On Sun, 10 May 2009 07:51:36 GMT, Rob
wrote:

And I did try a Chinese EL34 amp - bought new for about £200. Had an
incurable hum that didn't bother me overly - it was the quite staggering
heat the thing chucked out that had me worried, and it's been ebayed
(for a small return) now.

Back in the days of valve tellies, my engineering boss gave me good
advice about buying one. "Go at the end of the day, and sniff them
all. But the one that doesn't smell of burning".

d