A new old preamp.

The tubes should have writing on them to tell you what they are. I see an EI 6B....something? VB1 and VB3 should also have writing on them. Photos of the inside can also help identify what you're looking at.
 
Oh, it says on the front! I remember those from back in the day, I haven't seen one in a decade+
 
I remember a fried had one some time ago. I always thought it sounded very good as a preamp and great as a headphone amp. Nice find.
 
Antique Sound Lab (ASL) LH-01 Preamp

Technical data
Headphone output
Regulated power supply
Number of Inputs Line : 3
Valves; 2 x Jan-Philips 6922 (6DJ8)
1 x 6BM8
Frequency 1 Watt 12Hz - 53KHz
Distortion 1 Watt <1.7%
Current consumption 12 W
Dimensions W x D x H 280x175x100mm
Weight 4.3kg

View attachment 27334
That’s it!
Bought it knowing it had a bad channel (when checked with headphones) which was tracked down to a bad tube by a local tech. Ordered a set of gold pin JJ 6922’s and still No signal from one side, I wiggled the heahone jack and vuala! So far the tubes need more burn in so will cut it some slack on the lackluster headphone performance with my hd650’s. As a pre it was substantially more gain than my Freya, still feeling it out on soundstage and detail. I’ll have to leave it playing as background music to help the tubes along. I’d like to track down a better 6bm8 too. it solidly built by the way. The remote control is also meaty.
More to come!
 
Oh, it says on the front! I remember those from back in the day, I haven't seen one in a decade+
Hopefully not seeing one in a while is a good thing? I’ve heard ASL hurricanes and was impressed enough to take a gamble on this piece.
 
The EI 6BM8 is likely a very good tube, and in this preamp it has to be a series regulator, so it's not super audible.
 
Can you post some pics of what's going on inside?

The need to change out parts may be mitigated by circuit design, which can be teased out of build photos unless it's all built onto a big PC board. Then again, if it's all on a PC board, I'd tend to recommend leaving it alone.
 
Can you post some pics of what's going on inside?

The need to change out parts may be mitigated by circuit design, which can be teased out of build photos unless it's all built onto a big PC board. Then again, if it's all on a PC board, I'd tend to recommend leaving it alone.
It’s a little snug given the base size. Last one is the remote which I need to trouble shoot.
 

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It looks like the headphone output has some little output transformers, which is super unexpected.

The PC board looks to possibly not be through hole plated, so it's not something that's really made to be worked on.
 
I rate those Bennic caps. They have a clean open sound. I have them in my phono stage and I'm loathe to change them.
 
I rate those Bennic caps. They have a clean open sound. I have them in my phono stage and I'm loathe to change them.
Thank you for sharing, I was planning on changing them out with Mundorfs but I think I will leave them in place for now.
I am getting a bit of graininess from when cranking the volume through the headphone out but not the case from the RCA jacks to my amps. Might be a dirty volume pot and/or headphone jack.
 
You'd probably find that upgrades in that position would cost more than the preamp is worth and wouldn't fit inside the box!
 
You'd probably find that upgrades in that position would cost more than the preamp is worth and wouldn't fit inside the box!
Thanks Paul, I’ll call this preamp good and start enjoying it. Need to burn in the tubes but I’m pretty impressed by the gain, it’s probably twice what the Freya is.
 
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