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Which tube amp brands have point-to-point hand wiring and which have PCBs?

tommylittle

tommylittle

New Member
I'm in the market for a all-tube amp around $1500 or less. Different brand names have been suggested and I don't know too much about the brands. Some of the brands suggested have been Jolida, Almarro, Grant Fidelity, Audio Space, Quicksilver, Altec, Bogen, Dynaco, and Rogue Audio. Do these brands imply handmade point-to-point wiring for their amps or printed circuit boards?
 
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If you buy something new up to $1500 I can almost guarantee that it will have circuit boards in it. The new hand wired stuff is most likely going to cost over $1500. If you want point to point in the $1000 price range, your best bet is vintage stuff. I would look for an amp that is working but in need of some service (new caps, TLC, etc.), and upgrade that one. You will end up with a nice piece of equipment.
 
Heya tommylittle!

I'm more of a DIY/restoration guy, but I wouldn't be put off by a tube amp with good PCBs. If well done, they are sonically just as good as PTP--just my subjective opinion, btw, no offense to others intended--and even though true PTP can be a bit more robust in construction, these are not power tools, they are amps. Abuse either and they will break.

Many well-regarded vintage amps--Dynaco springs to mind--used PCBs and even some of the very high-end amps of the "Golden Age" of tube audio such as Accrosound and Fairchild--arguably one of THE highest quality amps of the era--sometimes used PCBs.

Bear in mind, PTP was initially a construction method of necessity. While PTP is arguably more robust, PCB offers advantages over PTP, lower-cost, yes, but also higher consistency of repeatable results in construction. Also, modern PCBs are of much higher quality and more rugged than the vintage PCBs used in the past.

If PTP is a major consideration in your purchase--one I can't fault you for btw, it's just simply not a matter of baby and bath water with modern PCBs--For considerably less than your $1,500.00 budget, there are scads of vintage amps built exclusively with PTP available for a fraction of that, even budgeting for recapping the power supply, bias supply, coupling caps and new tubes.

Although some chase "detail" as a holy grail of home audio, I humbly believe that musicality trumps detail every time and many vintage integrated amps such as Scott, Fisher, Eico, Dynaco among many others possess musicality in spades.

In the end, it's your hard-earned shekels to spend as you wish, just take the advice of internet commandoes--such as the advice I've given above--for what it's worth and as long as you enjoy the music, you've achieved success!

John (now heekma, formerly mojojojo)
 
PCB/PTP all same if quality of workmanship is same. PTP used to be all there was. Anyone remember **radios**?
 
oldhifiguy said:
PCB/PTP all same if quality of workmanship is same. PTP used to be all there was. Anyone remember **radios**?
Click to expand...

Yep I remember. :)

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I prefer PTP for ease of modification.

mike
 
yeah. PCBs dont lend themselves very well to being modified. PTP is much better for that. Besides, you can SEE where everything is and where the wires go to. Much better IMO just for that. You can almost see how the amp works.
 
A well-designed PCB is far better than a poorly-designed PTP wiring layout. Or a well-designed PTP layout that was wired by a hack, for that matter.

There is no reason to shy away from PCB equipment, other than the ease of making mods.
 
Audio Electronics and Cary for sure!

Audio Electronics and Cary Audio for sure have point-to-point wiring. I've had 3 AE products and they are all wonderful, basicly Cary's budget line of gear made in the same NC facility.

Here is a photo of my AE Super Amp MkII
 
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stay away from vintage gear with pcb's. the boards get "crunchy" overthe years due to heat and can be a PITA. case in point, old dyna ST70 boards can get real brittle. there are plenty of high quality replacement boards out there though.
 
ke4mcl said:
stay away from vintage gear with pcb's. the boards get "crunchy" overthe years due to heat and can be a PITA. case in point, old dyna ST70 boards can get real brittle. there are plenty of high quality replacement boards out there though.
Click to expand...

That's kid of being a little harsh saying to stay away. The old Dyna's had PCB's, and many of those boards are still in use in good condition, and the ones the boards are bad on, as you said are very replaceable... so why stay away?
 
Hi-FiGuy said:
If you buy something new up to $1500 I can almost guarantee that it will have circuit boards in it. The new hand wired stuff is most likely going to cost over $1500. If you want point to point in the $1000 price range, your best bet is vintage stuff. I would look for an amp that is working but in need of some service (new caps, TLC, etc.), and upgrade that one. You will end up with a nice piece of equipment.
Click to expand...

I personally build amps that are all point to point wired and not one, or one pair, is over $2,000. You can see some at:
http://home.windstream.net/wbittle1/index.htm
Also, Quicksilver Audio amps are all point to point wired and not super expensive. The one amp in my webpage picture that I service but didn't make is an Audio Aero Capitole and that amp is well over $2,000 (More like $13,000!) and uses three circuit boards. But the boards have big traces that are well spaced. The only upgrade I make to those amps is to install higher rated bridge rectifiers for each B+ winding of the power transformer. This amp uses a power transformer with dual high voltage windings. One for each channel. So, you can find point to point hand wired amps made right here in the USA in the $1,000 - $2,000 price range and you will see circuit boards in mega-buck American and imported amps.
 
this is a UK marketed brand but also available with a full US spec, Icon Audio. ALL thier products are PTP wired and in 3 dimentions to boot! I stress they are UK marketed but built in China to a high spec. Thier integrated amps start about UK£600.00. the manufacurer in China is meixing - ming da. The also make good amps in your price range mostly ptp wired.
 
Cayin

Of the new amps, the Cayin line have point to point wiring.

Build quality is superb and sound is outta this world.

Check out their website and give one a listen if you get the chance.

BTW, no affiliation.

Cheers
 
The issue is secondary if you're buying new. For old, it depends how old. Older Conrad Johnson stuff with PCBs can be as "crunchy" as some of the ancient Dynaco stuff.

For me, that wouldn't be a first consideration, but a secondary consideration if not buying new.
Me? I'm an all point-to-point guy, but then again, I've learned just enough about restoration to spout off about it.
Don
 
my antique sound lab amps are point to point, with terminal boards... one of the better chinese brands.

asl.jpg
 
where does a body get terminal boards today? who sells em? looks like best of both worlds PCB and P2P.

nevermind, I found a supplier.
 
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