Transistor Preamp that sounds like a Tube Preamp?

C-J PF-R. I still have mine after about 15 years (used in my BR sytem)and it is the best of tubes and SS qualities. If you see one used, grab it.

Neal

Look up my post on the TRL ST225 Int amp.

Sell your amps,pre, extra power cords and IC. Buy this for $5000 and enjoy the best music you have ever heard out of an audio system.

No joke, many of us have replaced $16,000 - $100,000 set-ups
with this amazing int amp. I replaced a $16,000 set-up...

Audio Horizons preamp tube - fully loaded
Canary CA339 300B monoblock amps

My system improved greatly. Yes, greatly with the TRL.

Bill

Saxo asked:
"You probably think I'm crazy, but with all the improvements in solid state, are there any transistor preamps that have the following characteristics I hear in tubes?

1. Fully fleshed out instrumental timbre and overtones?

1. Full, alive midrange with bloom, body and dimension?

2. The airy space and separation between instruments?

3. That realness and aliveness of tubes?

4. At a retail of around $6,000 or less?"

Here's the criteria which the Jeff Rowland Design Group's Capri pre-amp meets:

1. Fully fleshed out instrumental timbre and overtones?

2. Full, alive midrange with bloom, body and dimension, if it's in the recording?

3. The airy space and separation between instruments?

4. That realness and aliveness of music?

5. At a retail of around $6,000 or less?

Eric Pritchard has studied this. He has some opinions on the way they sound. It may not be the ground truth but he has tried to emulate the tubes sound in overload with SS. He builds guitar and microphone amps.

In the music industry the main issue with SS is how they overload badly - try telling a musician and a band that yesterdays sessions are all useless becuase some SS mikes were overloading (not great for repeat business!!). I don't agree with everything he says but I share his believe that overload behaviour is the major difference. (Most people do not realize how easy it is to drive even a very powerful amp into overload without necessrily souding loud...speaker that are difficult loads are often to blame)

If you don't need gain, I think a Placette Active (buffer)would accomplish what you are looking for without tubes.