Just talked with Kara of Dehavilland about her new Tube based tape preamp. She is hoping to have it ready to demo by the end of June. I'm going to hear it this weekend. It should retail for less than $2000. It will be NAB/CCIR switchable with a variable high frequency control on the front panel. Will give a report after I hear it.
Just talked with Kara of Dehavilland about her new Tube based tape preamp. She is hoping to have it ready to demo by the end of June. I'm going to hear it this weekend. It should retail for less than $2000. It will be NAB/CCIR switchable with a variable high frequency control on the front panel. Will give a report after I hear it.
Just talked with Kara of Dehavilland about her new Tube based tape preamp. She is hoping to have it ready to demo by the end of June. I'm going to hear it this weekend. It should retail for less than $2000. It will be NAB/CCIR switchable with a variable high frequency control on the front panel. Will give a report after I hear it.
Hi Sam
I heard the unbalanced version and it showed promise. She is trying out different heads and I heard them with ReVox heads, probably not the best match for the tube electronics. I did view a balanced output version with Lundahl output transformer. I think it will be offered in balanced and unbalanced versions.
Will give further reports after we hear them with more appropriate heads.
Hi Sam
I heard the unbalanced version and it showed promise. She is trying out different heads and I heard them with ReVox heads, probably not the best match for the tube electronics. I did view a balanced output version with Lundahl output transformer. I think it will be offered in balanced and unbalanced versions.
Will give further reports after we hear them with more appropriate heads.
Just got back from Seattle where I joined John, Ki and Kara for a listening session with her tube preamp prototype. The transport and head were Ampex 351. We compared it briefly to the Studer 820 on a couple of tapes. Great Phat tube sound, as expected. Our next trip will allow more listening and some tests with various Studer and possibly Nagra or Sony APR heads/transports. Will have a youtube video up soon of our visit.
Nice. Some tape deck museum. Does she water them every day
Are all those R2Rs Kara's? Or is that at Ki's?
So if not mistaken, based on the two cal knobs, the tape pre has two inputs? How much gain does the unit have or is it adjustable? Do you have any idea of what it will cost?
The decks are at Ki's place. Kara and I took a drive to the great North yesterday to visit Ki and John. The gain is about 45db. I think Kara is working on a higher gain version with one additional gain stage and a transformer output balanced version. The preamp has adjustable HF pots for both IEC and NAB on the front panel.
The decks are at Ki's place. Kara and I took a drive to the great North yesterday to visit Ki and John. The gain is about 45db. I think Kara is working on a higher gain version with one additional gain stage and a transformer output balanced version. The preamp has adjustable HF pots for both IEC and NAB on the front panel.
Here is an inside pic of Kara's new tape preamp. This is just a prototype and a next version will be ready this week. New faceplate is in the works as well as a higher gain version. Will post by middle of the month.
Yes she was at RMAF with the new tape head pre. I stopped her in the lobby and she said she would be sending one my way for audition soon. I'll be using it on my A80 preview deck which has 2 playback heads. I can switch back and forth on the fly to audition between it's own electronics and the outboard pre.
I spent about half an hour in the DeHavilland room at RMAF and it was definitely one of my favorites. I thought that the system sounded terrific...I can not judge how much to attribute to the preamp, other than to say you couldn't get that quality of sound if it was anything short of excellent. I'll be interested to see the follow up on this thread.
Kara and I will be bringing her preamp up to Mike's place in two weeks for audition. If we have time, it will also travel to Ki's house of Studer for some listening. Report and pics to follow in two weeks. We will try the 222(kara's preamp) with her Ampex 351 transport and Nortronics head and see if we can lash up a Studer A80 or A820(with heads wired out directly to her preamp) for comparison.
Say, would you know if it will feature or option a differential balanced circuit?
