Looking for some opinions here... given the choice, which amp would you prefer to have, a Ten Tec Hercules II (420) or a Ten Tec Centaur (411)?
Why these two? Well...
Most of the last year, IT at work has been involved in the building renovation project. About once a month, we spend a day moving one floor from temporary locations to their renovated floor, then the next day we move another floor to that temp location -- and then the floor gets rebuilt. Involves more than a few fun days on your back, in the dust, moving and reconfiguring 30 or so workstations at a time, plus moving network printers, setting up some IP phones, tripping over the demolition/rebuilding crew...
So what's this got to do with the amps?
Well, we all get called into the CFO's office yesterday, and are informed that the owners are so impressed with our hard work, we're each getting a nice bonus in our next paycheck.
Now I am going to surprise the Boss and take her out to dinner, maybe a movie or a play, and get her something a little nice. I'm just not going to tell her how much -- as she'll want to spend it on, well, things that won't go in the shack. I think I've earned a little toy.
So I put the word out that I was looking, with the proviso that I won't have the money until the 30th. I was hoping for a few offers, and I got some. Including the Herc II & the Centaur. The Herc is owned by a friend who lives about a half hour from me. The Centaur is in Ohio, about a 100 miles away.
The Herc is solid state, but I'd have to run 220 V into the shack area. Not impossible, just a minor pain. The Centaur uses 811A's & can use 572B's, which are available but getting harder to find.
(Note this is the Herc II, not the original Hercules 444. Motorola discontinued the 444's final transistors and left Ten Tec in the lurch, back in the day. Pity, it was a good amp otherwise in it's day)
So there's no rush, and I'm still talking with both gentlemen. I'm just curious as to opinions. (They're both in th $500 or so price range)
...and I'm open to other options, in that same price range. Would have been nice to have enough to buy a new amp outright, but not this year... and you think I'm complaining about an extra few hundred to spend? Not hardly; I don't want to sound like an ingrate. Or a gym teacher...
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