Rare find Blowtorch Audio Preamp


Went to one of my local dealers today to buy some used records and on the used audio shelf was a Blowtorch Audio Preamp in excellent condition. This was built by 3 people back around 1997 by John Curl, Carl Thompson and Bob Crump. John designed the circuit and power supply. Carl Thompson created the optimal board and Bob Crump selected the parts. The Preamp and power supply were housed in billets os Aero-Space grade aluminum. Some build features include teflon insulated silver wire. A fully symmetrical circuit. Gold plated circuit boards. Toshiba NOS Jefets and Hitachi NOS Mosfets. It's all hand soldered w/silver solder.. It has 2 separate volume controls and a phase reversal switch. John Curl called this preamp his finest effort. New in 1997 it was $20,000. The production number on the unit was 0004. Dopey me I forgot to ask the price. Very impressive and rare.
luxmancl38
I called them yesterday and they confirmed the price was 10K. For those that heard it how does it compare to some of the higher priced preamps on the market.
Almost bought one a few years ago for 7k but after listening to it (in a friends system) did not impress, yes it was good but not great IMHO.
Uh, your friend’s system must have had some problems, I’ve heard the Blowtorch on really good systems for the duration of two CES. That’s what, six days? 🤗
Same general family. Extremely low noise, very high channel separation and realistic sounding.