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Single Ended Triodes (SETs), the ultimate tube lovers dream.

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RE: James Burgess 45 build options

Posted by makarushka on November 18, 2010 at 12:37:32:
I've owned -- and still do -- a number of pieces of gear made by James, and hold it in the highest regard. I've been able to not only compare his equipment to a number of others but also sometimes to another build of the same circuit done by him. I have also once "rolled" various output transformers in one of his 45s. I am also in definite favor of the Bugle circuit based on large amount of comparisons to other topologies. You could say I am biased; so this is my disclaimer.

Regarding the 45 SET amps of his: I saw two main variations, one based on the Bugle circuit with SRPP frontend, and another that has a two-stage driver, often with 5687 on input. The latter has quite a bit higher gain and I found it did not work well with active preamps. If you fed a source into it directly, though, it was a whole other story, and worked beautifully. But in my setups the Bugle variations worked better, as I do use multiple sources and active preamps with gain.

Getting to the point finally, all four Bugles that I had sounded strikingly different. Two of them used nearly identical components, so it was difficult to say why the one I preferred and still keep around sounded different. I happen to attribute it to the chassis: this unit uses a massive one-piece chassis milled out of aluminum and then powdercoated. Thick and heavy as hell -- MUCH heavier than others. I have no idea if this really has any merit to it but that is what I happen to think based on all the messing around with various amps over the years.

Regarding the Yamamoto -- I've owned both A-08 and the A-08s, both in their stock forms, and with various modifications down the road. I still have fond memories of those amps but in the end if I had to re-purchase and choose between James's work and Yamamoto, it would be James for me for sure. The Yamamoto (again, -- this is merely MY opinion and taste) is even to my ears indeed TOO much on the rosy side of neutral. This MAY work very well in some cases -- for me it was when I needed an amp to run a pair of Lowther DX4s. The Yamamoto complemented their anomalies in a way that together produced a very satisfying blend.