Vintage Power Amp vs new age power amp

I bought a used but new(er) Dynakit ST-70 here at Audiogon,The original owner got it from tubes4hifi.com you can get them new or build them yourself.

It has the VTA driver board,with decent tubes this amp has pleased me more than the Accuphase P-300, E202 P500 (bleck!) and Forte 4a, Wyred4sound st-250, Quicksilvers and a bunch of other great amps.

I paid $600 for it and it's a keeper. I now only run vintage tube amps from the 60's and 50's, it's the sound I've always been looking for. I have a H.H Scott 222D and Eico HF 22 monoblocks that are also top self, they will have to be pried out of my cold dead hands...

I recommend you go vintage restored tube amp, like the Scott 222 or others with great reps. plus they're dam cool!

My 2 cents

I'm not a tube guy, but I happen to have an old Dynakit ST-70 in need of tubes but otherwise in great shape. I have a brand new R. Waters designed driver board and bias module I think I'll finally get around to installing. I ran across an interesting article on the net entitled "Hot-Rodding the Eico ST-70". This guy found a way to double the output without changing the transformers and without increasing distortion. This technique apparently applies to all tube amps. You've piqued my curiosity.

I just purchased a pair of Eico HF 20 rebuilds courtesy of Jim Nicholls from JWN amps, He changed the caps and resistors, upgraded the Power xformer, and put in his own cicuit and all I can say is WOW!
I would put these up against any amp out there: Set type mids and overtones, great bass and a real 3D sound which is amazing. They also have far more power than the 20 WPC listed. If you can find an inexpensive pair of these somewhere send them to Jim for the rebuild, you won't be disappointed
He also does Dynakit rebuilds and I'm sure those sound great as well

From the engineering stand point the technology of new audio componets degrades in order to deliver higher profits.
The peak of audio engineering happened in mid-70's. The peak of vacume tube audio engineering in late 50's. Techically serviced vintage equipment isn't any worse than modern at all.

I wish you had stated that in reverse. Hence the advent of the vintage enthusiast. IMO, They are actually better.