1st full tube amp Oldchen EL34

The Psvane 5U4G receives good reviews for reliability/sonics from what I just Googled.

The cheap 5Z3P’s and 5AR4's are the one’s I’ve read bad things about.

How does it sound?

I ran a friend’s Chorus II’s with my little 2A3 kit amps years ago and liked them (hated them with her SS amp).

DeKay

Welcome to the world of Tubes. 

Pay no attention to @jasonbourne52 nothing wrong with starting off with a lower cost tube amp. 

I'm on my second Chinese amp. The first, Music Angle 6n1p, class A, sounded good. It was even better after a capacitor & pre-amp tube replacement (7199 for whatever came with it). An unqualified American tech killed it. The second is a Sophia EL 34 A/B https://tubeintegratedamplifier.com/sophia_electric_el34_tube_integrated_amplifier_120v_s_e_t_music.php.

For six hundred dollars, it's unbeatable, esp. with a set of JJ EL 34s.

Neither are built like an American tube amp. Nor or they as expensive.

Hey.

First off, ignore @jasonbourne52

I have some first hand experience with the same amp! A friend purchased one a few years back - he wanted an inexpensive tube amp - liked the look of glowing tubes. We did some research and he ended up getting the Oldchen.

He did not manage the amp very well... Was left on 24/7 with dodgy speaker wires being disconnected intermittently.

Here’s the thing, not s single problem with it! Tubes didn’t blow, transformers survived, capacitors didnt spontaneously combust, he wanst electrocuted and the house didnt burn down...

I’m amazed the thing kept running! He recently gifted it to me (I’m an avid DIY guy...) The tubes it came with were crappy to begin with, and he never upgraded them. I put a Winged-C Black plate rectifier tube in in, some Psvane Phillips EL34 replica tubes and a pair of vintage RCA 6SN7’s in the amp. Quite nice sounding!

I have since stripped it down to its base components and will be repurposing it and turning it into a 5 or so watt power amp. When you open it, be prepared to see silicone covering every solder joint! Its not easy to remove. In fact, I would say its impossible. Thats why I decided to strip it down completely and use the parts for a completely new build. Too much headache trying to work around the silicone and solder in new parts. So, I pulled the transformers, the choke, connectors, tube sockets and the rest is headed for the trash heap. I have all the parts (capacitors/resistors/wire etc) and will be building a new chassis and amp from scratch.

All that to say, if the solder joints are covered in silicone (mine was pt to pt wired), the just put some nice tubes in it and enjoy it. It will certainly let you know if you like the sonic signature of a single ended tube amp without breaking the back. If you do, then you can go hunting for a 211 or 845 based amp :)

Enjoy!

And as others have stated above.

Tube amps are high voltage devices, and can "hurt" (yes, speaking from experience...)

Only ever put one hand in the chassis at a time, unless you have discharged the caps and it is unplugged. I got a rather unpleasant shock when putting one of my DIY projects on the shelf after working on something. Fingers went under the wooden base of the amp and touched some wires. This while my thumbs were on the metal top of the chassis.