Can someone list every known manufacturer of mobile tube amps?

15228 Views 62 Replies 33 Participants Last post by sands1, Dec 26, 2009

kepone

Discussion Starter · Mar 23, 2008

Topic title says it all, im looking for mobile tube amps and i dont know who makes them still other than Butler..

Can anyone list every known manufacturer of mobile tube amps that are presently in production, or were in production within the last 15 years.

Thanks in advance

41 - 60 of 63 Posts

spydertune

· #41 · May 1, 2008

Perhaps a distinction should be made between "tube in the signal path amplifer " & "tube output stage amplifier"?

The only classic tube output stage I am aware of is in the Milbert which uses output transformers between the output tubes and the load. (The Zelos shown has some sort of transformer set in there and looks to be on the output stage. I also thought I saw one that TRU had an EL84 w/ output transformer version a couple years back but can't find it now.) If there are others, please post what they are.

Everything else has a tube in the front-end circuitry (& only marginally as pointed out in some of them) and not as part of the output stage of the amplifier at all. That said, I wouldn't call them tube amplifiers just that they have a tube in them.

WTS

· #42 · Jul 4, 2008

US Amps
Planet Audio
CalCell
Hustler
Blade
Digital Designs
U Dimension
Mark Anthony
BK Butler
PPI Tube Driver
Genesis
DLS
Milbert
Tru
Abyss
Sutherland (Canadian)

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WTS

· #43 · Jul 4, 2008

Damn...forgot one of my favorites:

PowerAmper Tubers

thehatedguy

· #44 · Jul 4, 2008

HSS Fidelity HT230 is the only all tube class A car amp on the market.

GlasSman

· #45 · Jul 5, 2008

thehatedguy said:
HSS Fidelity HT230 is the only all tube class A car amp on the market.

You still got those in your trunk?

thehatedguy

· #46 · Jul 5, 2008

It is in the house right now. With the car not playing, I didn't really feel great about having it in the car just sitting there. But yeah, I still have her...got new preamp tubes for it and might change out those EH power tubes before it goes in the car.

MACS

· #47 · Aug 23, 2008

Add a couple more to the list. Phass (Japan) TP 2.150 & TP 4.100

http://www.phass.com/eap-4.htm

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friction

· #48 · Aug 24, 2008

Cek this one out

http://www.kamazgermany.com/products_Sub1.html

MACS

· #49 · Aug 25, 2008

friction said:
Cek this one out

http://www.kamazgermany.com/products_Sub1.html

Hmmmm, the Phass and Kamaz look very similar.

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friction

· #50 · Aug 25, 2008 (Edited)

MACS said:
Hmmmm, the Phass and Kamaz look very similar.

dont mean to open the secret but they oem from the same company in taiwan.

friction

· #51 · Aug 25, 2008

hehehhee cek this out the same amplifier only with a different brand

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friction

· #52 · Aug 25, 2008 (Edited)

i get all the amps here ,i dont need the brand i just need the sound lol

bad experience with Butler audio

AWC

· #53 · Aug 25, 2008

thehatedguy said:
It is in the house right now. With the car not playing, I didn't really feel great about having it in the car just sitting there. But yeah, I still have her...got new preamp tubes for it and might change out those EH power tubes before it goes in the car.

You have one?!?!?!?!?!

I'll trade you my kid...she's not broke or anything. She's almost old enough to wash dishes

Consider it.

Ok. I was under the impression that any benefits of tube amplification was in the Pre stage, anyway. IOW, for the "tune sound," a preamp would be just as beneficial (if not more beneficial). The outpout tubes tend to be microphonic which, in a car atmosphere, is bad because of all the noise. This gets complicated and I don't understand it but where is the line drawn? Is a fully tube driven amp worth it, unless of course they are very well designed. Another thing to consider is that if it is done correctly, that HSS will sound just like my Sinfoni at 10 times the price simply because a good tube sounds like a good transistor. It is in the clip that we hear the difference. So where do we draw the line? Tube pre or all the way? Where is the goodness found....if you buy into the goodness theory anyway?

Milberts Preamps are Class A. Is there a benefit to that? A/B would be a matter of efficient power output, right? So then Class A Preamp, being just the gain stage of the BAM's (basically) would give us much of the same sonic characteristics of the BAM itself if it were powered by good transistors in the power stage....right?

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thehatedguy

· #54 · Aug 25, 2008

No, not really. Most of the "tube" sound comes from the output transformers and power tubes. But a lot of home guys who are into the single ended designs (like I am) would rather not have that "tube" sound. Single ended amps sound and act differently with speakers than other designs.

I disagree about a good tube sounding like a transistor.

There is much more to this than being tube vs. transistor. You have to look at the whole circuit topology...single ended,push/pull, class A, A/B, etc. And IMO the sensitivity of the speakers being driven by the amp will be key too.

AWC

· #55 · Aug 26, 2008

thehatedguy said:
No, not really. Most of the "tube" sound comes from the output transformers and power tubes. But a lot of home guys who are into the single ended designs (like I am) would rather not have that "tube" sound. Single ended amps sound and act differently with speakers than other designs.

I disagree about a good tube sounding like a transistor.

There is much more to this than being tube vs. transistor. You have to look at the whole circuit topology...single ended,push/pull, class A, A/B, etc. And IMO the sensitivity of the speakers being driven by the amp will be key too.

I understand. I'm going off of a review of a Celestra product I had read a while back (I think it was a preamp). The guy said it was clean, lively and detailed and went on and on about how it was so good it sounded like a transistor. It was one of the reasons I didn't push myself into an HSS 6 channel pre. This guy installed it into a Bently and was very happy that his tubes...didn't sound like tubes.

I completely understand about the other variables having heard their differences in home audio as well as intrument amplification. Unfortunately I have not been able to A/B the different topologies like would be necessary to be able to truly appreciate the differences.

RUBBER DUCKY

· #56 · Nov 15, 2008 (Edited)

Trinity Car Audio Tube Heads
Made in U.K

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killerb87

· #57 · Nov 15, 2008

3.5max6spd said:
Ok, you are interested in 'tube' amps that you can pull the tube out while the amp is running and the music still plays!

that is total b.s. a Us Amps TU-4360 will NOT run with the tubes removed. the signal is fed directly into the tube.

RUBBER DUCKY

· #58 · Nov 15, 2008

AWC said:
You have one?!?!?!?!?!

I'll trade you my kid...she's not broke or anything. She's almost old enough to wash dishes Consider it.

Ok. I was under the impression that any benefits of tube amplification was in the Pre stage, anyway. IOW, for the "tune sound," a preamp would be just as beneficial (if not more beneficial). The outpout tubes tend to be microphonic which, in a car atmosphere, is bad because of all the noise. This gets complicated and I don't understand it but where is the line drawn? Is a fully tube driven amp worth it, unless of course they are very well designed. Another thing to consider is that if it is done correctly, that HSS will sound just like my Sinfoni at 10 times the price simply because a good tube sounds like a good transistor. It is in the clip that we hear the difference. So where do we draw the line? Tube pre or all the way? Where is the goodness found....if you buy into the goodness theory anyway?

Milberts Preamps are Class A. Is there a benefit to that? A/B would be a matter of efficient power output, right? So then Class A Preamp, being just the gain stage of the BAM's (basically) would give us much of the same sonic characteristics of the BAM itself if it were powered by good transistors in the power stage....right?

I agree with you.I am using a Class A Trinity Tube head (Tube preamp) direct to my JLamps

manina

· #59 · Nov 16, 2008

Handmade tube amp

www.abolaelectronics.com

but better not to ask for the price

RUBBER DUCKY

· #60 · Nov 16, 2008 (Edited)

manina said:
Handmade tube amp

www.abolaelectronics.com

but better not to ask for the price

I know of abola,heard they have really amazing amps.I believe they are all handmade.arent they?

In my case,I would still prefer a tube head amp or preamp.a good mix of both worlds imho

Attached some internal pics of trinity tube heads.

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