MY PREAMP ADVENTURE

[Bunky]

I spent the past few days listening to the Modwright and felt the bass is very loose. Overall it has a very solid state sound. I Have a tube rectified version coming Wed so I'm hoping this will be better than the original version .Not what I expected.Very fatiguing sound. I wanted to like it , after all it is a Modwright.

I hooked up the the Philly Audio pre and immediately notice a huge difference. Great tone ,bass , warm mids ,great highs and very musical and sweet sounding. This surely beats the MW.Too bad they are no longer made. More on the Philly Audio later...

byteme who used to post over at AC quite a bit used to have a Philly Audio 7B preamp and he really seemed to like it, he wound up getting a DeHaviland Ultra Verve preamp which is also a very good  preamp by the way 

[evan1]

I spent the past few days listening to the Modwright and felt the bass is very loose. Overall it has a very solid state sound. I Have a tube rectified version coming Wed so I'm hoping this will be better than the original version .Not what I expected.Very fatiguing sound. I wanted to like it , after all it is a Modwright.

I hooked up the the Philly Audio pre and immediately notice a huge difference. Great tone ,bass , warm mids ,great highs and very musical and sweet sounding. This surely beats the MW.Too bad they are no longer made. More on the Philly Audio later...

byteme who used to post over at AC quite a bit used to have a Philly Audio 7B preamp and he really seemed to like it, he wound up getting a DeHaviland Ultra Verve preamp which is also a very good  preamp by the way 

I think I read it over ay Audio Asylim

[richidoo]

Thanks for sharing the fun Evan!

The Butler 2250 amp has 47kOhm input impedance so the output impedance of the preamps should not be a factor. The Butler will let them each shine.

Are you sure the Moddy is healthy / good tubes, etc?  It is known to be neutral, not warm, but not bass shy either, with current happy 5687 tubes and transistor outputs with 600 ohm source impedance, it should compliment the Butlers great bass. Maybe the tubes are a little aged and filtering the sound somehow? Reviews suggest bass should be pretty nice, as does the circuit design.  It will be interesting if the tube rectified version sounds different. Maybe swap the tubes if allowed.
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0905/modwrightswl90se.htm
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/superioraudio/equipment/0706/modwright_swl_90.htm

Here's a little blurb from Agon about the Philly:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?rprea&1055185053&&&/Philly-Audio-Blues-7b-Ver-II-Tube-preamp

Maybe you're one of those guys that likes extra big bottom:

[evan1]

I read the review a while back.

The MW belongs to Lonewolf . I know he doesn't roll tubes. And I would think he probably has the original tubes in there and if there was a problem he would of noticed it. I will see what happens with the other unit.

[AcidJazz]

A name can only take one so far...recently I auditioned the new Modwright 100SE amp, while it compared favorable to a DAC Cherry, it fell short of ASKA Soraya in a fellow 'audiophile' system and my humble Jolida 102b in my system.
So much for brand name...so I thought.

[topround]

Evan,
I must agree the Philly pre sounded best, at high volumes it got a little hard but maybe the tubes were being pushed or the voltage may have been off a bit. But for the most part it was sweet, extended, layered and airy. The best of the lot by a large margin. I want one!

Having had a MW for about a year , your desciption of it is spot on, except I never had problems with the bass. I would love to hear if tube rectification helps.
The Juicy Music pre sounded pretty bad, so something must have been wrong, because it has been reviewed so favorably, and I have a friend who had one who loved it.

I walked in listening to Barry's alchemy pre, which sounded pretty good for solid state(excuse the bias), and I thought it worked well with the sonic signature of the Butler. It doesn't give the dimensionality of tubes, but what solid state gear does?

I had a Candela for a while so I had an idea of what your were experiencing. I am no tech guy, but it seems to me it needs a better power supply, throwing caps and tubes at it doesn;t really help.
It has great tone, but no depth.
Similiar to my Mapletree, it had great tone but small size, perhaps power supply?

Have fun, the preamp may be the most important part of the system!

[etcarroll]

I read the review a while back.

The MW belongs to Lonewolf . I know he doesn't roll tubes. And I would think he probably has the original tubes in there and if there was a problem he would of noticed it. I will see what happens with the other unit.

An odd response this -  I would think that if he doesn't roll tubes, and the sound with the stock tubes wasn't right, how would he know? Most people wouldn't notice a problem with the original tubes, especially if they degraded over time, until they swapped in a new set. That's human nature, not a knock on Lonewolf. He is human after all, isn't he???

[lonewolfny42]

The Philly is a Philly Audio 7A.....in the past, this preamp spent time with Carl (Carlman), at which time he rolled the tubes in order to match it up - sound wise - with his EE MiniMax preamp which he was using.

The Modwright has a pair of TungSol tubes that were recently installed....it was out on loan. (toobluvr - John)

[lonewolfny42]

He is human after all, isn't he???

Hmmmm.....maybe.

[evan1]

I read the review a while back.

The MW belongs to Lonewolf . I know he doesn't roll tubes. And I would think he probably has the original tubes in there and if there was a problem he would of noticed it. I will see what happens with the other unit.

An odd response this -  I would think that if he doesn't roll tubes, and the sound with the stock tubes wasn't right, how would he know? Most people wouldn't notice a problem with the original tubes, especially if they degraded over time, until they swapped in a new set. That's human nature, not a knock on Lonewolf. He is human after all, isn't he???

I know when my system isn't sounding up to par

[mfsoa]

Do you want to hear my VAC pre?  She's got all new Pavane tubes and has been sounding good lately.

-Mike

[rollo]

  What about the Beacon 2 ? That thing was killer in my system. With so many options available as  tubed rectification and or a beefed up power supply for under $1200.
  If you could hear a CAT ultimate, Audio research or CJ you are not going to know what a premiere pre can do. Or try a DAC with a volume control and eliminate the pre. The only passive stuff that has great sound are the Bent, S&B and Georges Lightspeed IMO. Trying a passive or DAC with volume control will give you a better picture as to what the Pre actually does or does not do.
  swap meets can be fun but usually do not allow you to here the full potential of the pieces. other opinions, comments, set up allhave a bearing on what you hear. it takes about three days for the particular piece to settle back in. Swapping in a short period of time is fun but not really valid. Take your time with each piece. sometimes at first listen the excitement or part of the spectrum thrills you but after some time fatigue sets in. Play all your favorite music not just the audiophile tracks. Have fun.


charles

[machinehead]

That Vac is the bomb! Glad shes up & running again!

[topround]

I really don't believe a piece needs 3 days to settle in, that is nervosa at its highest point.

The preamps that I knew sounded exactly as i knew them to sound.
If a piece has not been played for along time than yes giving it a few hundred hours to break in again will help. But well worn pieces show their character pretty quickly. If a piece is not working to your liking I don't believe 3 days grace will make it change its character.

Sometimes we get so silly......

[rollo]

   The key is get familiar with the component. Yes a few days makes a difference   Educated Nervosa. The dielectrics of the cables need a bit to settle. Connections as well. Maybe small differences but in our hobby small can be huge.  For tubed gear an hour to come to temp before they sound their best.
   Over the years it appears to me that the ones who do not allow enough time for evaluation of said component are the ones who's systems are never done or satisfied.
   There are well known killer combos of amps and preamps. That avenue should be addressed first. Impedance matching is a VG starting point. Then character of sonics. The ol ying and yang thing. Sometimes all neutral can be sterile and boring. Sometimes to much color makes it dull or dark. It is finding the right combo not the preamp of the week.
  All I'm saying through hands on experience is that one needs to spend more time with each piece, take notes, listen to varied musical content. At the end of the testing a practical method proves out.
  To date the most affective method has been to connect all the preamps through a switch box and go back and forth until you hear what you like. Time consuming but worth every minute.