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Muse Portable Tube Amplifier
Sep 8, 2011 at 9:36 PM Post #16 of 38
Interesting...
 
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Sep 8, 2011 at 10:20 PM Post #17 of 38
I have their 40$ desktop tube amp, I bought it purely out of curiosity.
 
Short summary: it really sucks. There is a lot of noise, the channels aren't well balanced and I experienced very worrying random volume fluctuations, which I suspect might even be capable of harming headphones. I think the sole good thing about this particular amp is that it does give one a pretty good idea of what a tube coloration might sound like. 40$ for a taste of the tube sound is not that bad. It is certainly better than buying a 600$ tube amp blind. But thats about it, everything else about this amp sucks.
 
Sep 9, 2011 at 4:02 AM Post #18 of 38
I have been given the go ahead by the buyer, who is also due to join this thread.
 
Some thoughts from jackcarver:
 
If you are DIYers you should be very happy with it.  If you cannot do some modifications please think twice before buying.
 
Good Points:
- Sounds good out of the box. Warm and sparkling sound of tubes plus good bass and vocal from opamp NE5532 which is used in output stage.
- Opamp on socket easy to roll (but I like sound and price of NE5532 already) good choice of opamp.
- If you can find a headphone it can drive - sounds amazing.  I like the performance with Creative Aurvana Live the best.
 
Bad points:
- Battery last only 2.5 hrs.
- Very hot.
- Can not operate while charging, charging with small adaptor only - not cut when full so cannot leave to charge overnight.
- Because of using opamp and C Coupling and supply only 12V - It cannot deliver much power for power hungry headphone. 
- Using 50K B-type (linear volume) so difficult to adjust volume at low level, shuld use A-type
- Very simple circuit 
- Very hot because using 12V supply (Li-Ion 3cell) but tune heater runs at 6.3 v so he just use Big resistor to drop voltage and create double the power loss.
 
Sep 9, 2011 at 11:53 PM Post #19 of 38
Hi all, as promised to cogsand gears here are the pictures of my modded muse tu-10 with some pic of the muse before modded.
 
First before modded: my unit and my friend unit were not the same.

The Big 22 ohms/2w resistor is used to drop the supply voltage to feed the filament of the tube. The chinese did QC the unit befroe shipped out as the unit that use 2 resistors I found that the tube if feed with 6.3v will have distorted sound so that's why he increase the filament heater voltage to make it run hotter. Don't know the life will shorten or not?
 
My goal is to get longer runtime and improved sound with minimum cost so tried to use what I already have in house. Sound wise as I said "Already good out of the box so for the opamp you can try with the one you like.  2 Capacitors are output coupling 1000uF which can be used from 10V up.  Try changing to other brand have some effect also, not much though. First I tried with big Li-Po battery I had already 3cell 11.1V 5200maH which does last very long (longer than 10 hrs.) but cannot resolve heat problem.

The internal battery was taken out. The charge has to be done using my big smart Li-Po charger.
 
Now I think may be final version of my modded Muse.

Putting the original battery in place but change the power cable to the solid core copper plated with gold. Opamp in the pic is opa2627 from firestone but i now put back the ne5532. The tube heater now was modify to feed with 6.6V Li-Fe Battery.  I use 2800 maH 6.6V Li-Fe from ebay (my charger can charge Li-Fe but if one would like to follow please acquire a charger that can charge Li-Fe. I cannot be charged from normal or Li-po charger.  The original batt is charged from the supplied adaptor or external Li-Po charger.
 

 
This set Muse TU-10 + Creative Auvana Live performs very well. Powerful smooth sparkling. Try it , it does sound 10 times more for what it cost.
 
Oct 2, 2011 at 2:24 AM Post #20 of 38
My unit arrived.
 
"hot" is an understatement -- the tube in the exposed window will burn skin.  This thing is dangerous.  I am typing with fewer fingers than usual.  What made me touch the tube?  'Cause I could.  Just like what would happen when it is in the poket of my pocket-tee at the gym.
 
The charging system is all wrong to the point of insult.
 
The sound out of the box unmodified is nothing special.  
 
Another head-fi member was at my house, and I lied, telling him I liked it.  He listened and said one word "not very good".  I guess that's three words, but my skin was burning so I didn't count.
 
It's better than AM radio.
 
If you are a DIY'er and want to mod it as per the above, PM me, and we can work a deal (like a bit over postage).
 
 
 
 
Oct 28, 2011 at 1:15 PM Post #21 of 38
Hi Wavoman!
 
I'd love to take that amp off your hands =) sent you a PM!
 
Quote:
wavoman said:
My unit arrived.
 
"hot" is an understatement -- the tube in the exposed window will burn skin.  This thing is dangerous.  I am typing with fewer fingers than usual.  What made me touch the tube?  'Cause I could.  Just like what would happen when it is in the poket of my pocket-tee at the gym.
 
The charging system is all wrong to the point of insult.
 
The sound out of the box unmodified is nothing special.  
 
Another head-fi member was at my house, and I lied, telling him I liked it.  He listened and said one word "not very good".  I guess that's three words, but my skin was burning so I didn't count.
 
It's better than AM radio.
 
If you are a DIY'er and want to mod it as per the above, PM me, and we can work a deal (like a bit over postage).
 
 
 
Click to expand...



 
 
Feb 8, 2012 at 3:40 PM Post #23 of 38
Feb 8, 2012 at 3:54 PM Post #24 of 38


 
Quote:
victorhalgaard said:
I've been considering buying that one for some time, because it looks like it might be good - looks like a ALO Continental V1 clone...But the story above is giving me second thoughts...
 
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 I think you should get it. And let us all know how it is. I cant find any reviews for this thing. Somone needs to write one.... ;D
 
 
 
Feb 8, 2012 at 4:12 PM Post #25 of 38
Yea...I just can't afford to buy something that turns out to be scrap. But FanMusic has made a few copies before that were quite decent, like the Little Dot Mk1+ portable, they copied that and some other stuff...
 
 
Feb 9, 2012 at 1:10 PM Post #27 of 38
Im speaking with the seller right now about wether he could give me some more info on it and the parts used, to see if its decent quality and so on.
 
 
Feb 9, 2012 at 3:44 PM Post #28 of 38
Excellent. Id love to see the inside of this thing. Please post any info you get  :D
 
Feb 10, 2012 at 8:17 AM Post #29 of 38
I just received pictures of the insides of the amp, and it looks like a very well built amp. I am no electrical engineer and I have no clue what all the caps and so on do, but with a side by side comparison of the insides of the BL-1 and the ALO Continental V1 it is not hard to match the parts. It's not an exact copy, but I definitely think its almost the same schematics.... So I think there's a good chance that I'll give it a shot 
 
I will post the pictures I got when I get home :)
 
Feb 10, 2012 at 9:06 AM Post #30 of 38
Alright, here they are, first, the the BL-1, then ALO continental V1 
 
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