VAC PA-45 information

[dave500]

Hello, I acquired a set of Valve Amplification Company VAC PA-45 (2 amplifiers & 2 power supplies). Other than the owners manual, I'm unable to find anything about them. They are in pristine condition; piano-black finish, and perform flawlessly. The PA-45 is the "little brother" of the PA-90 (2 EL-34 outputs), and I know that they're from the early days of VAC.
Any information would be appreciated, dates of manufacture, original prices, etc. Any idea of value? Thanks very much.

 

[GordonW]

That was actually the very first product of VAC, from about 1989.

I didn't really start working with VAC equipment, until a few years later, with the Auricle Musicbloc amps, which basically replaced the PA90s.

I have a client who still has a PA90 (he uses it with a later VAC Renaissance III preamp, BTW)- and it's built like the proverbial tank, with still great sound, to this day.

I would think Kevin Hayes of VAC would still be able to answer any technical questions about these amps- I would recommend just emailing or calling the factory in Florida.

As for valuation- this is not the right subforum within AK for those sorts of questions- a better place would be the AK Dollars and Sense subforum, where value discussions are welcome...

Regards,
Gordon.

 

[dave500]

Thanks for the information Gordon. This discussion was moved to the 'Dollars & Sense' subforum for me, but there have been no other responses.

I did reach out to VAC several times, but my simple inquiry was ignored. Companies such as Valve Amplification Company and Schiit Audio don't bother to answer questions. They don't realize that the person asking the question could be a potential customer.

Hopefully someone will chime in with more info on these amplifiers.

Best regards,
Dave

 

[Chazzer]

Here is a phone number: 941.952.9695. I think they are a smallish family run business so correspondence may be tuff. I have one of there very early tube DAC's. It's called the VAC - DAC. I have yet to try it out.

 

[cz606]

I was missing a piece to an old preamp I bought and reached them last year to discuss options. Best way was by phone. They were helpful and knowledgeable. If I was in your position, I’d give them a call.

As to my story, the issue resolved on its own when the person I bought the VAC preamp from found the missing piece. That said, VAC offered to look in their inventory for a suitable replacement or have me send the unit in for them to make the appropriate modifications to render the part unnecessary. I don’t doubt my experience would have been positive had I needed additional help. Most of the anecdotes I ran into online also spoke highly of their ongoing customer service.

Hopefully you are able to connect with them soon and your experience mirrors mine and other who have good things to say. Congrats on the amps. Though I don’t know much about them, I’m sure they are very nice pieces.

 

[Hyfi]

I second the phone call. I have a CLA 1 MKII Dual Mono Pre Amp and when I was having Tube issues I called and Kevin answered the phone. He gave me 20 minutes of his time as well as suggestions. One was NOT to use Sovtek tubes

Good luck finding info

 

[Bostown]

I also own some VAC Gear ( presently PA 160MKII monos and Auricle Stereo amp - previously PA 80/80 stereo amp, Vintage Line Amplifer MKII pre amp) and was able to get questions answered by Kevin himself. I recal inquiring about using KT90's, 120', or 150s in the PA 80/80 Kevin advised against 120 and 150 but gave a nod to try 90s which i did. I enjoyed the Heck out of that amp ( later sold to another AK member) when a set of PA 160MKII's came into my consciousness.