If I were you, I wouldn't buy a chinese amp unless (1) I was willing and able to fix it when it arrived , or (2) knew someone who could fix it when it arrived as there is a high probability it will be damaged in shipment (based on the experience of people here who have reported purchasing one of them).
Okay. Unfortunately i know nobody around here who knows tube amps 🙁
What do you recommend me to buy?
And i don't really need a tube amplifier. If you could find a solid state amp for the same money and that sounds as good as a tube amp i'm okay with that. All i want is soundquality not huge amounts of power.
What do you recommend me to buy?
And i don't really need a tube amplifier. If you could find a solid state amp for the same money and that sounds as good as a tube amp i'm okay with that. All i want is soundquality not huge amounts of power.
If you need sound quality you can build this one:
Can you guess why i don't buy a chinese and modify it? I'm lacking the knowledge and skills for it. So, building my own amplifier will have to wait a few years.
tube amps takes a lot of dedication, read enthusiasm
to rely only on changing tubes takes mostly money
the first smart move would be find where to get it properly seviced
I would suggest to open a new thread where you could get a better debate on your complete setup as a whole
maybe everything else would be the better forum for your questions
to rely only on changing tubes takes mostly money
the first smart move would be find where to get it properly seviced
I would suggest to open a new thread where you could get a better debate on your complete setup as a whole
maybe everything else would be the better forum for your questions
So, you have another dilemma: how long to pay for the credit you took for the amp of certain quality. Nobody but you can decide.
What you can do is start with something very simple and not expensive. A long as you don't need lots of power a tube amp can be very, very simple. For example a single ended 6V6 cathode baised amp needs just three tubes, two 6v6 power tubes and one preamp/driver tube with two valves in the envelope. It is very tolerant of operating voltage and component values so almost any reasonable power transformer can be used. The expensive part is the two output transformers, they'd run about $35 each. You should be able to build an amp like that for $200 if you can round of parts like an old baking sheet and small bits of lumber for a chassis. You'd have about 5W of power per channel. 5W can be surprisingly loud with he right speakers
Even if you have $2,000 to spend I would still suggest first building an amp like this first.
Uhm... Sorry but i'd really like to stay away from building my own amplifier. I have used a soldering iron once in my whole lifetime, soldering two cables together.
I'm even worried about how building the Cmoy pocket amp will do :S
I'm even worried about how building the Cmoy pocket amp will do :S
Lets help him out guys.
Hes got $500 to spend
he doesnt want to work with voltages that can kill him
Hes asking for our help on a turn key amp, not one he can buy cheap and "mod" to sound better.
Why dont you try the ebay "MENG YUE EL34" or get a nice rebuild dynaco ST-70.
Hes got $500 to spend
he doesnt want to work with voltages that can kill him
Hes asking for our help on a turn key amp, not one he can buy cheap and "mod" to sound better.
Why dont you try the ebay "MENG YUE EL34" or get a nice rebuild dynaco ST-70.
The Dynaco seemed to be over my budget. By the little EL34 looks like a good one. What do you think?
Here is another popular one
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tube...ppo-audios-first-offering-el84-push-pull.html
Its half the power but uses dirt cheap tubes and you can "roll" your own tubes since there is a huge variety of el84 styles out there, nos, china, russia, etc
Hey it looks like they got their el34 version up:
http://www.suppomodel.com/audio/EL34.html
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tube...ppo-audios-first-offering-el84-push-pull.html
Its half the power but uses dirt cheap tubes and you can "roll" your own tubes since there is a huge variety of el84 styles out there, nos, china, russia, etc
Hey it looks like they got their el34 version up:
http://www.suppomodel.com/audio/EL34.html
I kinda like the Memg Vue amps. but Come on.... LEDS under the driver tubes?
There is another nice 6p1 amp that is all black. very basic cage design. I believe one of the chinese makers is called Uround. It uses a SS rectifier that (I was the one who wanted to hack the Yaqin MC10L to put a vacume tube rectifier tube in.) This uround-like cage amp apears to have enough space for a tube rectifier. It only puts out 10watts per channel (so the web site specs say). but the frequencies are not quite what I want. 40hz to 25khz? Like the OP, I want an amp that I can get inexpensively. Unlike the OP, I don't mind working around electronics gear. I would think some decent quality output transformers would be the way to increase its bottom end. and gut the SS rectifrier and replace it with a decent tube rectifier.
BTW. if I DID buy a Meng Vue amp. Do they have a cover with the amp or is that extra? Very few of the amps on ebay show a cover for the unit.
I know someone who has a pair of those amps, with the matching line amp. +1 on that. The amp sounds really nice and appears to be built very well. The circuit board inside is of high quality and the chassis is pretty darned good. I can't speak for the quality of the iron, but it seems good enough, judging by the sound.
--
Looked good but 2x375 is too much for me. And then there's shipping, VAT and all nasty stuff.
Having both tube and solid-state gears, I would suggest you to buy Sansui G series integrated tuner/amplifier (from eBay Germany for example), made at the end of 70th - beginning of 80th. They have both excellent sound quality and very nice design (by my taste).
Just watch they must be in working unmolested condition, and properly packed before shipping.
www.vacuum-tube.eu
Last edited:
I have a G7000 that I like. There quality is there but it has some plastic buttons - the last of the Japanese quality I think. It does sound good and the panel lights up in a very cool way!
Why not TwinAudio Twin Audio - diyAudio , they have nice 6V6 and EL84 single ended amps at aprox. 500$
- Status
- Not open for further replies.