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Tube amp recommendation

preacherJohn

preacherJohn

Active Member
Hey guys, if you were going to buy an affordable stereo tube amp, what would you get. I guess affordable would mean Chinese as others prices are so inflated it's ridiculous. I'm looking for either complete or kit form. What do you have in this category, and what sounds good?
 
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I'm going to offer the most predictable answer ever: Dynaco ST-70. A grand for one in a reliable ready to use state is maybe a slight stretch but not impossible. Cheaper in unrestored shape but you'll want one thats at least had the power supply caps replaced.
 
gadget73 said:
I'm going to offer the most predictable answer ever: Dynaco ST-70. A grand for one in a reliable ready to use state is maybe a slight stretch but not impossible. Cheaper in unrestored shape but you'll want one thats at least had the power supply caps replaced.
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Be nice to find one.
 
If I look locally there's a modern, nicely built ST-70 'homage' (or do we call it clone?) available for not too much, might be the same where you're at. Just keep an eye out.
 
Bartertown is a very good option, but plenty pass thru ebay on a regular basis. Just make sure it's a seller with good rep. Many of these have spent decades in gramps's closet, held in fond memory and end up in estate sales. They have aged pretty well.

If you're looking for a bit more of a challenge, but easier on the wallet, there are some nice magnavox amp updates.

You can also check out some of the fisher options, those will cost about the same as the st-70 but with notably more headache.

1k is a pretty safe budget to work with. Just make sure to set some of that aside for new tubes.
 
Ive seen nicely restored Dynaco ST-70's for as low as the high $600 range, some more expensive.
To the OP, the Dynakit clone ST-70's are a very good reproductions.
The Tubes4Hifi versions are different in that they use a different driver board and different driver tubes. They're nice sounding amps as well though.
You can't go wrong with an original, a Dynakit, or the Tubes4hifi version.
 
Just ran across a niiice Line Magnetic that would be within budget for you. Wrong side of the ocean though.
 
One of the reasons the Dynaco and Dynaco clones come up so often when someone asks about getting there first tube amp is there is so much documentation and support for them. And relatively easy to work on if needed.
If your speakers are efficient enough the Dynaco ST-35 is a good choise also
at 15wpc. They're very compact and sound great.
 
Akustic said:
Yaqin .. well built gear ..
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My only Yaqin (new) sounded pretty bad, the fix that everyone online suggested was to replace all of the tubes including the four KT-88s, also the gain pot, and all of the capacitors, and a couple of modifications, … I sold the thing and bought a better amp that didn’t need to be completely re-designed to sound good.
 
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