Oh I almost forgot!!!!
The VAC Renaissance 30/30. I had an original and an Mark II at the same time. That cement my complete disdain toward Kevin Hayers and VAC.
Well, the VAC Renaissance 30/30 blown me away when it worked, but rarely it works right. Ground loop and hum abound. Can’t get rid of it. VAC blamed the tubes, my home circuit, my ears, my intelligence. But I had the Lamm L1 and M1.1 at the same time.... not a hint of ground loop and hum!
The 30/30 Mk II was a beautiful dixie clock ... no matter what tubes I put in, the tubes went on their fire dance ritual. The same tubes didn’t behave like that on the original.
Both are auto-bias. No control in that kind of deal. My plan to bi-amp using two 30/30 blown up in my face. Lost crap load of money to sell them as-is (the money I lost in the sale was still less than the cost to ship them one-way to VAC’s Florida shop, nuff said). Absolutely hated them.
(both VACs were working fine when the seller demo them with all WE300B tubes... which obviously not included in the sale... 8 x WE 300B tubes.... you do the math... I had no choice but sell them and disclose the caveats ...)
In general, due to the questionable QA consistency and wild derivation from the Western Electric 300B tube spec, I’d stay away from any 300B amp that uses auto-bias. The only 300B tubes (outside of WE 300B) I’d use would be from Sophia and Psvane (I love Vaic 300B+ blue bottles too, but they are impossible to find)
