Hey Peter - Your Aleph 5 has a new home in Vermont with a very happy new owner! I loved the amp...closest I've heard SS come to tubes, and had nice qualities of its own. Ultimately I prefer tubes though and went back to that at the studio. I downscaled to a pair of Quicksilver Mini-Mites which are amazing little amps! At 25wpc (push-pull) they seem to put out just as much power as the 60wpc of the Aleph5(!?). But I think the Aleph is a bit soft on power while the MM's pack quite a punch for their rating. Still, that Aleph 5 is a damn fine amp! Initially I was a bit dissappoined with the Mini Mites as the soundstage seemed rather restricted. Swapping out the Chinese 12x7 with a Sovtek 12AX7LPS was a big improvement, but then swapping that out with some Tungsram 12AX7's and those puppies really throw a wide and deep stage. Really quite wonderful. I'm told that going to KT88's improves it further still (I'm running JJ Tesla EL34's - early 90's vintage). BTW, the heat of the Aleph was no problem at all here in the Pacific NorthWet...then again it was winter and the space is pretty big. I can see how in AZ it may be a problem though! When I tried touching it running full-tilt boogie I couldn't help but think of that beginning scene in the Kung-Fu TV series where David Carradine tattoo's himself by embracing the scalding hot iron pot with raised icons! You could give yourself a similar "Class A Aleph" tattoo...kind of like a bar code! I exaggerate here folks, it's nowhere near that bad, but a funny image that came to mind! What did you end up with for your amplification Peter ....or is it still a work in progress?
