Anyone recommend a neutral tube amp?

Hello Mrtennis, in fact I'm not expecting a perfectly neutral tube amp. Such a thing probably isn't desirable, never mind attainable. One of my purposes in going to tubes is to get some of that tube warmth. However, I'd like an amp that doesn't much alter the basic characteristics of the source components. I'd like an amp that is more quick and tight than the "traditional" tube sound.

If anyone has suggestions for an integrated, with appropriate power, that would be very welcome.

hi rfprice:

as i have indicated on this thread and in my previous comments, you should have no trouble finding a tube product in your price range which does not have the traditional tube sound. most amps are designed to be colorless. in my own pursuite of a vintage sounding tube amp in current production, i have not found one. this my loss is your gain.

pick an amp, and it will probably satisfy you. don't worry, euphonic coloration and bloom will not likely be the outcome of your selection.

I just started playing with a Music Reference RM10 MKII ($1950)which is a wonderful little amp and an incredible bargain if 35 watts is sufficient (I also listend to the RM9 which has a similar sound signature if you need more power). This is defintely in the neutral camp, and in the best sense of the word.

"Don't get a tube amp if you want neutrality..."

I have put my EAR 890 against 3 well regarded S/S amps with mostly non-audiophile people. The EAR won every time, most recently with my brother and sister-in-law who don't know the difference between a tube and transistor. After 2 hours of going back and forth they decided the tube amp was the most musical. This was hard for my brother who loved the appearance of the S/S piece. He thought the giant heat sinks were the coolest thing ever seen on a piece of electronics.

Not sure what people are saying when claiming no tube amp can provide "neutrality". Kind of like entomologists who, for decades, claimed bumblebees should not be able to fly based on scientific understanding of physics and flight. They recently discovered why but for years held bumblebee flying as a mystery. There are many tubes amps that musically soar on a regular basis.

I think you will find much fewer folks saying tubes don't soar, than folks claiming tubes are neutral. But I think Mrtennis is right that there is some convergence between SS and tubes with tubes becoming more neutral, much less obviously colored than in the past; they have always been enoyable and sometimes more obviously so than SS IMHO.