John Beyer of B&K was known for his love of the sound quality of high powered tube amps. He was NOT in love with their high cost, high weight, high heat load, and high maintenance. He developed (back in the early 80's) the ST series of high end audiophile amplifiers that emulated the best aspects of tube amps and combined it with the best aspects of solid state amps.....FOR A LOT LESS MONEY. My B&K ST202+ has not suffered a single breakdown or maintenance issue since I bought it new in 1991. It is rated at 300W into 4 ohms per channel, and since it is stereo that means 600W total. It weighs about half of what this Marshall VBA 400 weighs, and probably sounds a lot better.
The late J. Gordon Holt reviewed a B&K ST202 amp back in 1984 for Stereophile, and proclaimed it not just a great budget priced power amp, but a great power amp at ANY price. I owned a competitive Hafler amp from the same time period, and also listened to a competitive Adcom power amp. My B&K ST202+ is clearly superior. The interior workmanship and parts quality is in another league from Adcom and Hafler, and most certainly Marshall which has an import tariff that reduces its value. My B&K ST202+, which is an upgraded and more powerful version of the amp J. Gordon Holt tested, cost me $620 new and I can buy all I want on the used market for half that or less.....in perfect working order. B&K solid state amps were always known for their "tubelike" truth of timbre, dynamic impact, and freedom from solid state graininess.....and ABSOLUTE UNFAILING RELIABILITY.
My B&K ST202+ has rack handles and can be rack mounted, but not all B&K amps had the rack handles. They were also available in unbalanced and balanced (XLR connector) versions. Guitarists would want the XLR connector (balanced) versions instead of the RCA (unbalanced) connector versions. I can convert them, as I am a biomedical engineering tech so that is no big deal for me. B&K RCA unbalanced versions are floating single ended, so that gives about the same benefit of the balanced versions without the added complexity and cost. Get what you need and call it done. This Marshall VBA400 amp in question does not offer you this choice at a MUCH higher cost, I would imagine.
Before you run off and spend a lot of money on a new Marshall amp head, consider what you can get in a used B&K amp for $300 or less on the used market. Lots of them for sale on eBay and Audiogon. They were and are an institution for audiphiles on a budget. If you want less fidelity and less reliability for more money, then buy a new Marshall or whatever.
I use a couple of Tech 21 Sansamp RBI preamps for tone generation, and feed that into my ST202+ power amp knowing that the signal out will be faithful to the signal in no matter how hard it is driven up to clipping. If you had rather spend $300 or less for a better amp, then give it some thought...... and YES, fewer repairs and maintenance in the future as well.
The late J. Gordon Holt reviewed a B&K ST202 amp back in 1984 for Stereophile, and proclaimed it not just a great budget priced power amp, but a great power amp at ANY price. I owned a competitive Hafler amp from the same time period, and also listened to a competitive Adcom power amp. My B&K ST202+ is clearly superior. The interior workmanship and parts quality is in another league from Adcom and Hafler, and most certainly Marshall which has an import tariff that reduces its value. My B&K ST202+, which is an upgraded and more powerful version of the amp J. Gordon Holt tested, cost me $620 new and I can buy all I want on the used market for half that or less.....in perfect working order. B&K solid state amps were always known for their "tubelike" truth of timbre, dynamic impact, and freedom from solid state graininess.....and ABSOLUTE UNFAILING RELIABILITY.
My B&K ST202+ has rack handles and can be rack mounted, but not all B&K amps had the rack handles. They were also available in unbalanced and balanced (XLR connector) versions. Guitarists would want the XLR connector (balanced) versions instead of the RCA (unbalanced) connector versions. I can convert them, as I am a biomedical engineering tech so that is no big deal for me. B&K RCA unbalanced versions are floating single ended, so that gives about the same benefit of the balanced versions without the added complexity and cost. Get what you need and call it done. This Marshall VBA400 amp in question does not offer you this choice at a MUCH higher cost, I would imagine.
Before you run off and spend a lot of money on a new Marshall amp head, consider what you can get in a used B&K amp for $300 or less on the used market. Lots of them for sale on eBay and Audiogon. They were and are an institution for audiphiles on a budget. If you want less fidelity and less reliability for more money, then buy a new Marshall or whatever.
I use a couple of Tech 21 Sansamp RBI preamps for tone generation, and feed that into my ST202+ power amp knowing that the signal out will be faithful to the signal in no matter how hard it is driven up to clipping. If you had rather spend $300 or less for a better amp, then give it some thought...... and YES, fewer repairs and maintenance in the future as well.
