhm.
3) Kraft, Spectral & others are wide bandwidth, and will amplify spurious info which in turn will probably be reproduced by your focal tweet!

Good luck!
Been through a lot of SS amps and I keep coming back to those that are biased deep into class A. I've heard some very good low bias class A/B amps of recent vintage, some of which are excellent deals (like the Citation 7.1), but the class A amps all seem to share certain fundamental traits that involve me much more readily in the music(...other than acting as space heaters, which, in my basement listening room, they are quite good at):

1. A certain ease of presentation.

2. A coherent quality

3. Tactile midrange, especially with female vocals.

4. Truth of timbre

5. Dynamic agility, sneaky fast. They just seem more real with all the small dynamic, ebb and flow stuff you hear in live music. To me, this is their most arresting quality, which they retain even at low listening levels.

Amps which do it for me :

Forte 1a & 4a

Monarchy SE-100 & SM-70

Most Llano amps

Reference Line Silver Signature (my all time favorite SS amp, has all the qualities above in spades. Makes most other amps, tubes included, sound a bit mechanical).

Just my experience.