Conrad Johnson vs Van Alst


Van Alstibe get valve 400 vs Conrad Johnson 2275

im looking at used amps and was wondering if any of you could give your opinion on these two amplifiers. Just curious about how you feel they sound, the quality, things like that. I can get both for similar money and the Fet Valve is more powerful but my speakers are super sensitive so that’s not an issue really. I know nothing about Conrad Johnston. Never net a distributor or seen them on display anywhere…

bear1971
I had a Conrad Johnson MF2550 power amp and found it dull on top and slow sounding. It didn’t seem to be a good match for my system, so I sold it after a year of ownership. The person who bought it sent me a nice letter thanking me for selling it to him. He went on to say it was the best sounding amp he ever heard.

I am still perplexed as I know how it sounded at home. It was mated to a Rogue RP5 tube preamp, Esoteric SACD player and GE Triton Refs speakers. Just food for thought.
I think that both would be a good choice but i can say they are for two very different systems you could not go wrong with either one in the right system but i can say that the conrad johnson amp would most likely be the more forgiving amp of the two and the van alstine would be the more accurate/revealing if that helps.
AVA for SS. The new SS Mono Blocks he is about to or just has released for $4k are said to fantastic. CJ is about tube sound.

Since I don't know what you're driving I should just shut up.
it is true that the op has not mentioned what speakers he is driving... that may influence his choice, but the two models he mentions are of similar rated power

the ava will certainly play and sound a touch sharper and more incisive than the cj amp... cj’s sensibilities are for a more rounded, dimensional sound (given that firm's tube gear heritage), and thus some transparency, speed and detail is traded for those qualities deemed attractive ... the early cj ss amps using mosfets were infamous for their ’mosfet mist’ - where the sound was softened and somewhat ’cloudy’ if you follow my drift... but over time c-j, like arc, has moved to a more neutral sound in successive iterations of their gear