Tube Sound With Equalization?

I recommend, from personal ongoing experience, the Jolida Foz SSX soundstage expander. It does three things, and I found the sonic costs are not too great relative to the gifts. It has a tube buffer, and that allows you to tube roll to get the best fit. It has the soundstage expander, which does as it suggests - using a knob to dial in the degree of effect. And most useful (to me) is a bass control, which I use as a “thickening agent,” to boost the bass, upper bass, and even the lower midrange. I found that I could take an underpowered solid state amp and make it perfectly acceptable by playing with this device. It also works with good amps. Worth trying.

David

I've heard the Jolida expander at shows and enjoyed what it does in the analog domain without causing damage.   At a much higher price point the Manley Massive Passive can make your system sound pretty much however you want it across four parallel bands.   There is a bit of a learning curve, and as Manley says in its manual, as much art as science. 

I do want to point out that Mc has a particular sound quality, it's not really about tubes.  If you liked a Mc demo in the way you are describing it may be hard to find another brand which performs the same way.   For instance, listen to a modern AR integrated and I think you'll find that sound more laid back and less detailed by comparison.

Space tech lab makes many different tube buffers, there is even one with a builtin super rectifier. I don’t own a space tech lab buffer, but I do own a preamp, dac, hybrid amp and super rectifier. The tube preamp made my big Krell amp I also own sound much better than the solid state preamps I tried. Then I added a super rectifier and the detail was better the soundstage was much better and the decay was spectacular.

Hello All, Thanks for all the replies. What about inserting one of those BSG QOL boxes. They go for about $500 used once in a while. Would that give some openness and air to the sound?