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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on September 13, 2013 at 5:52pm

Not really, no. Tube amps that run on low voltages (batteries) are just a gimmick, real tube amps need a lot of juice.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on September 13, 2013 at 7:39pm

Well, there are tube variants on the Ruby and Noisy Cricket, which this looks like, that use one half the plate electrodes from a single tube for the pre and 1/2 for the power section, that output anywhere from 1/4 W to 1.5 W. They typically run about $150-200 for DiY kits, are amazingly loud, can handle 4 -8 ohm speaker loads, and run off of wall wart power. There are single tube stomp boxes in the same price range, with similar ideas behind them, running off of wall wart power. This one's not battery powered. It shows a 24V DC wall wart. If you have $60-80 burning a hole in your pocket, and a small 4-8 ohm speaker (check the output impedance and load specs of this amp before buying) why not try it, just for the pure hell of it?

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on September 13, 2013 at 8:03pm

agreed , ..  and not  to  mention  ..  its a "headphone"  amp   . so it's not  like  it's  trying to power a 6 foot traynor  cabinet   .   ;-)

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on September 13, 2013 at 8:35pm

The gain is 30db, which means you'll need a preamp . . .   the "ruby" lm386 amp has ajustable 20-200 gain...

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Permalink Reply by Mungo Park on September 14, 2013 at 11:43am

Thanks all for the explination, thinking that the ruby or cricket with the tube would be money better spent.

                                          Cheers Ron

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