Given all the work and time I have spent with the Reisong A12 and the Boyuurange A50, I felt there would be value in comparing the two. Neither of these amps sound good out of the box and it required quite a bit of rewiring, changing operating points etc. to make them sing and perform as advertised. I would say that neither of them are better than the other out of the box, so if you plan no mods, buy the cheaper amp (or honestly, something else!).
Both can be made to sound much better using the mods I have previously posted and describe on my YT channel. That brings us to this point, in the end, which is better and why?
IMHO the only reason to buy the A50 over the A12 is to be able to say you own a 300B amp and to display a larger amplifier. The cost to upgrade the A50 includes replacing all the tubes, which as most people know, 300B tubes are EXPENSIVE. By the time you buy the amp, do the mods needed for it to perform as advertised and then replace all the tubes (which is needed) to even decent quality ones, you will have close to $1500 into it, and it's still being held back by the lackluster output transformers.
If you dive into replacing those, which probably will require fabrication work, which is hugely difficult on a chromed stainless steel chassis, you will have close to 2 grand into this amp. And at that point what is even left of your original purchase? The chassis, the power transformer and a few jacks? You would be way better off doing a scratch DIY build like my budget 300B amp, even if you had to pay someone else to do the fab work for you.
The A12 on the other hand comes to life with mods + $75 worth of tubes and less that $30 in other parts. You can actually use the A10 as the starting point, since we are rewiring the front end and everything else is identical to the A12, saving you another $75-100. The output transformers used on these little brother amps are a much better match to their EL34 tubes and as such, have more bass, less distortion and a smoother frequency response. Modified, this amp sound surprisingly good, especially considering it's price point.
I've listened to both modified versions of these popular made in china amps quite a bit, and while the A50 might have a very slight midrange smoothness advantage, the A12 crushes it everywhere else. They have very similar power levels and given all this, with the 10X cost difference in the output tubes, plus the initial buy/mod cost, it gives a huge swing in favor to the smaller sibling. Even not considering the cost, the modified A12 overall is just a better sounding amp.
So in closing, I now can honestly say: If you are a tube noobie and can DIY these mods, the Reisong A10/A12 + mods gets you into a new, good sounding single ended amplifier for well under $600 all in. That is going to be hard to beat and the only shame is, this amp isn't wired like my modified amp is out of the box.
Both can be made to sound much better using the mods I have previously posted and describe on my YT channel. That brings us to this point, in the end, which is better and why?
IMHO the only reason to buy the A50 over the A12 is to be able to say you own a 300B amp and to display a larger amplifier. The cost to upgrade the A50 includes replacing all the tubes, which as most people know, 300B tubes are EXPENSIVE. By the time you buy the amp, do the mods needed for it to perform as advertised and then replace all the tubes (which is needed) to even decent quality ones, you will have close to $1500 into it, and it's still being held back by the lackluster output transformers.
If you dive into replacing those, which probably will require fabrication work, which is hugely difficult on a chromed stainless steel chassis, you will have close to 2 grand into this amp. And at that point what is even left of your original purchase? The chassis, the power transformer and a few jacks? You would be way better off doing a scratch DIY build like my budget 300B amp, even if you had to pay someone else to do the fab work for you.
The A12 on the other hand comes to life with mods + $75 worth of tubes and less that $30 in other parts. You can actually use the A10 as the starting point, since we are rewiring the front end and everything else is identical to the A12, saving you another $75-100. The output transformers used on these little brother amps are a much better match to their EL34 tubes and as such, have more bass, less distortion and a smoother frequency response. Modified, this amp sound surprisingly good, especially considering it's price point.
I've listened to both modified versions of these popular made in china amps quite a bit, and while the A50 might have a very slight midrange smoothness advantage, the A12 crushes it everywhere else. They have very similar power levels and given all this, with the 10X cost difference in the output tubes, plus the initial buy/mod cost, it gives a huge swing in favor to the smaller sibling. Even not considering the cost, the modified A12 overall is just a better sounding amp.
So in closing, I now can honestly say: If you are a tube noobie and can DIY these mods, the Reisong A10/A12 + mods gets you into a new, good sounding single ended amplifier for well under $600 all in. That is going to be hard to beat and the only shame is, this amp isn't wired like my modified amp is out of the box.
The sad thing is, many will still buy these amps based on positive reviews from a couple of well known youtubers, who are obviously deaf. We won't mention any names. 😉
jeff
Yeah, it's really funny that a lot of them drag about it on the youtube, I guess they get something for review. Be honest, I wasn't interested in their review much. Now stephe rushes them to the floor. 🙂
Great job, stephe 👍