When were the best tube amps made?

Would be really interested to hear from an engineer and tube amp builder today who has seen and heard many generations of amps. What makes a tube amp good? More dynamics, more bass, balance, all of the above etc….Have parts improved over time? I hope mine is the best!!

I fixed up an ST70 and a PAS 5 many years ago. Just replaced all the resistors and caps. I thought it was bass-heavy in my system, but the midrange and highs were great. For the PAS, I replaced all resistors and caps and bypassed all the tone control stuff. I am a HUGE Decware fan. Had a couple of their small entry level amps, and now have a Torii - 20WPC - EL34 based amp. I love all their stuff. Also have one of their phono preamps for a hi output cartridge, and I built an 8" full range open baffle using their cabinet design. The 'AH HA' moment for me was when I replaced my SS pre-amp with the PAS5? PAS3? I forget - and I could not believe the musicality that came out of my system. That was my conversion to tubes.

NOW most definitely unless you like flabby Bass response and such. And Yes Kt-150’s or KT120’s If the amps been built for it like a CJ Art etc. There’s zero comparison imho from the newer designs vs the older stuff from most manufacturers especially CJ and VTL (I have had several of their earlier versions including Ichibans and 450’s etc) and would not trade any of them in exchange for my current S200 signature as sounds incredible & with no fuss whatsoever. I love vintage gear like old motorcycles to look 👀 at period. “Nuff said” 

But do they sound better. I’ve ridden old Harley’s and recently owned a new Road King Special. There is no comparison that the new is a better bike, which doesn’t even come close to my BMW 1250GS. I like vintage stuff too but it doesn’t mean it’s better. Any engineers? How about shop owners who have 20+ years of experience? Any thoughts?

Hi @larryi ,

What kind of power supply capacitors did Western Electric use in 59A amplifier? I'm not sure it was already the mass production of electrolytic capacitor then. So probably they used oil capacitors with paper and foil. This capacitors in PS sound much better than any kind of electrolytic including BG and AN Kaisai.I tried Soviet KBG-MN capacitors made with the similar technology. They really sound magical.