Has anyone heard the Herron VTSP-3 linestage?

Lula:

I have not tried any tube rolling with the VTSP-3. Dave Herron recommends against it. I have been so pleased with the sound produced by the stock tubes that I have not been tempted to try NOS tubes. The bass is terrific with the stock tubes. My Proacs deliver such terrific bass with this pre that one would think I have hooked up a sub- woofer. When Dave Herron modified the VTSP-2 and came up with the VTSP-3, one of the major changes was added warmth in the lower mids. The VTPS-3 does not have exagerated warmth in the sense of the older Conrad Johnson pre-amps, however. Instead, it has a very pleasing warmth that makes the pre-amp sound very human. The VTSP-3 is voiced so realistically that when I am in another room, I often think my wife is talking to a guest in the next room only to find that what I was hearing was the Herron. This preamp's midrange is eerily life-like.

Keith Herron....

Thanks for the correction, Arthursmuck. I am absolutely horrible with names.

I do not suggest any tube rolling with Herron preamps. Keith cannily designs and voices his preamps using the most reliable tubes he can find - be it his superb engineering, voodo or black magic the gear always sounded best to me with the stock tubes. I wouldn't mess with success.

I haven't heard the 3 but I did the 2; I owned the upgraded version of Keith's first tubed preamp (the piece that put him on the map) and it was absolutely wonderful. His gear doesn't get the internet chatter that other amps do but all his products are wonderfully musical and huge bang for the $$s.

I could never really describe the "sound" of Keiths pre's, or even his power amps, so I always just say they "sound" like music, meaning they just let more of the music, and the musical event, through. "Lifelike" or "natural" also accurately describes the Herron house sound.

I feel the Herron amps are WAY underrated - they are just as terrific as the preamps. They are as close to big tube amps with bass slam as you will get for under 15k.

Sflazor, FYI one of the best sounding systems I've ever heard partnered Herron amps on ProAcs (M150s).

Interesting you say the Herron 3 preamp is sensitive to power cords - I tried many many high end preamps before I bought the Herron and that model. Whether it was due to the star grounding or wsomething else in the design implementation, was the least sensitive to power cords of any preamp I auditioned (CAT, First Sound, Arc, Joule, Blue Circle). This was true of the amps as well. The CAT< Joule and FS were far more sensitive to PCs.

Let me chime in re: tube rolling. I own the Herron VTSP-3 as well. Contrary to "party line" I have heard dramatic variations with different tubes, and many for the better, by a long shot, than the EH 6922's. First off, I agree with Sflazor that this preamp is sensitive to power cables and its neutrality allows easy identification of changes in interconnects, speaker cables and anything else connected to it. It is that transparency that makes tweaking (including tube-rolling) so rewarding.

After several forays into NOS Siemens and Amperex tubes, I settled on Amperex 7308 USA PQ tubes, 1960's vintage (white label) and have been using these for over a year. I occasionally switch back to previous "experiments" including the stock tubes. They all do certain things well, but for the best combination of impact, realism, frequency extension, and transparency these Amperexes are superb. I also tend leave my preamp on continuously unless I'm away. One minor frustration with this preamp, beyond the long initial breakin period, is the time it takes to come to its organic best after shutdown (~48 hours!) I wish there was a standby switch that shortened this. Again, fortunately the tubes seem to last forever even in perpetual "on" mode, which is a good thing with these pricey NOS'

The remote-controlled Absolute Phase selector is a wonderful inclusion, and the "correct" position is usually easy to identify in well-recorded music with a phase-coherent setup.