If you look at post#23 in this this thread, you will see that the 6N1P probably runs with around 4mA:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/163459-trying-make-sense-sweet-peach-2.html#post2128865
I suggest to keep technical discussions about the Sweet Peach GU50 amp in that thread.
Svein.
Peach discussion move to http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/163459-trying-make-sense-sweet-peach-4.html#post2153529
Last edited:
mingda mc34ab. the best amp i've owned so far and the best tube amp in it's price range by the general census of the google search results.
I'm still very pleased with my Sweet Peach. With some very simple mods like replacing the terrible coupling caps, some of the series resistors and dumping the 6n1p for a 6n6p you get a great little amp; Globulator has taken it even further with good results. Not the most handsome amp out there but a no-** design that performs excellent and outputs copious power.
Yes this is a fantastic little amp, simple layout also means superb DIY mod capable too!! SE has a great sound and such a low part count!
It is also very small in size - which makes it look quite sweet I think, fit and finish is very good too. God only knows why they ruin the sound with recycled capacitors and the wrong driver tube - it can sound amazing.
I looked at the MS-34D, their MC-10L is excellent so I would expect that to be good. What puts me off however is the huge single PCB, making modding more difficult.
Edited to add:
Hefei XiangSheng Electronic Co.,Ltd (makers of the Sweet Peach) do some interesting point to point wired push-pull stuff with a variety of tubes. If I had the cash I've be after a D2020A..
Last edited:
It does look good. The other one on my shortlist is the MC368-B
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I must admit, the Min Da's do have some tidy internals.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Still trying to find some more reviews of either of these though.
I bought a Ming Da MC34B (6L6 PP) amp a year or 2 ago, it was neatly wired as in above pic. They mean well, but the Chinese seem to use schematics that don't make a lot of sense as far as trying to achieve good sound, they could easily copy a known good circuit but for some reason they don't. I had some issues with my amp, one of those four golden-colored plastic trimpots which set the bias (it's a fixed bias setup) failed intermittently and took out a couple of tubes, one each time. With the addition of one resistor per trimpot, trimpot failure would not take out a tube. This is the sort of thing you need to take into account when buying a Chinese amp. Unless you go over the circuit yourself or have a technician do it, it can be an unknown quantity. On the MC34B I mentioned (I admit it is an older model now) the output transformers are wound such that a 4 ohm speaker presents a 5,300 ohm load to the tubes, and an 8 ohm speaker presents a 3,900 ohm load to the tubes. This seems a big load for 6L6, and both 4 and 8 ohm loads should be the same.
Well I'm listening to the MC34B now with a completely different circuit in it and pretty happy with it 🙂 The best thing you can do to a Chinese amp is rebuild it with a known good circuit, and hope the transformers are up to the task. I have found the OPT's are capable of good reproduction. The Ming Da being point to point wired is easy to rebuild.
I have no idea what a MC368B would sound like, so if you heard one and like it, don't let me put you off. The pic shows 5 small signal tubes, the link shows 4 small signal tubes, this is typical, what will the amp come with? Often the listed tubes are not the tubes the amp comes with, and the Chinese small signal tubes are usually fairly roughly made, as in poor balance between each half of a dual triode. This may or may not be a concern depending on the schematic. The stated weight of the amp can be wrong, and the power output is usually grossly overstated.
I bought a Meng Yue 6P1 PP, a Ming Da MC34B, an EL34 PP Music Angel with independent power trannies for each channel, a Relyon KT88 SE that could only run for 4 hours before overheating (this is a real bad choice), and another Meng Yue 6P1 PP in different chassis to the first one. All of them sounded acceptable in stock form IMO, but all of them in stock form were a fair way away from sounding their best. If you had spent some time with a good tube amp you would think they sound pretty mediocre. If you had never owned a tube amp before you would think they sound very nice, as I did. My comments apply only to the 5 amps mentioned above, since I own them, but I gave the Relyon away to a young fella interested in tube amps, and I gave one of the Meng Yue's away to an old friend who really enjoys it as it is. In fact after a year or so he got me to buy one for his wife (he doesn't use the internet...), since his amp was in the shed, and his wife could do with one upstairs...its been a happy thing.
The best amp I have is a Simple PP by Tubelab, with Hashimoto OPT's, it might cost around $600 to build one like that if you live in USA, the detail is excellent, the bass is deep, the top end extends, it sounds so right, no Chinese amp that I own will ever come very close to it, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy them either, they are enjoyable too (that is - after modification).
Just my opinion...Ian.
PS: Please re-read the 2nd sentence in this post.
Well I'm listening to the MC34B now with a completely different circuit in it and pretty happy with it 🙂 The best thing you can do to a Chinese amp is rebuild it with a known good circuit, and hope the transformers are up to the task. I have found the OPT's are capable of good reproduction. The Ming Da being point to point wired is easy to rebuild.
I have no idea what a MC368B would sound like, so if you heard one and like it, don't let me put you off. The pic shows 5 small signal tubes, the link shows 4 small signal tubes, this is typical, what will the amp come with? Often the listed tubes are not the tubes the amp comes with, and the Chinese small signal tubes are usually fairly roughly made, as in poor balance between each half of a dual triode. This may or may not be a concern depending on the schematic. The stated weight of the amp can be wrong, and the power output is usually grossly overstated.
I bought a Meng Yue 6P1 PP, a Ming Da MC34B, an EL34 PP Music Angel with independent power trannies for each channel, a Relyon KT88 SE that could only run for 4 hours before overheating (this is a real bad choice), and another Meng Yue 6P1 PP in different chassis to the first one. All of them sounded acceptable in stock form IMO, but all of them in stock form were a fair way away from sounding their best. If you had spent some time with a good tube amp you would think they sound pretty mediocre. If you had never owned a tube amp before you would think they sound very nice, as I did. My comments apply only to the 5 amps mentioned above, since I own them, but I gave the Relyon away to a young fella interested in tube amps, and I gave one of the Meng Yue's away to an old friend who really enjoys it as it is. In fact after a year or so he got me to buy one for his wife (he doesn't use the internet...), since his amp was in the shed, and his wife could do with one upstairs...its been a happy thing.
The best amp I have is a Simple PP by Tubelab, with Hashimoto OPT's, it might cost around $600 to build one like that if you live in USA, the detail is excellent, the bass is deep, the top end extends, it sounds so right, no Chinese amp that I own will ever come very close to it, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy them either, they are enjoyable too (that is - after modification).
Just my opinion...Ian.
PS: Please re-read the 2nd sentence in this post.
Yes it's odd - Chinese amps always seem to have some easily avoidable flaw to be corrected, the only consistently good one I have heard of is the Yaqin MC-10L and perhaps the Ming-Da 34AB. Maybe they want to be kind to the mainstream hi-fi manufacturers!!
I view them as kits, you get a good selection of hardware - so you junk the bad bits - specify your schematic - and build something good 😉
i'm reading mixed statements about mingda's bias function. not too sure but the more recent owners seem to state that it is auto biasing- leading me to guess that it's circuits been updated since it's launch several years ago? if not self biasing, would i need to redial everything even when swapping the 12at7s? also i would love to know the specifics of the mods you've done to the amp. i just bought mine and am loving it. listening to it atm by the way, as i've been all day 🙂
Although not adverse to building an amp, as I built my current Audio Note valve preamp. I am having difficulty finding something suitable (and fits my budget). Many of the American kits wont work with our 240v mains supply, and additionally I find that most kits do look like kits when finished.
If I could find a decent kit with a decent chassis within my budget, I would most certainly consider it. My speakers are also home meade and the Volt BM2500 bass driver is a power hungry monster. Realistically I am guessing I would need at least 25 watts per channel to drive them.
I also want to steer away from a separate pre/power combo and get an integrated amp. Partly for reasons of simplicity and space saving, but also because my girlfriend has an unfortunate habit of switching them on the wrong way round and has blown my ribbon tweeters on at least 2 occaisons.😱
Going back to the mains voltage question, I e-mailed Ming Da and enquired if they they could supply their amps for 240 volt operation. THey confirmed this was possible to special order and offered to sell my one direct from the factory.😀
Maybe I need to save a little morre and get the MC34AB, which does at least get consistantly good reviews.
If I could find a decent kit with a decent chassis within my budget, I would most certainly consider it. My speakers are also home meade and the Volt BM2500 bass driver is a power hungry monster. Realistically I am guessing I would need at least 25 watts per channel to drive them.
I also want to steer away from a separate pre/power combo and get an integrated amp. Partly for reasons of simplicity and space saving, but also because my girlfriend has an unfortunate habit of switching them on the wrong way round and has blown my ribbon tweeters on at least 2 occaisons.😱
Going back to the mains voltage question, I e-mailed Ming Da and enquired if they they could supply their amps for 240 volt operation. THey confirmed this was possible to special order and offered to sell my one direct from the factory.😀
Maybe I need to save a little morre and get the MC34AB, which does at least get consistantly good reviews.
A relative of mine bought the Yaqin MC-10L to power his Wilmslow Audio speakers (with the 12" RV3143 Volt unit) and that was way enough power - half the number of output tubes to mess about with too, easy to bias and pretty neat inside. Can be upgraded but sounds very good out of the box, runs on 240V too but I have not measured the voltages!
There is more interesting stuff around like the D2020A but it depends how much you want to do yourself 😉
PreSapian, it should be safe to swap the 12AT7's, in nearly all cases the small signal tubes are self-biasing. Interesting that there is 12AT7 in there, I have not heard of the Chinese using that tube before. That MC34AB sure is a beast, glad you are enjoying it! To work out if the output tubes are self-biasing or not, disconnect the power supply from the mains and remove one of the output tubes. Then measure the resistance from pin 1 or 8 of the tube socket to the outside of the RCA input socket. If the resistance is low, say less than 15 ohms, the amp is fixed bias, if the resistance is high, then it is likely to be self-biasing. Be careful to put the multimeter lead only into pin 1 or 8, as there could be a high voltage remaining on pins 3 and 4, not likely, but possible. I doubt the mods I did would apply to your amp, they are very different amps.
haha i can imagine your pain. i even taped up the switch on my amp that flips the power/integrated function after specifically telling my girlfriend not to touch it ever. she says i've been distant with her ever since buying the amp. that should be understandable for the first month or so... right? xP
hello
Someone may have already heard yaqin m34d or do you recommend this amp ??
http://www.ebay.i-store.asia/EB/products/amplifiers/integ_amp/YQ-MS-34D/photo_01.jpg
Someone may have already heard yaqin m34d or do you recommend this amp ??
http://www.ebay.i-store.asia/EB/products/amplifiers/integ_amp/YQ-MS-34D/photo_01.jpg
^ i purchased that amp three years ago over ebay and returned it due to lack of power that my towers demanded. but if you wanna go ahead with it, i highly recommend that you swap out all the tubes because from my experience they were terribly fatiguing which is the typical of chinese tubes.
Last edited:
Hi! Is anybody has schematic for chinese Soundtrack KT-88?
I try to find info, but with no luck.
I try to find info, but with no luck.
After I knew this amp used two 6ak5 per channel to push el34, then I gave up the idea of buying it. It seems to be very difficult for any nice circuit topology to do both driving and phase splitting just by two pieces of 6ak5. In addition, it also comes with circuit board which means it is nearly impossible to mod the 6ak5 part to 12ax7 + 12au7 or 6ak5 +12au7.
So, I don't bother to investigate it any further.
Hope this helps!😀
What a long thread! What is the latest situation in SE triode area. As I have sensitive horn speakers and medium-sized listening room, I'm looking for quality built single-ended amp in 6-10 Watt area. Can You suggest quality units from China in that particular class?
- Status
- Not open for further replies.