Budget Chinese Tube amps - any good?

We used to make a guitar amplifier for a guitar amp company in town. One time they sent some parts to us to evaluate- they were Chinese imports. One of the parts was an electrolytic capacitor, rated 47uf @ 450Volts.

Now this might be a part you would use in a power supply of an amplifier. It looked a little odd though. Most tubular style filter caps have the negative end made out of metal, with the negative lead welded to that, and the other end will have a black rubber cap and the lead for the plus connection coming out of the middle of that. This part was weird because it had a black rubber plug at *both* ends. It was marked as Nichicon, a well-known manufacturer of electrolytic caps. We decided to take the cap apart.

What we found inside was another, smaller cap with a name that I could not pronounce, marked 22uf @ 400Volts. Can you imagine what would have happened if we had installed this in a power supply? Not only was it under-rated, but there is a good chance that the part we found within would not even spec up to its ratings either!

There is by no means an isolated incident. IMO the biggest issue that you run into with Chinese-built electronics will be the high voltage power supplies.

Another recommendation for Pacific Valve. They're great guys that will give you excellent support. The Eastern Electric M88 tube integrated is fantastic also, and a great value. And Bill the importer is a guy you can count on for support also.

That's the thing with buying Chinese stuff, you need a good American go-between to give you support if needed.

I recently ordered some speakers from Stereo Unlimited in Walnut Creek. These folks recommend a Jolida amp to go with the speakers. They mod the amp and they say they will help out if anything should go wrong. This seems to be a pretty good option...to get a relatively low price, and also some local support...I'm probabably going to go for it..not 100% sure yet

Maybe I lucked out, but I bought a 50WPC Yaqin MC-10T EL34 amp and was really surprised by the fidelity. It was certainly better than my old modified Dynaco 70 and I even preferred it to my Dynaco Mark IIIs. The output transformers are beefy too, almost the same size of a Dynaco Mark III.

Build quality is pretty high with a nicely made chassis. But based on my capacitor replacement experience, working on them is difficult. Components are located underneath the circuit board, which required the removal of a dozen screws, a coupled of wire clips, and some tie-downs to get at.

Regarding sound quality - what started off as very good, got even better once I replaced the four Shuguang 12AT7s with a pair of Mullards and a pair of US-made Tungsols. I now use the amp to drive the tweeters in my bi-amp system, where a Threshold S/500 does the heavy-duty work.

Full-range sound quality is very fast and detailed, and doesn't sound sloppy/spongey like some vintage tube amps. What really surprised me is the treble detail and clarity - clean and effortless without a hint of glare or stridency. Again, much better than I expected for under $500.

I'll have to see about long-term quality - my main concerns are the Chinese tube sockets since replacing them looks like a tough job. With that in mind, I don't plan to do a lot of tube-swapping.

purchased a cayin integrated S.E.T. 300b 10w/pc .great sound and value superb craftmanship,,point to point wiring ,probably my last amp ,heard a few others for twice the price ,,cayin won hands down ,,anyway just my opinion,mated with the outstanding sounding speakers made by louis of omega speakers in norwalk ct..