Transistor Preamp that sounds like a Tube Preamp?

Thanks, guys. My problems with tube preamps:

The tubes get noisy.

Even matched sets of same tubes can sound different.

Yes, you can vary the sound with different tubes, but you are trading different colorations along with the improvements.

More hum and ground problems than with SS by far.

All tube preamps I've tried are not very accurate devices. They sound musical, but they have gross variations from neutrality and add substantial colorations. Some of these may account for the air, echo, ringing etc., but some are just plain inaccuracies that are not always good, such as glaze, texture, exaggeration.

I found this even worse in tube amps. I've since moved on to MOSFET amp, which doesn't sound like a tube amp, but still has many of the characteristics and is much clearer, less hashy, and far less maintenance issues.

I'll look into the Rowland Capri.
I'll also read the Pritchard article.

Be sure to see Guido's updated review of the Capri and comparison to the ARC Ref 3 at Guido's Capri Review

I second the Capri, the sound is lush, liquid, fatigue free and very very musical. Very organic and it does not have the typical soild state etching. but i think you have to pair it with a slightly neutral to warm amp.

Saxo, your comment

More hum and ground problems than with SS by far.

is really not right. Hum and grounding issues have nothing to do with the preamp being tube or solid state. It has to do with other design elements, such as power supply design and how well the designer understood internal grounding technique.

It is a fact that not all tube preamps suffer the colorations you describe also. In fact my experience is the opposite- that transistor preamp are far more colored (read: bright, analytical, stilted, etc.; clearly a different type of coloration than the types that tubes **can** exhibit). From your description, I have to guess that you have been listening to older/budget tube preamps??

I concede that tube preamps do need more service, like checking the tubes every 6 months/1 year. But a good tube preamp will also give you more music and that makes the price of admission cheap by comparison.

Well, many of us think that good tube pre-amps are not superior to good SS pre-amps. I think SS gets a bad rap because bad SS tends to sound worse than bad tube equipment and at the lower end of the price scale both are pretty limited.

Dave