[Makiah S]

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Mshenay,
I hear ya buddy. I've had work in the food industry 3 different times, and had other jobs that just bum wore me out (never ate so much and slept so hard as when I was in landscaping though), and if I learned anything it was to be respectful for how demanding jobs are for the blue-collar man. A Bravo (or Indeed, seriously) would probably be fine, although the gain sweet spot is small on the volume pot, and it may take up to a month to arrive from Hong Kong. So, just manage your expectations.
I'm a little disappointed you haven't actually found a review or comparison, basically just assumed the cheaper Fred_Fred_2004 amp is inferior to the Bravo/Indeed/Muse design because both are smaller or have less "wiring" than Fred_Fred (Howard's) desktop amp. I don't actually follow what you're thinking, so to be on the same page, without reading a direct comparison review I would chose Howard's for about the same price because he hand-makes them with better build quality than the factory that makes the amp for Bravo/indeed/Muse to sell. The Bravo clones do have the advantage of RCA inputs and outputs. I don't know the advantages of Howard's desktop other than the addition of RCA input and upgraded parts listed on the eBay page, though I have faith he did have a reason for charging more. Did you hear back on what he'd sell it to you for?

Well I'm currently in cullinary school doing landscaping so -.- some days COOK ON ALL other days LANDSCAPE ALL DAY >.>
 
Non the less I'll ask Howard about the $108 version of it, and I don't expect WONDERS from the bravo all I want is a different sound from my Pure solid state cMoy and E11, the Jds cMoy bb is lush and neutral in sound stage, the E11 is dark and closed in sound stage. If the Bravo has more forward mids and highs that would be different an nice maybe...

 

[ClieOS]

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ClieOS,
Thank you for lending your experience and analysis.
I agree with what you are saying, and take it further - there obviously is more to an amp than the inspiration for the design (like CMoy or Sidjosae). There is implementation, circuit layout and design, component choice, power usage, heat dissipation, case design, quality control... Music could be considered limited by note variety and key, but then not all musicians play scales on piano! Action or romance stories could all be considered to be the same! I think everybody gets the picture. Have you seen any reviews on Howard's tube hybrids?
I get my amp tomorrow I get my amp tomorrow! I wish I could share it with you and see what you would think of it. I have a general idea of what to listen for and how to describe it, do you have any suggestions for how to write my review so that it will be understood and useful to others?

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Never read any review on it. Then again, I wasn't looking for it since I don't actually use tube amp much more and already have a few collecting dust.
 
Tube amp usually is a love or hate thing (but mostly love), so take your time before reviewing it. You might even want to roll a few different brands of tube just to get the feel of what tube rolling is all about.

 

[Evshrug]

Never read any review on it. Then again, I wasn't looking for it since I don't actually use tube amp much more and already have a few collecting dust.

Tube amp usually is a love or hate thing (but mostly love), so take your time before reviewing it. You might even want to roll a few different brands of tube just to get the feel of what tube rolling is all about.

Thanks... well, I don't have any spare tubes at the moment, but what you say makes sense to understand the differences between tubes, and what the amp does regardless of what tube is inside. I may post as an "initial impression review" then, because I do want to speak on what it specifically sounds like vs what I already have in the SS realm.

Anyway, should be here, c'ya later!

Update: aw man... The amp is beautiful, luxurious even, but the tube got busted in transit

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

Thanks... well, I don't have any spare tubes at the moment, but what you say makes sense to understand the differences between tubes, and what the amp does regardless of what tube is inside. I may post as an "initial impression review" then, because I do want to speak on what it specifically sounds like vs what I already have in the SS realm.
Anyway, should be here, c'ya later!
Update: aw man... The amp is beautiful, luxurious even, but the tube got busted in transit

... BUSTED, then dude call up the shipping company and TAKE IT OUT poliety on them :3

 

[Evshrug]

... BUSTED, then dude call up the shipping company and TAKE IT OUT poliety on them :3

Don't know if that would be USPS or Latvijas Pasts, and I dunno if either could me made to take responsibility. Either way, it's just a $10 part that I'll have to wait like another week before I can get a replacement. The amp is so nicely built that I'm just going to try and find the fastest solution.

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

Don't know if that would be USPS or Latvijas Pasts, and I dunno if either could me made to take responsibility. Either way, it's just a $10 part that I'll have to wait like another week before I can get a replacement. The amp is so nicely built that I'm just going to try and find the fastest solution.

what kind of amp was it :O that looks nice for a Bravo

 

[Evshrug]

what kind of amp was it :O that looks nice for a Bravo

It's not a Bravo, TBH it's in a whole different class because of hand-craftsmanship and cost. I do agree that it looks great, also it's mounted to the aluminum enclosure in such a way that the enclosure acts as a huge heatsink and wireless signal shield (no distortion from nearby cellphones or wifi routers).

 

[Makiah S]

Quote:

It's not a Bravo, TBH it's in a whole different class because of hand-craftsmanship and cost. I do agree that it looks great, also it's mounted to the aluminum enclosure in such a way that the enclosure acts as a huge heatsink and wireless signal shield (no distortion from nearby cellphones or wifi routers).

coolio! 

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 Also, the closest reference I've read to what you're saying about Howard's tube hybrid in the Hammond case is that the tube is just there to color the sound, while the solid state part of the show does the gain and power amplification... which is how all tube hybrids work to my knowledge. Howard also built a USB hub with a tube in it as a joke, that was an absolutely "transparent" tube, lol.

 
I wasn't talking about the tube built-in to the circuit to colour the sound, he was selling portable/desktop amp's in the black generic hammond cases that was based on either the RA1 design or a pure Cmoy circuit with a tube that is externally powered only as a display thing, it didn't work in conjunction with the tube and had no affect on the sound whatsoever.
 
 

I'm a little disappointed you haven't actually found a review or comparison, basically just assumed the cheaper Fred_Fred_2004 amp is inferior to the Bravo/Indeed/Muse design because both are smaller or have less "wiring" than Fred_Fred (Howard's) desktop amp. I don't actually follow what you're thinking, so to be on the same page, without reading a direct comparison review I would chose Howard's for about the same price because he hand-makes them with better build quality than the factory that makes the amp for Bravo/indeed/Muse to sell. The Bravo clones do have the advantage of RCA inputs and outputs. I don't know the advantages of Howard's desktop other than the addition of RCA input and upgraded parts listed on the eBay page, though I have faith he did have a reason for charging more. Did you hear back on what he'd sell it to you for?

 

A little off-track but I still own 1 one of fred's portable Ti amp's and two of other Cmoy design's I was given for free by a friend who purchased it off his ebay page. Suffice to say, all 3 amp's compared to the Bravo or any other 12AU7 clone for that matter is not even a fair comparison. The amp's I had the opamp's hard soldered, my Ti v2 (or v1) was soldered SMD style. With the Bravo you can just roll a different tube to get the sound characteristic you like best and it has a bigger affect then rolling opamp's. Better build-quality is subjective like sound, I've opened both 3 of his portable amp's and was going to add a rechargeable mod to my Ti amp (after getting the schematics off him via PM) but decided to leave it otherwise, I don't even use the amp now, now that I have bigger toy's to play with. Remember they are hand-worked unit's they are not perfect, one could look at the solder and layout could tell. The only con I can list about the Bravo is the crap PCB quality, other than that I was even surprised to see an ALP's pot used when I received my Bravo 2 half years ago.
 
Another factor is that they Bravo can power any 50-600ohm headphone quite efficiently, the Cmoy's not quite so much, the only headphone's I would imagine the Bravo cannot drive adequately enough would be the HE-6 and the K1000's.

 

[Evshrug]

True, much more gain, though I need current personally for my Q701. Surprised to hear about a cosmetic tube in an amp from him, because I definitely read a thread where he made a gadget with a light up tube superficially attached as a joke.... Wouldn't think someone poking fun like that publicly on head-Fi would make a commercial product like that.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I've read quite a few posts on various sites talking about the Bravo/Indeed/Muse tube amps lasting only a few weeks due to noise & heat issues. For example:
http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=b&thread=4948&page=34#122005

Does anyone here have enough hours on theirs to confirm/deny this?

 

[Evshrug]

Billybob,
I can't speak from personal experience, but even from the major thread of Head-Fi
http://www.head-fi.org/t/444400/bravo-audio-funny-looking-little-tube-amps/300
I see many examples of people having problems with power switches (which have been a bit upgraded from the first revisions), power supplies (the Indeed comes with a superior PS), and overheating issues... It seems that the amp is most appealing to those with an interest in electronics and modding, where fixing it would be part of the fun, or people who just want a really inexpensive amp that can supply a lot of gain for high-impedance headphones, and don't mind replacing it within a year.

So, an Indeed is going to sound good and be easy to learn a little modding, a good inexpensive choice for an amp that you will get good use out of it till it fails.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

I've read quite a few posts on various sites talking about the Bravo/Indeed/Muse tube amps lasting only a few weeks due to noise & heat issues. For example:
http://rockgrotto.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=b&thread=4948&page=34#122005
Does anyone here have enough hours on theirs to confirm/deny this?

Never had a problem with mine, but one other user did have the overheating issue on one side of his IRF630 mosfet's/heatsink and the sound was quite unbalanced, he ended up fixing it by exchanging two resistors for trimpots and adjusted the bias to the right v for the heaters appropriately. Noise generally comes from bad solder connections/loose components or bad power supply, you'd get a low hum that increases if you dial the volume up.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

Billybob,
I can't speak from personal experience, but even from the major thread of Head-Fi
http://www.head-fi.org/t/444400/bravo-audio-funny-looking-little-tube-amps/300
I see many examples of people having problems with power switches (which have been a bit upgraded from the first revisions), power supplies (the Indeed comes with a superior PS), and overheating issues... It seems that the amp is most appealing to those with an interest in electronics and modding, where fixing it would be part of the fun, or people who just want a really inexpensive amp that can supply a lot of gain for high-impedance headphones, and don't mind replacing it within a year.
So, an Indeed is going to sound good and be easy to learn a little modding, a good inexpensive choice for an amp that you will get good use out of it till it fails.

 
Pretty much, the Indeed is good out of the box but the Bravo has more available mod's for it that turns it into a little gem. Another cheap but bigger upgrade based similarly on the Bravo design but better is the Project Sunrise II amp.

 

[Evshrug]

Pretty much, the Indeed is good out of the box but the Bravo has more available mod's for it that turns it into a little gem. Another cheap but bigger upgrade based similarly on the Bravo design but better is the Project Sunrise II amp.

Did the sunrise project address RF shielding issues? I do expect it has a better power switch. Does it have a power on/off delay, to prevent the "Thump!"?