New Amp has arrived - Butler 2250 - BK Butler's Lab Amp

[venomclan]

I had been mulling this purchase in a previous thread and pulled the trigger. It came the other day and I have been listeneing for the past 2 nights. This amp is awesome.
This is a hybrid SS/Tube amp at:
250 Watts - 8ohm
400 Watts - 4ohm

To recap, I purchased this amp directly from Butler Audio. It is not the normal production amp, it is BK Butlers own lab amp for reference work. It has lower THD and is more balanced than the production models.

This amp has been used by a number of speaker companies including Thiel, Escalante (former Wilson Audio designer), the esoteric Pipe Dreams, Final (in Copenhagen), Cabasse, and others as their lab references.

So far it mates Very well with the Gallo Reference 3.1's. I have never owned a tube product before, but can now here that tube sweetness everyone talks about. Plenty of power, a relaxed sound, while giving up no detail. I had it on last night for 5 hours, and it barely got warm to the touch. I would say that it stayed cooler than the Outlaw M200 monoblocks I had, and they were S.S. class G.

So far this amp is giving the Krell a run for the money. The Krell is an excellent amp, but mated with the Gallos, the Butler has the advantage so far. I will try to post pics later.

Here is a link for the standard amp http://www.butleraudio.com/tdb2250.php
V

Edit: Here is a pic of the Butler, the Krell has now been demoted to an amp stand.
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[AndyGwis]

Pics. . .

[Gaara]

A tube amp that doesn't get hot, who woulda thunk it.

Congrats on the Butler, I expect detailed impressions when you get a little more time with it. This amp is supposed to be a very good match with the 3.1s, and you have an even better version of it then most.

Jared

[tonyb]

He man,glad to see you snagged it.And that you like it.Yeah,a tad bit more laid back than Krell,but for me,never was crazy about krell in the upper end of music.The Butler will bring out the best in vocals and not break a sweat in the lower regions either.Love mine.And for me the best part is no biasing,or tube rolling.Just an on and off switch on the front and a switch on the back to turn it into an 800 watt mono.Now dig thru that old cd collection,grab some go-go juice,your girl,and listen up for oh..10 hours or so.:D

[venomclan]

Thanks for the posts guys. This piece is a lot different than what I have now now, but I do like the fact that I cannot go nuts trying to tube roll. I cannot believe how cool this amp stays. It is not cool for a tube amp, it is cool for aSS amp. My Adcom 535 at 60 watts gets warmer than this unit.

I know this unit has a new pair of tubes, so it may actually be broken in more, even though it is a lab amp and well broken in already. The biggest thing I noticed about this amp so far is that the music is just edge free. All SS amps can get fatiguing at some point, but this amp is just effortless and no strain at all. More to come.
V

[tonyb]

Very good facts,and ones I missed to point out.The number one fact being that it takes the edge off the highs that some SS gear can have.Fatigue is no where to be found.Makes music sound ..well...like music.Can't wait untill the 7 channel tubed AVR comes out.Now thats cool!!

[venomclan]

Here is a pic of the Butler, the Krell has now been demoted to an amp stand.
V

[JimBRICK]

O bet that TDB 5150 would sound awesome in a hometheater

[venomclan]

I am still breaking in the tubes so hopefully after I can give a better demo report. I still cannot believe how cool this thing stays.