Dehavilland Ultra Verve Opinions ??

This is a preamp I'm very curious about myself. I just received an eXemplar Exception II which I'm very happy with, but the way the UltraVerve was designed to sound fits in with my taste.

When I asked about deHavilland preamps in another thread, I received e-mails from two different members with opposite views of the UltraVerve. I imagine they may have very different priorities as well, but still it's interesting and helpful to weigh their experiences against each other. Hopefully, they'll see this thread.

I believe this pre is wonderful. See my review.

I look forward to comparing it to other pres, especially octal based, like the Cary SLP98 and the Supratek Syrah. I have an audio friend near by who has the Syrah and I hope to do a head to head comparison soon.

Cheers

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?rprea&1100468953&read&3&4&

I have owned my DeHavilland UltraVerve preamp for about 5 mos. now. I think it's great! It has ended a two year quest for the ultimate preamp that pleases my ears, and meshes seamlessly within my system.

Just like anything else, system synergy and listening preferences play huge rolls. Feed the UV the right 6SN7 tube and cabling and you will be rewarded.

In a few words, the UV helps portray a huge dimensional soundstage, excels with natural tonality, has awesome midrange, PRAT and dynamics, decent extension at the extremes, and most importantly, it is so darn MUSICAL and involving! Oh, btw, it is also very quiet.

I’ve had my Ultraverve for a week now, and fully agree with the above comments. I’ve owned a few tube preamps in the past, specifically a SF Line 3 & 1, and AI L1 and M3A. The UV jumps past the AI and Line 1 pres, and is more the equal of the Line 3. The difference being that the UV is more naturally full bodied and musical than the Line 3 without being overly ripe, rolled at the extremes, or lacking detail or transparency.

The simplicity of the UV is also appealing. The 5AW4 rectifier tube and 6AH4 cathode follower tubes are cheap relatively speaking, and NOS tubes are not in high demand. One 6SN7 serves both channels, so no need to buy expensively matched pairs. The tubes are driven very conservatively and should last a long time. The exposed 6SN7 makes experimentation easy.

My UV has the optional remote volume. If your amp is relatively sensitive, the volume range can be limited and make fine adjustments a little more difficult.

My system - RA Opus 21 > UV > CJ Premier 140 > VSA VR-4 GEN III SE, RSA Poiema cabling.

I can't comment on the Ultra Verve but from what I have read it is a sonic improvement over the Verve preamp which I own. The Verve preamp produces excellent sonics to my ears. I bought a 2 year old Dehavilland Verve preamp for half of retail price in May 2004 from the original owner right here on Audiogon. Ted, the original owner had the faceplate goldplated at a plating shop & had an oversized volume knob & source selector knob machined at a a machine shop. The knobs were also goldplated. Muey bonita-very pretty in my opinion. Reminds me of the gold metal flake paint of Pontiac Trans Ams of the 70's. Ted was leaving
tubes and going back to solid state-Mcintosh gear.

I paired the Verve preamp with a Llano Phoenix CAS 300/VA2 mosfet/tube hybrid amp-Class A-2 gain stage, no negative feedback, separate enclosures
for CAS 300 current section-mosfet output & VA2
tube voltage section-6SN7,6SL7,12SN7 tubes. The
Verve replaced a solid state Mcintosh C 38 preamp
and blew the Mac preamp away. Sonics were vastly better to my ears.

Ted, the owner of the Verve preamp also had 2 year old Aries monoblock amps(25 watts x 2) for sale at the same time. The faceplates were also goldplated at a plating shop. No one was seriously interested in his amps on Audiogon. When he lowered the price to $1800 for several hours 1 day, I sent Ted an email telling him I wanted to buy them. Ted responded that he was taking a bath selling them that cheap. He had a guy local-San Francisco area that was interested in them and wanted to audition the amps and told me he would rather sell local than shipping the 57 lb each monoblock amps. The guy auditioned the amps & decided he did not want them. Ted then wanted to compare the Aries amps to some solid state amps before making a final decision to sell the amps. He asked if I would be patient and understand until he made a decision. I would be given the first shot at buying the amps and if I
did not want them, no problem. Would relist them on Audiogon. Ted decided to sell the amps. My patience paid off, waited a little over a month and bought the amps for $2000. $6000+ amps new retail-has the optional oak side panels & optional Cardas binding posts plus the dinero it cost to have the amps goldplated. Ted even sent the amps to me before I paid him. What a guy. The Dehavilland combo is my numero uno favorita system with my 1983 Klipsh Cornwalls.

Other previous Audiogon purchases-factory assembled Welborne Labs Moondog 2A3 SET monoblock amps with ultimate parts upgrade-Blackgates,
Jensen PIO caps etc. & factory assembled Welborne Labs Reveille 6SN7 tube preamp with 1977 Klipsch Cornwalls with new upgraded crossovers-new transformers-Auricaps instead of the motor run PIO caps that Klipsch used-major sonic improvement over the stock Klipsch crossovers to my ears & others at the Klipsch Forum. Llano Phoenix with Mcintosh C 38 ss preamp and a pair of immaculate 1989 Klipsch La Scalas I bought local 1 month ago. Have run the La Scalas with the Welborne system & the Llano/Mac system. Will try the La Scalas with the Dehavilland system in the near future. This South Texas gringo likes
Klipsch Heritage speakers & tubes-con mucho gusto. And I love Audiogon-buying other guys high quality castoffs at very good prices.

Regards, Mike