EAR 802 Valve Pre

[up the music]

I've just made an impulse purchase on one of these for £200 with 6 month warranty. Is this as good a buy as I think it is?

It's cosmetically good bar a few scratches on the top. I only got it home and plugged into my MP3 player 10 minuyes ago. Everything seems to work bar the turntable input which I've not tried yet. I assume it has the original tubes in but have not looked under the hood yet. It came without box or paperwork.

Initial impressions are of a very lucid liquidity and solid bass even via this lowly source.

Anybody have any idea what it's worth? Have any suggestions for tube rolling? Has anybody got previous experience with one of these? Are there any reviews? Should I leave it powered up and pre warmed (see other thread)?

I should point out that I wasn't really looking for a new pre amp, I just collect black boxes.

 

[John Duncan]

A quick google finds the quotes "some say one of the best pre-amps on the planet" and "£750 ono"

 

[up the music]

Cheers JD.

Yes, I think I saw that one but there seemed to be no takers but from the interest received I figured a value of about £500.

I also read they are 'rare as hens teeth', a little worrying for an amp about 12 years old when my serial no suggests it's no 19029. Does that mean owners tend to keep them so they're rarely for sale 2nd hand, or do they tend to fail catastrophically so there's not many still alive?

Very lush sounding. I'll have to put it in the rack and feed it a proper source later tonight.

 

[John Duncan]

I doubt that anything Tim de Whatsisname ever had a hand in could possibly fail irrepairably....