Vintage vs. New Tube Amps

The scott is a very musical piece and offers an excellent built in phono and headphone. But the newer Conradjohnson amps sound better but require an additional phono and headphone seperates

hi,

I have both a new Cary SLI-80 and a rebuilt EICO hf-81.

if you are favoring the vintage route then you are best off getting a rebuilt amp. There are a number of vendors that specialize in selling rebuilt old amps or rebuilding onw that you own.

see here

http://www.nosvalves.com/sale.htm

http://www.hotglassaudio.com/home.htm

Being a vintage collector, vintage amps( RCV, etc) are certainly worth it. Tuners/Receivers are particularly great in vint gear. Just get someone knowledgable to either restore , update or mod it. No brainer considering the cost of new. Then you can consider a refurbished vint "NEW"! Good luck- I love those tone controls!!

you didn't mention your budget. the dynaco ST-70 is good - in the mids especially - and is easily worked on if necessary. you can find them just about any day of the week, frequently for cheap. you can then get a more modern tube pre (like an early Audible Illusions) for a few hundred, getting yourself a nice tube pre/power for under a grand

you can find integrateds (Scott, Fisher) for a lot less than that but if you don't know a friendly and cheap tech who can work on these things, they might end up costing you a ton in repairs. that being said, the old integrateds can sound great - and you even get to play with "filters" and bass/treble controls (so un-audiophile!)

Thanks very much for all of your responses. Another concern I have is about tube biasing. The output tubes in the Scott require biasing. Is this something your average Joe, meaning a person without technical ability, can easily do?