SET sound without a lot of money

Erfranke,

As I understand your request, you are not looking for a replacement amp, but, something that can be used once in a while to mix things up. What would be helpful is an idea of what you are currently going to keep as the primary amp.

There is a WIDE range of sonic offerings when it comes to SET amps. For my taste, the BEST of SET sound comes from those low powered directly heated tubes (e.g., 34, 2a3 and 300b), and less so for the higher power offerings. Some listeners also prefer single tube SETs to those with parallel output tubes (I own, and like, a parallel 2a3 SET amp). These kinds of amps limit, to some degree, the kinds of speakers that can be matched to the amp. I have heard very nice sound from low-powered SETs used with some not very efficient speakers so it is possible for you to use such amps in a small room as long as volume level is kept reasonable. The most difficult kind of music to get to satisfying levels with these amps will be large-scale symphonic music and large-scale choral works.

Some of the higher powered SET amps that use tubes like the 211 and 845 are more versatile, though I don't think they quite deliver the same kind of immersed-in-sound experience of the smaller SET tubes. These amps must have a robust build because of the high voltages involved and so I would actually be a bit leery of "cheap" amps. Even with low-powered SETs, cheap probably means compromises on the output transformer which is hard to do right with SET amps.

When it comes to speakers and setups that demand more power than a directly heated low-power SET can provide, I would suggest looking into OTL amps. These deliver the kind of immediacy, and "jump" that few other kinds of amps will deliver. Joule and Atmasphere make really nice OTL amps.

Erfranke,

Thank you for bringing the Tube Audio Lab site to my attention. It appears that the various designs are based heavily on old topologies and clones of specific designs, like the Western Electric amps.

My only concern would be, the extent to which the designer/builder actually listens critically and has made design and parts choices based on such auditions. There appears to be a lot of mix and match alternatives when it comes to the specific parts. I know that part choice is EXTREMELY important, and there is no such thing as a "best" or "better" part--it depends on application and personal taste.

I've heard amps where the "upgrade" consisted of replacement of cheap capacitors and resistors with much more expensive, and supposedly better, parts, such as Blackgate capacitors and Vishay resistors. The result of using price/popularity as the guide, instead of auditioning the results, were horrible; the designer chose those "cheap" parts for a reason.

If you go this route, it would pay to have a long discussion with the designer/builder about what he actually knows about specific choices. He does offer a terrific range of parts (when used correctly), and there is potential to make fantastic gear with the likes of Hashimoto or Audionote transformers, etc. But, there is also the potential to make extremely expensive disappointment too.