This 'Linear A' amp was bought new, by me, from Tom Evans In 2017. I returned the amp to Tom Evans, In 2022, to be upgraded from a mark 2 to a, latest spec, mark 3 amp.

A bit about the design philosophy: Tom Evans 'loathes' transistors which he views as being too slow, (mediocre rise time/slew rate) and having poor linearity!! The usual solution is to use local and Global Feedback which reduces distortion but causes audible 'dynamic compression' (slightly squashes musical climaxes). and does nothing to Improve slew rate. Tom also refuses to use coupling capacitors which he feels 'smear' the sound stage and cause unacceptable phase/timing errors. So, Tom uses his, exclusive to him, super-fast Input/driver stage ICs which directly drive the grids of the EL84s power valves. Four x EL84s, per channel, are operated as Pentodes, in a parallel single-ended configuration, with 43% 'Ultra Linear' taps for the valve screens. This configuration, almost uniquely, gives voltage and current gain making this a very unusual 'semi Transconductance' power amp'. You can really hear the difference when using higher-than-average impedance speakers like my Lowther TP1s, BBC LS3/5a, Quad 57s or a pair of Cube Audio Nenuphars. The Linear A extends the bass, and treble, further than you would have thought possible, but without the overly warm bass of most SET amps. Tom Includes switchable Global FB (from 0 to 3db in 6 steps) so you can hear the difference that increasing GFB does to your music! Lesser valve amps use Lots of cheap capacitors in the power supply but the Linear A uses a huge mains transformer and no less than three expensive power 'chokes' with minimal capacitor smoothing. This Is a heavier and more expensive option but gives this amp It's truly amazing dynamic range and inky black signal to noise figures. This is simply one of the quietest valve amps you can buy and probably quieter than most solid stage amps! A new Linear A amp will now cost over $20,000 so grab this one QUICK!