"Iain Churches" wrote



Hi Andy. I have repaired a few (but not a Bez, which,
by all accounts is indeed one of the best)

It seems to me the Chinese alternative is a two-edged sword.
It gives people the chance to try a valve amp, without spending
a huge amount of money. But at the same time, reliability is nothing
like as good as it should be. This is reflected in very low second
hand value. People could get the idea that *all* valve amps are
unreliable.

Cosmetically they are quite good (you either like the Chinese "style"
or youi don't:-) You could not buy a stainless steel chassis here in
the EU for the price of a complete Chinese amplifier.

The ones I have worked on have simple faults, caused by poor quality
under-specified components - like skeleton pots for bias adjust etc.

Most have potted transformers. I suspect the transformers are quite
a lot smaller than the pots, because the bandwidth of these amps at
full power is pretty poor.

Under the deck, these amplifiers bear a remarkable similarity, as
if there is one generic board for many different versions. I have the
feeling that most of the brands come from the same factory.

I have seen one with a "Elps" (sic) input potentiometer.

Last winter I was in Viet Nam. I visited an audio wholesaler, who
offered me any ten Chinese amps in the warehouse for USD 1 000.

Most of them seem to be sold direct, not through a local dealer.
So, to whom to you turn when the amp fails?

Also, the ones I have seen carry no CE mark

Having said all that, as an entry level amp, they cannot be beaten,
as long as you don't expect something for nothing.



Difficult/impossible to disagree with anything you have said, but I have
to repeat that if the entry level for a 300B SET was an unavoidable
3,500 UKP or so, I would not have wandered off in that direction and
would probably not have got one myself. Buying cheap to 'practice with'
isn't confined to valve amps - it's the natural way in for a lot of
people in a lot of different ways and I suspect a lot more people will
progress from a cheap SET to a better one than will have been put off by
one going tits-up.

I would also add that I'm not too keen on the latest wave of Chinese
offerings; as you say: 'potted tranies', 'PCBs' and 'pretty boy'
cosmetics - all smacks of smart entrepreneurial types riding the wave of
some current fad which always (IMO) ultimately degrades rather than
enhances....