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Advice Needed RE: Tube Pre-amp

131east23

131east23

...near Frank's Pizza!
I have a very nice, clean Dynakit PAS2 pre-amp that I bought about 10 months ago for $145.00. I am considering the Van Alstine Super PAS3 mods for this unit and keeping it as my dedicated pre-amp for the near future. The DIY cost for the Van Alstine kit is around $450.00. I see other nice phono stages, preamps and amp combos out there (Bottlehead for example) but I haven't run into anything that will give me two dedicated phono MM inputs as well as room to plug in all my other gear. Does anyone still make a comparable tube preamp that accepts phono, tape, tuner, aux, cd and has a volume control for around $500.00 dollars? Any info will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
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I have owned 2 PAS preamps. I replaced the selenium rectifier, installed new boards of the same architecture with updated RIAA caps and put a new volume control in it. I spent way less than $450. For that much you can buy tubes4hifi.com new mods for the PAS
 
I've been thinking a lot about Pam recently, Chris. :D

And now the fog has cleared in the ole synapses, I do recall the dual controls on the PAS2 were among the poorest I have tried(unsuccessfully) to fix. If you take the $150 you have in, sell it, and add the $450, that $600 will get you into a good mid level tube pre that needs no work and is heads above the Dynaco in performance. :thmbsp:

On a different approach, I have never seen a PAS2 sell for more than $350, so you are looking at a relative bath there.

If you are under on both performance and value, then make sure you want to do it because of your personal interest, and knowing you will using it and not be selling it for a long time.:scratch2:
 
"On a different approach, I have never seen a PAS2 sell for more than $350, so you are looking at a relative bath there."

That was my thought. I like the unit, like the looks, like the fact that I can hook up everything I want to run, but the cost for a total upgrade is way more than I wanted. Small tweaks may not get it where I want it to be. I know more research is in order but is there a "newish" option that matches the PAS2 and 3 in capability but is a better performer?

It might be that the complete Van Alstine overhaul on this unit gets me a really nice pre-amp? I have read only good things about this "mod" but I don't like the price and will never be able to sell it for what I put into it.
 
I still have two Dyna PAS's, one's a 3X, and would highly suggest that your save up your money and buy a completely different preamp...look at some of the fellows that have gotten rid of their PAS's and replaced them with used Audible Illusions Modulus preamps...even the older 2 series of AI preamps is a seriously good piece of gear, the later 3's are even better, the 3A's better still, and the 3B is magnificent....

I've had my 3A for over 12 years now, I bought it new, it's never failed to work well, it has six inputs, one of which is an excellent phono stage, and a tape loop that allows me to have all the inputs and outputs I need with the simple addition of a dBx Program Route Switcher in the tape loop for my cassette deck, my R2R, and my HTPC.

The VanAlstine PAS mod was once rated by Stereophile back in the nineties...it rated in the same rank as an Adcom GFP-565, if I remember correctly, Class B...I have a 565, and my AI absolutely walks away from it in performance and in build and sound quality...the art of preamp building has really, really come a long way since then...
.
 
RickB said:
I still have two Dyna PAS's, one's a 3X, and would highly suggest that your save up your money and buy a completely different preamp...look at some of the fellows that have gotten rid of their PAS's and replaced them with used Audible Illusions Modulus preamps...even the older 2 series of AI preamps is a seriously good piece of gear, the later 3's are even better, the 3A's better still, and the 3B is magnificent....

I've had my 3A for over 12 years now, I bought it new, it's never failed to work well, it has six inputs, one of which is an excellent phono stage, and a tape loop that allows me to have all the inputs and outputs I need with the simple addition of a dBx Program Route Switcher in the tape loop for my cassette deck, my R2R, and my HTPC.

The VanAlstine PAS mod was once rated by Stereophile back in the nineties...it rated in the same rank as an Adcom GFP-565, if I remember correctly, Class B...I have a 565, and my AI absolutely walks away from it in performance and in build and sound quality...the art of preamp building has really, really come a long way since then...
.
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As one of those fellows that have gotten rid of their PAS's and replaced them with used Audible Illusions Modulus preamps (Modulus 2D here) I wholeheartedly agree. There's simply no comparison between the PAS and the AI. I also use the dbx 200 program route selector which allows adding as many as six line level sources (though if using more than three you have to use the "processor" connections and their use is less than intuitive). I'd recommend an AI preamp without hesitation. I'm sure there are also excellent units available from Conrad Johnson, ARC, and others but I've not heard them myself.

I got a good deal on my AI at a time when money was very tight. I had every intention of flipping it for a very handsome profit. I put it in my system to check it out prior to selling it; I just set it on top of my PAS-3x at a 45 degree angle so I could get to the back easily. Literally within 10 seconds I knew that the AI wasn't going anywhere and I didn't even bother to move it from it's catty-corner location for a good month or so. I was really astounded at how much better it sounded than the Dynaco, the difference was of the magnitude I would have expected from speakers, not electronics.
 
JonL said:
As one of those fellows that have gotten rid of their PAS's and replaced them with used Audible Illusions Modulus preamps (Modulus 2D here) I wholeheartedly agree. There's simply no comparison between the PAS and the AI. I also use the dbx 200 program route selector which allows adding as many as six line level sources (though if using more than three you have to use the "processor" connections and their use is less than intuitive). I'd recommend an AI preamp without hesitation. I'm sure there are also excellent units available from Conrad Johnson, ARC, and others but I've not heard them myself.

I got a good deal on my AI at a time when money was very tight. I had every intention of flipping it for a very handsome profit. I put it in my system to check it out prior to selling it; I just set it on top of my PAS-3x at a 45 degree angle so I could get to the back easily. Literally within 10 seconds I knew that the AI wasn't going anywhere and I didn't even bother to move it from it's catty-corner location for a good month or so. I was really astounded at how much better it sounded than the Dynaco, the difference was of the magnitude I would have expected from speakers, not electronics.
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You guys have peaked my interest and that kind of info was exactly what I was looking for. JonL, how do you like the ST70 in the mix with the AI pre?
 
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