Power Cord; upgrade vs tweak


I have a no-name tube amplifier in my bedroom for music listening(it is black, has 4 tubes, rated at 30 watts and actually has no name on it that I can find). I bought this amp at a garage sale and all the info I get from it is written on the case. A friend of mine guesses that amp brand new was probably about 400 dollars, if that much.

It has an unremovable, molded power cord. I have never tried power cords before and I thought it would be a good test to see exactly what a after-market power cord can do.

My question is; would it be better to upgrade to a better amp with a removable power cord or tweak the amp I have and get a removeable power IEC setup?

When can someone tell when to choose an upgrade over a tweak? Is it just money?
matchstikman

Showing 1 response by sean

IEC connectors are actually a drawback in terms of the quality of connection. Quite honestly, i think they suck but we are kind of stuck with them. They were added to audio components strictly as a way to bypass specific UL safety tests. The fact that one can change cords now is strictly a benefit that the original manufacturer that came up with the IEC idea never thought about.

Having said that, i would find a good cord that you like and solder it directly into the amp. If you can provide some vital statistics about the amp ( type and brand of each tube, etc... ), i'm sure that one of the "bottleheads" can point you in the right direction as to what cord should work well. Sean
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