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Don Allen line level tube preamp: specifications and features

I have just become the proud second owner of a Don Allen preamp. Mine is a fairly late 2 tube build, from sometime in 2015. According to postings here on Audioasylum that might be just before Don retired and moved to Florida.

I am posting this message to attempt to collect in one place useful information about the various versions of the two and four tube line level preamp that were produced over the years. Without a standing website, I think it will be a useful exercise.

The following are a few observations/questions to get the ball rolling.

Does the unit invert phase? I have it hooked up as non-inverting and it sounds fine, but I do plan to try it both ways. I ask because both my Quicksilver and Mapletree preamps do invert phase.

It shipped to me with ECC85 tubes, but I understood that it was designed for 6BQ7 tubes. What are the experiences of other owners/users? I plan to roll with some very quiet GE 6BQ7s from my Schiit Lyr 2 headphone amp and see which tubes I prefer.

I found an older Audioasylum posting that says that the preamp was designed to best match with power amps rated at an input impedance of 470 Kohms. What are the experiences of other owners/users with matching power amps?

The Rike output caps are rated at 2.2 uF. Is that consistent with the other units from other owners, or has that value varies over the years. I ask this because my local tube guru says that this cap value will change how the preamp interacts with the input impedance of the power amp.

And lastly, my unit has a very nice TKD 100K volume pot. Is that typical of all the units that Don produced?

All you Inmates with experience with Don Allen gear, please post your preamp insights so they can be collected for other owners/users.


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Topic - Don Allen line level tube preamp: specifications and features - Alta_tom 19:43:37 11/18/16 (4)

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