Yaqin MS-300B SET amp

[Rodango]

Does anyone else out there have a Yaqin MS-300B amp? I am very impressed given the price I paid. Of course I ditched the tubes it came with and am using Mullard CV-4024s, Vintage '44 Sylvania JAN-CHS 6SN7GTs, JJ 300Bs and a '59 Soviet/Svetlana 5C3S rectifier. The results? Superb!

And check this - the amp runs my B&G RD50 planar transducers just fine!

I have owned and auditioned a LOT of tube amps over the years but where has this amp been all of my life?

And it was only $550! (Plus shipping...)

[Hi-Q]

My friend heard my Yaqin MC-10L and was so impressed that he, being a bit better off financially than I, bought the MS-300B. I think he also liked the remote control that came with it, I had to build mine as an add on. Previously I had added up the cost of chassis, components, Tubes and Transformers ready to build my own amp but realised that the Yaqin would work out much cheaper. It also would look better than a bare metal chassis, my effort could never look great!
I was amazed like you, that after re-tubing, it sounded brilliant and I have had two years of immense pleasure from it. As for my friends MS-300B? He adores it and has had no problems with it.
Les

[John L]

What is wrong with the tubes that come with it?

And can one substitute, or step up, with the maker, should you choose?

Oh, and by "changing out" are you referring to just changing the same type tube with another make? Or are you referring to changing the type of tube entirely?

[Hi-Q]

Hi John. Well I now believe that the Chinese Tubes are probably ok but when I first saw them I mistrusted them due to their internal appearance. They just looked rough, like for example the bow in the plates between rivets which you don't see so much on western versions where the plates are tight all along the seam. The glass to metal seals did not exactly fill one with confidence and the external pins had a rough finish. The Russian equivalents look much better and indeed made my amp sound different, it was not so harsh, much more warmer in sound and improved at the lower end. Most improvement appeared to be made when I replaced the preamp tubes, same type but a different manufacturer, in my case Svetlana. Yet the original Chinese EL34's were given to an impoverished guitarist I know who is over the moon with them. They have been really heavily gigged for some months now in a Marshall Amplifier and no problems so far.
So maybe I was a bit harsh on the original Chinese Tubes, they just looked rough that's all.

[John L]

I would say that this is due to the "first time" jitters with them. Judging from the looks of their new products, you can bet that their newer tubes will also be a work of art.

It's an oriental thing, don't you know? Beauty is half the value of the thing to be contemplated, and I tend to agree.

[Hi-Q]

Agreed John, but when you have 450V floating around inside the tubes it tends to focus the mind in other ways
Les

[John L]

You could be right.

[Rodango]

Originally posted by John L
What is wrong with the tubes that come with it?

Well I too mistrust Chinese tubes and have been disappointed by their sonic quality, or lack thereof. So I have just gotton used to pulling them. With the MS-300B I actually first listened to the Chinese tubes and said to myself "Not bad! They're getting better!"

But I pulled them anyway.

NOS American and British tubes just sound so much better! Yes I know the JJs are neither but I am not about to buy WE 300Bs...

I was rolling tubes through the 300B today and have a new favorite 9-pin pre-amp tube. None other than the 5-Star GE JG 5751. They sound better than my Mullard CV-4024s.

What I'd really like to find is a pair of those tennis ball 6SN7s for it. Yes, I know they're Chinese But they're supposed to be quite good.

[igrant]

Yes, very familiar with them and have quite 3 of our re-branded versions (GF A-330B) left, that model is discontinued now, being replaced with a new version with EL-34 driver tubes (GF A-534), which is currently driving a pair of 85db Morel to decent volumes, and it's dual voltage as well. Besides being a great 300B SET, both are also a wicked heaphone amp, letting you experience 300B thru your cans. You need to power down and switch the amp into headpone mode.

btw, the supplied tubes are made by Shuguang who make about 40% of the world's tubes under numerous brand names and their own name of course. They have numerous grade levels for their tubes, ranging from crap to premium, world class.

The Yaqin (and just about any) amps (etc) sold out of Hong Kong are usually the grey market 'made for china' version's which have cheapened parts (to keep it affordable fior the Chinese consumer, who can get it fixed for usually 5 to 10 dollars) and for 110v, unkown transformer origins and zero warranty support.

That includes the tubes, which we have seen various grade levels. Our's are second from the top level and sound really good, but of course rolling can bring some drastic changes to the sound. WHen I roll, I like to come cack to original after a week to really see if the roll made a positive change.

My 10 cents and if you want one of the GF versions at discontinued pricing, PM me. It's a great amp out of the box that can be easily modded into something special.

Ian

[Rodango]

Thanks Ian!

How about mods to the MS-300B? Like replacing all of the coupling caps with Platinum Sonicaps? Or replacing the outputs with Hashimotos or similar?

I think modding is great. Mine sounds great the way it came though...