I haven’t heard this amp, but I’ve owned three of Aric’s other amps and was very impressed with every one. He is a class act and builds some great gear. If my current speakers were more tube friendly, I’d own one of his amps today.
Aric Audio Transcend Push Pull?
Anyone own this amp and if you do how do you like it? I am planning on getting one to add to the amp stable. I have a nice Coda SS amp so I thought I’d add a Tube amp to be able to change flavors from time to time. Aric has agreed to build it with XLR connectors so I can use my existing cables and he suggested the EL 34 tubes in it for my speakers and room situation. It will drive the top end of my Legacy Focus XD’s through the Legacy Wavelet II crossover/DSP unit. All the reviews I can find on it are old and Aric has made several improvements to it. I ordered it with stage 2 upgrades, might as well go "all in" as it will be my last major purchase. Looking for the tube warmth, bloom, soundstage layering and magic midrange tubes are so good at. Swapping amps will be easy for me because they both only weigh 45 pounds. I am 71 and ain’t what I used t be. LOL. Thank you.
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@vthokie83 You've very welcome, and definitely feel free to reach out at anytime! @ozzy62 It's good to hear from you as well, it's been a minute since we rapped motorcycles. Cheers, Aric |
Thanks everyone. @vthokie83 Appreciate your ownership experience. It’s always nice to hear from @aricaudio Aric too. I know I’m going to love it! Kinda cool having an amp built just for you. (meaning me) |
Reposting my comments from an earlier thread. Thus was a few years. My appreciation of this amp has only grown.
I bought one of Aric’s Transcend Push-Pull amps with a few upgrades--Jupiter caps, Edcor transformers, a TDK volume pot rather than the stock Alps, cherry wood base. Aric even installed amber LEDs at my request and talked me out of other upgrades that would have raised the cost but not necessarily the sound quality. He’s a good guy and a straight-shooter. The Transcend PP is really a terrific amp -- great sounding, quiet, beautiful, and extremely versatile. You can run EL34, KT88, KT120, or my preference, KT150 tubes; and you can switch between triode and ultralinear modes. This gives you power-range options between (IIRC) 35-65 watts, pure Class A. I think it sounds better than the VAC 300.1a I owned for 4 years, albeit with far less power, and has a palpable SET-like suppleness (even in UL) that is not often characteristic of push-pulltube amps, but without sacrificing top or bottom extension. For context, I also run a 2A3 SET, 300B SET, a couple of push-pull Class A/B amps, and a couple of high-grade Class A solid state amps with various speaker combinations. The Aric is less expensive than most of them but not outclassed by any. It’s a keeper. |
Thank you @wrm57 This verifies my purchase ambition. I am on the right track, this is an endgame tube amp for me. |
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