We had an amp shootout in the London Audiocircle tonight and had a
chance to hear 5 chinese amps.

A pair of Bez T3B 300b SETs sounded the best of the lot, and by some
margin.

Two 845 amps were admired for their top to bottom "authority". I
thought they were a bit bland compared to the life in the 300b amp.

A Push Pull EL34 amp with feedback was very forgettable. On the other
hand a KT88 amp with feedback switched off was not bad at all, though
inferior to the 845s and of course the 300b.

The Bez amps did have some good 300bs fitted, plus some nice 6J5gt
variants (including the 2C22).

This all made me very curious about what others have found in Chinese
amp shootouts. Keith, for example, must have a rank order of the best
by now!!

So - what's your experience of Chinese valve amps? Andy

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
We had an amp shootout in the London Audiocircle tonight and had a
chance to hear 5 chinese amps.

A pair of Bez T3B 300b SETs sounded the best of the lot, and by some
margin.

Two 845 amps were admired for their top to bottom "authority". I
thought they were a bit bland compared to the life in the 300b amp.

A Push Pull EL34 amp with feedback was very forgettable. On the other
hand a KT88 amp with feedback switched off was not bad at all, though
inferior to the 845s and of course the 300b.

The Bez amps did have some good 300bs fitted, plus some nice 6J5gt
variants (including the 2C22).

This all made me very curious about what others have found in Chinese
amp shootouts. Keith, for example, must have a rank order of the best
by now!!

So - what's your experience of Chinese valve amps? Andy

Can you give us some idea of the retail prices?

tox

"Your Worst Nightmare" trabant owners club@Nicks place.comco wrote in
message ...

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
We had an amp shootout in the London Audiocircle tonight and had a
chance to hear 5 chinese amps.

A pair of Bez T3B 300b SETs sounded the best of the lot, and by some
margin.

Two 845 amps were admired for their top to bottom "authority". I
thought they were a bit bland compared to the life in the 300b amp.

A Push Pull EL34 amp with feedback was very forgettable. On the other
hand a KT88 amp with feedback switched off was not bad at all, though
inferior to the 845s and of course the 300b.

The Bez amps did have some good 300bs fitted, plus some nice 6J5gt
variants (including the 2C22).

This all made me very curious about what others have found in Chinese
amp shootouts. Keith, for example, must have a rank order of the best
by now!!

So - what's your experience of Chinese valve amps? Andy

Can you give us some idea of the retail prices?



What few UK Chinese valve amp sellers there are do ramp up the prices
somewhat and are costly compared to eBay (search both 'valve amp' and
'tube amp') - but bear in mind if you do buy an amp direct from China,
you are much more 'on your own' if summat goes tits-up and there may
well be a long delivery time and the likelihood of some Import Duty!

In fact, eBay seems to be getting into it in quite a big way these
days - here's an example:

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/Valves-Tub...AT:-1:SEARCH:1

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
We had an amp shootout in the London Audiocircle tonight and had a
chance to hear 5 chinese amps.

A pair of Bez T3B 300b SETs sounded the best of the lot, and by some
margin.

Two 845 amps were admired for their top to bottom "authority". I
thought they were a bit bland compared to the life in the 300b amp.

A Push Pull EL34 amp with feedback was very forgettable. On the other
hand a KT88 amp with feedback switched off was not bad at all, though
inferior to the 845s and of course the 300b.

The Bez amps did have some good 300bs fitted, plus some nice 6J5gt
variants (including the 2C22).

This all made me very curious about what others have found in Chinese
amp shootouts. Keith, for example, must have a rank order of the best
by now!!

So - what's your experience of Chinese valve amps? Andy



Andy, I have no more experience of Chinese valve amps other than of
those I bought myself plus, I think, only one more belonging to someone
else and I certainly have never heard any expensive Chinese audio kit -
'cheepy Chinkies' is the phrase I've always used! That understood, I am
happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best Chinese
valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound from it on my Fidelios!

From *appearances only* (mags, 'Net, eBay photos) it certainly seems
Chinese valve amps have moved into 'Phase 2' and it looks like they have
cottoned onto the fact that 'visual signals' play a great part in
people's appreciation of audio products - hence the more recent
offerings look a lot 'posher' than when I got into it and, if anything,
they are even cheaper now!!

My advice to anyone considering a Chinese valve remains the same - sure,
go ahead, they are a *tiny fraction* of the price of an equivalent
Western product and probably not far behind in terms of sound quality,
but do buy the soldering iron first!! :-)

In fact, I'm not sure the distinction 'Chinese' means anything much
now - cheap kit (with all the associated risks) is cheap kit no matter
where it comes from and damn near everything is being made in China
these days, in any case! (Hobson's Choice either way, it seems!!)

am happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best
Chinese valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound

Seems they got everything right with this one. But I wonder if it's
made from the same parts in the same factory throughout its life -
Chinese stuff seems to emerge under all sorts of names and dealers.

It's true that most stuff is built in China. You pay more for good
design and quality control when you buy it in the UK under a UK brand
name. But in the case of the Bez, I think the quality of it has been
sufficiently proven. A little classic in its way.

Andy

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
am happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best
Chinese valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound

Seems they got everything right with this one. But I wonder if it's
made from the same parts in the same factory throughout its life -
Chinese stuff seems to emerge under all sorts of names and dealers.

It's true that most stuff is built in China. You pay more for good
design and quality control when you buy it in the UK under a UK brand
name. But in the case of the Bez, I think the quality of it has been
sufficiently proven. A little classic in its way.


The Bez site has got to be the worst site on the whole 'Net:

http://www.bezdz.com/


If you've got half a day to bugger about and click links as you find
them you will find all sorts of stuff! Pages come and go randomly it
seems and once there was a page with no end of different amps, but it
seems to missing lately. (You almost wonder if they were capable of
producing the same amp twice!!)

But like I say, I love mine - I switch it on, it farts and pops for a
while then it settles down. If the farting goes on too long I whack one
of the drivers over the head and that usually does the trick -

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/myhifi/Bez%20T3B-3.JPG

- second from the left, front row! (I've got spares but why TF should I
give in to it??) If I feed it a rectifier from time to time it'll play
all day long, happy as Larry!

(It's on its 3rd Chinese 274B rectifier now - they are *not* good; the
one that's in it atm will fluff up all pink for a few moments at
switch-on from time to time, but then it settles down! It's a kind of
*powerplay* - you've got to show it you're not impressed!! :-)

On Sep 21, 11:50?pm, "Keith G" wrote:
"Andy Evans" wrote in message

oups.com...

am happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best
Chinese valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound

Seems they got everything right with this one. But I wonder if it's
made from the same parts in the same factory throughout its life -
Chinese stuff seems to emerge under all sorts of names and dealers.

It's true that most stuff is built in China. You pay more for good
design and quality control when you buy it in the UK under a UK brand
name. But in the case of the Bez, I think the quality of it has been
sufficiently proven. A little classic in its way.

The Bez site has got to be the worst site on the whole 'Net:

http://www.bezdz.com/

If you've got half a day to bugger about and click links as you find
them you will find all sorts of stuff! Pages come and go randomly it
seems and once there was a page with no end of different amps, but it
seems to missing lately. (You almost wonder if they were capable of
producing the same amp twice!!)

But like I say, I love mine - I switch it on, it farts and pops for a
while then it settles down. If the farting goes on too long I whack one
of the drivers over the head and that usually does the trick -

Sounds like a dodgy socket or a bad solder joint - the dreaded
"involuntary farting". Is there a PCB or is it point to point?

standard mods are a Mullard rectifier, 6J7G and 6P5GT

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Sep 21, 11:50?pm, "Keith G" wrote:


But like I say, I love mine - I switch it on, it farts and pops for a
while then it settles down. If the farting goes on too long I whack
one
of the drivers over the head and that usually does the trick -

Sounds like a dodgy socket or a bad solder joint - the dreaded
"involuntary farting". Is there a PCB or is it point to point?


Point to point:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/BezWiring.JPG


standard mods are a Mullard rectifier, 6J7G and 6P5GT



Whacking a valve on the head from time to time is quicker/cheaper....
:-)

On Sep 21, 11:50?pm, "Keith G" wrote:
"Andy Evans" wrote in message

oups.com...

am happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best
Chinese valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound

Seems they got everything right with this one. But I wonder if it's
made from the same parts in the same factory throughout its life -
Chinese stuff seems to emerge under all sorts of names and dealers.

It's true that most stuff is built in China. You pay more for good
design and quality control when you buy it in the UK under a UK brand
name. But in the case of the Bez, I think the quality of it has been
sufficiently proven. A little classic in its way.

The Bez site has got to be the worst site on the whole 'Net:

http://www.bezdz.com/


http://www.bezdz.com/images2/28%BA%C...E2%CD%BC .bmp

Clearly it has a very odd circuit, using devices unknown in the
West....

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Sep 21, 11:50?pm, "Keith G" wrote:
"Andy Evans" wrote in message

oups.com...

am happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best
Chinese valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound

Seems they got everything right with this one. But I wonder if it's
made from the same parts in the same factory throughout its life -
Chinese stuff seems to emerge under all sorts of names and dealers.

It's true that most stuff is built in China. You pay more for good
design and quality control when you buy it in the UK under a UK
brand
name. But in the case of the Bez, I think the quality of it has
been
sufficiently proven. A little classic in its way.

The Bez site has got to be the worst site on the whole 'Net:

http://www.bezdz.com/


http://www.bezdz.com/images2/28%BA%C...E2%CD%BC .bmp

Clearly it has a very odd circuit, using devices unknown in the
West....


That link comes up as a street plan on my machine - here's the circuit:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show...%20Circuit.JPG


The only components I've had fail* were the volume pot (replaced with an
Alps) and the lead on one of the *German* capacitors broke - fixed in a
heartbeat. If you are realistic about the amount of money that falls off
'hifi gear' values as they age (from new), this amp now owes me
virtually nothing and, I suspect, it will around for a long time yet. It
has become 'one of the family'!

*So far....

:-)