Conrad Johnson’s headquaters are in Virginia and they are a name synonomous with high quality audio. CJ was the brainchild of Doctors’ Lewis Johnson and William Conrad and was incorporated in 1977. The first amplifier that they produced was a vacuum tube preamplifier named the PV-1.

Conrad Johnson is undoubtedly a brand of high quality and their amplifier prices reflect this. Despite that, many audio enthusiast feel the money is an excellent investment. The Conrad Johnson Twelve Tube monoblock amplifier is one of the company’s premier products and to hear your tunes in stero you’ll need two, so what do you get for your seven thousand dollars?

The design of the Twelve tube is certainly stylish with a cool brushed brass finish, and some straight forward circuitry. The Twelve tube also has a large output transformer and with a quick look in the CJ info you’ll find that this gives you a wide bandwidth with high phase linearity. All in all, nothing too unusual. It’s clear that the Popularity of this amp comes from it’s performance rather than design.

The Conrad Johnson Twelve Tube transitions beautifully through the upper and mid ranges as well as at frequency extremes. It has a very rich overall sound, with amazing tranparency. It really seems a cut above, even with amplifiers in similar price brackets.

Now a lot of tube amplifiers have been seen to have problems with transients more normally with rock and pop tunes. The Twelve Tube produces consistent sounds right the way through, and in my years of audio intrest it is one of the finest I have heard.

The Twelve Tube is also not plagued with the reliability problems of many other tube amplifiers. It’s another thing that really defines Conrad Johnson as an amplifier manufacturer. It’s a tough cookie and very rugged which will certainly give you all confidence in a purchase.

So the Twelve Tube really does deliver, and the internet is an excellent place to start a search for these amplifiers. Just spend a bit of time and have a look around.