I am considering changing around my system and I am interested in knowing what (tube) preamps would be a good match to Pass Amps. Any suggestions? Less than $3000 would be nice new or used.
I agree with Pdreher. I use the Calypso with NOS tubes also, with my Pass Lab XA 30.5, works very well. I'm sure there are many preamps what would also work very well.
I have loved the hybrid tube kW linestage from Musical Fidelity with the Pass and FirstWatt gear I have paired it with. Check out the great Michael Fremer review in Stereophile. There are other nice reviews of this around the web too.
You got to be very careful. Input impedance of most Pass Lab amps is realtively low so most tube preamps will have poor match with them.
I can recommend therefore Joule-Electra LA-150 Mk2 used (but latest generation) or new or demo, call them. This preamp has two outputs: one with realtively high impedance and another with relatively low impedance so you can match it with all power amps.
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