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First Tube AMP First Impressions

rickon66

rickon66

Older Than Dirt
The Stromberg Carlson ASR-444 came in today-it appears to be in pretty good shape. The tubes were packed seperately-it has:
4-Dumont 5881
2-RCA 6U8A
2-Dumont 7025
2-Stromberg 6AV6

Upon picking it up out of the box- I see what they mean when they talk about "iron". It is not very big but it weighs a bunch, very suprising.
I am in the process of cleaning it up and will post some pic's later. It came with a small operating manual which explains all of it's features.
 
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The tube guys say if you want to know how good an amp is, throw it as hard as you can. If it goes a long way, it wasn't very good. :D Kind of a fun saying, but I take it as gospel. Weight equals great. My "little" 5 watt per channel SET tips the scales at 42 pounds. I haven't heard lots of amps, but I like it better than any I have heard. :yes: Of course I may be biased (pun intended). Waiting on pics, Jay

BTW- I came accross a Dumont 12AX7 a couple weeks ago and tried it in my pre. I'm not sure who made them, but it sounded very good.
 
tube amp weight

We have a local guy who runs weekly auctions of low end furniture. He has harassed me for years about old radios being basically worthless. (his opinion has changed recently). Anyway , a few weeks ago, I told him any old tube amps he finds I'd pay him by the pound. He kind of liked that idea, and have gotten two calls so far, and I have bought about 90 lbs of Eico and a small grommes 56PG
 
jaymanaa said:
The tube guys say if you want to know how good an amp is, throw it as hard as you can. If it goes a long way, it wasn't very good. :D Kind of a fun saying, but I take it as gospel. Weight equals great. My "little" 5 watt per channel SET tips the scales at 42 pounds. I haven't heard lots of amps, but I like it better than any I have heard. :yes: Of course I may be biased (pun intended). Waiting on pics, Jay

BTW- I came accross a Dumont 12AX7 a couple weeks ago and tried it in my pre. I'm not sure who made them, but it sounded very good.
Click to expand...

I dunno....the little 5"x8" 8600 series maggotbox only weighs maybe 6 pounds?
Not much more than the power transformer......
It has rather good tone. A good amp, IMO.
Of course I've got a 40 pound 2 channel 2A3 amp, and it is better sounding than the SE magnavox.
But not by leaps and bounds. More power, bass, and more open with the midrange expected from a DHT triode.
 
I am currently using a Stromberg Carlson ASR 433 in my 2nd system. This an integrated 12wpc amp that uses el 84's for output. I suspect that you will be very happy with your 444. The 433 has a very good phono stage and plenty of good tube power. I am using it to power a pair of Snell EII's(91 db) and it sounds excellent.
 
I've always said "Don't trust an amplifier you can carry by the power cord."

Yes, I'm into Mcintosh, but do have some Stromberg Carlson items. Somewhere.
 
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