Ok I’m going to poke the wasps nest...I personally own this same model and I am completely satisfied with it. I find it to be a great “starter” integrated tube amplifier. Watching this video shows what mistreated electronics look like. Cosmetic appearance is simply horrid. I agree with the pass on repair comments only because it was hacked up inside, but disagree on the “Chinese crap” comments. It amazes me how ignorant some comments are when it’s clear their opinions hold zero merit due to the fact they’ve NEVER LISTENED to this amplifier! Is it cheap inside? Apparently it is...was it hacked up? Sure was! Do non hacked models sound good? In my opinion yes I think they do. Do we not purchase these luxuries to enjoy music? I get it’s not your traditional “audiophile badge” on the front but I’ve yet to hear the faceplate badge on any amplifier reproduce sound let alone music! Nice looking and sounding tube integrated for the money! Hope all have a wonderful holiday season!
I would have tackled this only if new bare circuit boards were available (not likely). A quick email or phone call to Divergent Technologies would suffice. I agree with your decision to bail on that project.
Burn marks, extra components added, traces fried, and re-wired. Yep, best decision is to let it walk. If they brought it to you first it would be one thing. But, being the second technician in there. Not worth the time. Also, as you stated. Would cost more to fix then it is worth.
Hi! I found your channel a while ago through RU-vid's recommendations function. I so totally fell in love with this amp. I am being absolutely serious when I say that. I now know that I want one. Cost is irrelevant, I'm willing to spend at least $1 000 to get a beauty like this! But ideally, I want one that is WAY more messed up than this one. I'm thinking one that is totally destroyed. Every component broken, especially the chassis and the transformers. I would like it to come either with physically broken or missing tubes. Can any of you who reads this steer me towards an object in that kind of condition? You will have found a friend for life. Best Regards Lars Karlsson
Scary video! A "fiend" gave me a nice looking Antique Sound Lab (USA) AQ- 1002 power amp last month.... Fitted with only 2 or the original quads of kt88s and 12au7s. Looking this "Gift Horse" in the mouth, I opened it up and found a couple of burned out resistors but the rest isn't butchered like this one. Fortunately the assembly kit version instructions & circuit diagrams are still available online. My local repair shop in Missoula Montana has semi retired, and isn't returning phone calls or emails. So I decided to order some resistors from the tube depot... We'll see if she runs with an older set of 6ca7s before I risk my Mullards or Gold Lions or buy a set of KT88s for it... 🎶🤔🎶
After watching this video, I wonder if the customer bought this thing this way or if he is trying to get it fixed up and working so he can unload it. It is hard to believe that someone who knows which end of the iron is hot would have turned out a mess like this. I agree with your conclusion. This thing belongs in the landfill. It doesn't even have salvage value.
the end result: boat anchor :-) not only that...it's sure to become like a cat that has adopted a bush in front of the house. no matter what you do it keeps finding it's mange ridden way back to annoy you and leave more fleas.
This is what you get when a guitar amp tech (NOT!) thinks he can repair other electronics with NO background or electronics studies or understanding. I am increasingly seeing this all around the repair business, shoddy work done by ignorant techs with NO background, no mentors, no nothing. These people are giving real techs a bad name.
Compare this with old Dynaco kits.......! More than once i got messed up tube amps like this one with the request to retube the amp , only to discover his kind off mess.....just like you i ended up refusing them. Lost time and lost money without the thing becoming a quality amp after repair ....no any satisfaction working on this rubbish.
With cheaper parts than the original Dynacos hiding beneath the empty transformer covers and chrome plating, I couldn't agree more strongly. There are too many good new and used EL84 push-pull amps to waste time on this one.
+cbobcheck In the 70s there were tons of illegal linear amplifiers made for the CB radio band. FCC stated 4 watts output on AM & 10 on SSB were max allowable, these amplifiers allowed operators to put out hundreds if not thousands of watts. Many were built in basements by shady engineers.
this is the consequence of audiophile wannabees thinking they can improve a shitty amp by changing capacitor brand and "handwiring" because wires are better than pcb traces. Reality is these amps come with the worse tubes on earth and transformers can't be high quality either,so any attempt to make it better is pretty worthless(unless you pay a big amount of money,that you could better spend on a well made amp by a serious company).
