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Reliability of tubes/ Belles 150A vs Jolida 801A?

I'm nearly at the end of my upgrade quest. I'd pretty much decided to buy a Belles 150A Hotrod and Soloist preamp but my dealer is now suggesting I consider the Jolida 801A integrated instead to mate with Opera Consonance 120 linear cd player and Silverline 17.5 monitors.I've owned numerous tube guitar amps in the past and while I loved the sound, I haven't loved dragging them into the shop at regular intervals for maintainence. Are tubed audio amps pretty much trouble-free or do they share guitar amps high-maintanence needs? Thanks!
stuartk
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mofimadness's avatar
mofimadness
4,996 posts
 
I just sold my Belles 150A HotRod and REALLY miss it! It just wouldn't drive my Martin Logan CLSIIAs. It's a WONDERFUL sounding amp! One of the best that I have ever tried and that list is VERY LONG.
stuartk OP
2,977 posts
 
Thanks for your helpful responses, Tvad and Mofimadness. If the maintanence is not an issue with tubes, I might as well go ahead and listen to both units and see how my ears respond.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
By all means listen and let your ears decide.
But as to the question concerning reliability, if you followed the threads in this forum and used them as a reference, the answer is that tube amps are less reliable. There are consistently more questions concerning problems with faulty tube amps than with ss amps. I haven't actually kept track so it's only my impression.
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