Sugden....

[admin_exported]

Hello,

not been here for a while.

Right.... like most people I have a list of things that I want to do and own.... Having past '30' I have learned to no longer qualify them with an age requirement (i.e. things to do/see/kill/own before I am 30!).

I have one for audiophile equipment and, those that vaguely can remember me, I do better at the interesting older (read 'cheaper') end than the new shiny end.

I have always wanted a Sugden A28 II amplifier, well I have for a long time and today I managed to get one, kind of..... it is actually an A48 III (which looks vaguely like an A28)... it was an impulse buy. Impulse buys make me shudder... they always feel great, they always come back to bite you on the buttocks, the shine always proves to be spit....

.... so I started doing my research after I had put my bid.... and do you know what? I cannot find a decent review of them. The Gramophone Archive was not really helpful this time.... I pulled up another reference at a rival mag's Arcam page which bluntly stated that the A&R A60 made the Sugden A48 struggle....

I vaguely remember an old conversation with the Sugden service department in which they warned me off certain models because it was difficult to replace some of the switch arrays... I think that it was the earlier ones and that would make intuitive sense, but I cannot remember....

Reassurance What Hi Fi Forum.... ! Reassurance......?

 

[chebby]

A21 is the one you want.

Legendary pure class A, solid state amplifier design that has been going as long as Sugden. (Still being sold now.)

 

[Anonymous]

Haha.... I know, I know and extraordinarily expensive (for me) still you cannot argue with the logic.... I think that this is a class A/AB amp.... it should still be pretty cool, or hot if you will, I was just hoping a current owner, previous owner might leave some opinions.

Hello Chebby btw 🙂

 

[seasiders rock]

I owned one, really good amp.

Class A A/ B warm laid back sound with good bass.

Limited production run from 87/89. Not a lot about.

Problems, input selector switch and stereo mono button can fail.

Bridgeable, there is an internal stereo mono switch, P28 Power Amp ( rare as hens teeth ) is compatable.

Excecellent MM/MC phono stage, adjustable with internal jumpers.

Best way to upgrade is to use it as a pre amp ( it should have fitted pre out ) with an A21AP Power Amp, which is how i used mine.

Sugden will still provide service if you need it.