Newbie Needs help with Dynaco Tube MK iii Purchase. Should I pull the trigger?

[DenverJW]

 

[DenverJW]

Sorry my text got lost, I am Tube and Dynaco dumb and about to pull the trigger on these. Does anyone see anything funny? I can listen to them but the seller does not know much about the history. Serviced 5 years ago 6550 tubes and he say's 'They sound good" Any help is appreciated.....Should I go for it? Looks as if some capacitors are missing on the board outside top? Are those them on the inside? I have no idea what I'm looking at, but learning fast. Thanks, John

 

[Champco]

Good luck. Hope you get good amps for a good price. They look great. Hope some Dynaco guys show up.

 

[DenverJW]

Thanks Champco. What do you think is a good price?

 

[Champco]

Thanks Champco. What do you think is a good price?

Sorry. I'm not your guy. Do a search on the bay for the model numbers is what I would do. check mark the Sold only.

 

[zackthedog]

Those are interesting. Looks like a very custom service job. It also looks like they used hermetically-sealed, glass-encased high-voltage oil coupling caps! Stock examples seem to sell for $300-400, and refurbished pairs for $1000-1200. I'd guess those are on the higher end.

 

[peterh]

Sorry my text got lost, I am Tube and Dynaco dumb and about to pull the trigger on these. Does anyone see anything funny? I can listen to them but the seller does not know much about the history. Serviced 5 years ago 6550 tubes and he say's 'They sound good" Any help is appreciated.....Should I go for it? Looks as if some capacitors are missing on the board outside top? Are those them on the inside? I have no idea what I'm looking at, but learning fast. Thanks, John

Only buy if :
- documentation of all changes made
- price significantly lower then 2 x $700 ( cost of new kit from dynakitparts )
-sounds good with nu hum or noice

 

[zackthedog]

They have been altered. They could be working fine, or not. In any case, without extensive documentation of all the changes, and if you are not likely to work on them yourself, then, frankly, I would not buy them. If you ever run into problems with them, you'd have to pay someone to try to reverse-engineer the changes and figure out what to do. IMO, a pair like this is best for someone who is prepared to either dive in and sort them out, or tear them down and rebuild them to the original configuration. You'd need a decent amount of technical knowledge to figure out how to relate the changes to the original Dynaco documentation, and even then you'd be pretty much on your own trying to figure out what to do next, again, in the event of problems.

IMO, especially for someone new to tubes and new to Dynaco, it makes a lot more sense to just buy a new plug-and-play pair from dynakitparts.com. At this moment, I think the Mark III might be out of stock. If you'd rather not wait, consider a pair of Mark IV monobocks https://www.dynakitparts.com/shop/mark-iv-kit-120-vac/ Again, even though they say they are kits, I believe they can be purchased either kit or fully assembled, plug-and-play. BTW, I have no business affiliation with dynakitparts.com.

A very sensible suggestion, IMO.

 

[Dandy]

If the price is right and the transformers are working, you can't really go wrong. They would not be difficult to restore to stock, as support is available here and elsewhere. The servicing looks like a paint job for the transformers and new filter caps underneath, whilst leaving the can on top for looks. Plus the fancy coupling caps below instead of above.

 

[eiraved]

What do you think is a good price?

If looking for prices, you may want the moderators to move this into the Dollars and Sense forum where dollar amounts can be freely discussed.
These amps look to be well made. If they sound good with minimal to no hum, I'd jump if the price is around $800. There is a set of nice ones selling on BarterTown, deal could be good for you depending on whether you live close to the seller. You would need to become a subscriber first. Where are you located?