Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › Ebay Tube Amps
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Ebay Tube Amps

post #1 of 89
1/21/07 at 10:25pm
Thread Starter 
What do you chaps think of these amps? I'm unfamiliar with tube gear but these seem to be pretty good looking stuff for the money. They look like the Sophia baby tube amp except with chinese tubes (I think). Normally this sort of stuff is out of order because of the postage costs form the far east, but these are in the UK. I'd be planning to use one with my Ergo AMT headphones.

Ones more expensive with more watts, but I need less than 10 anyway. Opinions?

6p1

6p14
Reply

Head-Fi's Best Sellers

post #2 of 89
1/21/07 at 10:54pm
I purchased this from the seller listed in that auction and was met with a smooth transaction and a really quality amplifier that seems to have endless headroom and is really able to space out the soundstage and prevent each instrument from sounding crowded and mashed together. The bass on it is strong and very tight and this amp generally doesn't have the typical tube amp excessive warmth and instead is a bit warm and forgiving but at the same time very tight and accurate.

I highly recommend this amplifier.
Reply
post #3 of 89
1/21/07 at 11:00pm
Thread Starter 
Excellent, thanks very much. I just pulled the trigger. I could only just afford the 6p14 amp so I went with the smaller 6p1. Youre link isnt to the same amp, but confirmation the seller isnt a fraud is good.
Reply
post #4 of 89
1/21/07 at 11:08pm
Yeah I just wanted to shed a light on how not all amps coming out of China are garbage. My 6P13 is really really special and really goes well with my MDR's. I hope everything goes well with your order and see if you can get a tracking number. I managed to get one but it was a bit useless since it merely said when my package departed China and never told me anything past that. I merely say this since it seems that you must be present to sign for a package like this and I remember I wasn't and so I had to walk down from my dorm to my local post office downtown on a rather cold day.
Reply
post #5 of 89
1/22/07 at 12:24am
Good job Duggeh! Let us know your impressions as the 6p1 comes at such an affordable price.
Reply
post #6 of 89
1/22/07 at 8:24am
Funny this should come up now - I just started a thread on this very topic last night. I also pulled the trigger on a 6P1 yesterday - also from a UK seller - duggeh - was your seller alphamission in teh UK? If so, I know 2 friends of mine who have also bought this amp and all went according to plan.

They are extremely happy with the amp, one guy would have had a lot of hifi gear and would really know his stuff and he recommends it.

The question now is about tubes. The 6N3 is no problem - its the same tube as a 5670/396A/2C51 as far as I can tell. The 6P1, I think, is the same as an EL84 but I'm waiting on confirmation of this. If it is then this is one hell of a deal for an EL84 amp!

Fran
Reply
post #7 of 89
1/22/07 at 3:41pm
More info on the 6P1 tubes:

(in response to a Q are the 6P1 equivalent to EL84):

OK, Done some research and it appears that they are NOT the same/equivalent.


To make matters worse, the 6P1 (often seen in ebay tube amps) is usually advertised as 6AQ5. The problem is that the 6P1 is 9 pin while the 6AQ5/EL90 is 7 pin! It does seem that the 6P1 is the same as a russian 6P1P.

It really doesn't help matters that sellers of the 6P1P tube on ebay almost universally advertise it as 6P1P/6AQ5/EL90!!!!

I gather that electrically they are very similar, so could anyone shed any light on this? Is there such a thing as a 9 pin to 7 pin adapter that would allow one to use the EL90?


And a subsequent reply to that again:

Unfortunate, but I have seen these mixed up for years... electrically close, but physically different. But if you have an amp that uses 6P1s, they're cheap enough, likewise so are 6AQ5s. EL84s have higher gain and will require reduction of the bias voltage or cathode resistor if you rewire sockets for them. 6973, 6CZ5, 6CM6, 6061, 6BW6 will work in place of 6P1 without circuit changes, but are different 9-pin pinouts.



So theres the answers to your questions! I've posted another Q to ask is there a good way to aviod confusion in buying the wrong tubes off ebay, ie what to look for in pics of tubes on auctions otehr than the pins.




Fran
Reply
post #8 of 89
1/22/07 at 8:19pm
OK,

as of now I believe that the only tubes that directly substitute in are the 6P1 itself and its russian version 6P1P. These tubes are not the same as EL84/EL90/6AQ5/JAN600?/6P14P and so on.

It seems that you can get the 6P1 and 6P1P tubes for peanuts off ebay, but you must be sure that they are 9pin bases - ideally the seller should be able to give you a tube data sheet that you can compare.

Here is the data sheet for 6P1

and here is one for 6P1P and 6P1P-ev (mil spec version) should anyone need this info down the line


Fran
Reply
post #9 of 89
1/22/07 at 11:54pm
Thread Starter 
This info is all good to hear. If these really are chinese repicas of the Sophia, then its a pretty good buy.
Reply
post #10 of 89
1/23/07 at 1:19am
duggeh,

pls post your impressions upon receipt of this seemingly good bargain of an amp. I am a bit skeptical of pulling the trigger, as I have been immensely underwhelmed by the little dot 2+.
Reply
post #11 of 89
1/23/07 at 9:39am
Oh god, oh crap, oh dear. I'm about to buy one of these aren't I? Bloody curse. Bloody hell.
Reply
post #12 of 89
1/23/07 at 11:39am
Thread Starter 
Your K1K demands you sacrifice more money to its needs.
Reply
post #13 of 89
1/23/07 at 11:59am
Stewtheking, just to let you know I bought mine from ebay seller "alphamission" he has them for £64.99 plus I think £20 postage to anywhere in the UK. He seems to be the cheapest around and no duties to worry about. Now I haven't received mine yet but he has 100% feedback.

Other word of warning to those out there - I don't know exactly how the headphone amp is set up ie where the headphone output comes from in teh circuit. However the output transformer for speaker outputs seems to be set up for 4 or 8 ohms so you might need to watch that with the K1000s (not sure what their impedance is).

It does seems very similar to the sophia amp but doncha know the sophia amp is probably tweaked a bit with nicer caps etc. Nothing that a fella couldn't do if he wanted.

Fran

Fran
Reply
post #14 of 89
1/23/07 at 12:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Duggeh View Post
Your K1K demands you sacrifice more money to its needs.
Still... oh dear. I'm going to have 3 bloody speaker amps sitting around my room.
Reply
post #15 of 89
1/25/07 at 2:05pm
Thread Starter 
Mine just arrived. Beautiful looking, very heavy.












Plugged the tubes in, connected it up. Turned it on. Listening to music and theres some audible distortion in the right channel. But Im wondering if this is just the tubes needing to warm up. 5 minutes of listenign later and I can smell burning and the distortion is still there so i killed it.

Have I done the right thing here or should amps like this behave oddly the first time they turn on? Certainly im not goign to leave it running on an unwatched warm up while i go out tonight. Anyone have any suggestions?
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Headphone Amps (full-size)

Head-Fi's Best Sellers

Head-Fi.org › Forums › Equipment Forums › Headphone Amps (full-size) › Ebay Tube Amps