Rocket 88
 

After a few months of trying to deal with Dennis (and his minions - far too difficult to give any comfort) for an Inspire amp, I've given up and purchased one of his older designs, a Rocket 88. 20wpc of triode Class A and 40wpc UL Class A/B should work just fine for my needs. Plus, is much better looking than anything offered under the Inspire name. The drawback is that it still weighs in at 45#. Good iron :thumbsup:, I'm guessing.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...1&d=1580488850

Been running my Canton Ref 9Ks with the 20wpc Class A power from the Rocket 88 and am pleased to report that it sounds terrific with Tung-Sol EL84 current drivers & El34 outputs & RCA 12BZ7 inverter tubes. As Dennis states in the intro in the OM, designed with the minimum number of amplification stages provides a clean, clear, fast sound. Same with the Elekit TU-8500 preamp with only a single pair of 12AU7s in the signal path. Both are working very well for me. Another pic with the EL34s in place. This has turned out to be a wonderful sounding amp. Am now on the lookout for a pair of the CAD-50SL MkII, which is the last in the series of Cary PP monoblocks. Don't show up very often.

https://www.audioaficionado.org/atta...1&d=1581421824

What’s you’re preferred power tube in the Rocket? These are solid machines!

I was fortunate in having a quad of the GEC KT88s. Amazing tube. Even with close to 1500hr they were still the best of the KT88s and overall my favorite. Next, to my ears, were the reissue Tung-Sol 7581a. Not quite the gravitas in the bass, but such a magical mid-range for voices & acoustic music. No tube sounds less than "very good". As you said, a very solid and delightful machine that worked well all the power tubes I tried when bias was set accordingly.