Pelliott321 wrote:
TS kits are easy to build, good instructions, and reasonable decent quality parts, except for the case work. The prices reflect this. He does not believe in boutique caps or resistors, wire. One could always substitute whatever. There is always good docs, schematics. And plenty of discussions on mods.
One of the major complaints is his transformer sizing. He believes that over kill in this area is a waste of time.
When I was using the GG preamp the only mods I did was to replace the first resistor on the I put with a better quality one. I replaced the low quality pot with an Alps Black Beauty, and I reduced the feedback. This is a really god sounding preamp and would still be using it until I built a Gary Dewes design preamp which I still use.
I still use the TS phono and have yet to find a better sounding one
I finished building the Son of Beast yesterday. It took only a few hours for it to start showing what it is capable of. My initial impressions:
1. Definition in the bass is amazing.
2. Tube warmth/sweetness is reduced a little but it sounds more natural.
3. Strings sound very realistic with the full reverberations.
At about $1200 for Bruce's kit and tubes, this thing is a steal.
If you are coming to the August meet, I would like to hear how GG preaamp sounds with SOB in my system. My current preamp has Mullard E182CC which brings clarity and sweetness to the system. You can borrow SOB if you wanna try in your system.