Yamaha B-3 Overhaul in Japan

[Gaoming]

Hi All,

I recently bought a Yamaha B-3 power amp on a Japanese auction site and am interested in having it checked out and brought up to spec before I bring it home. I will be in Japan next week and am hoping to find a tech there to work on the machine (I go there a few times a year, so I could pick it up later). I have reached out to Amp8 and a few others, but no luck so far.

If anyone has experience getting a B-3 worked on in Japan, then all recommendations are welcome. I live in Bangkok, and the techs here are not likely to be familiar with the amp and often don't work to a high spec.

Thanks!

 

[rottalpha]

Hi All,

I recently bought a Yamaha B-3 power amp on a Japanese auction site and am interested in having it checked out and brought up to spec before I bring it home. I will be in Japan next week and am hoping to find a tech there to work on the machine (I go there a few times a year, so I could pick it up later). I have reached out to Amp8 and a few others, but no luck so far.

If anyone has experience getting a B-3 worked on in Japan, then all recommendations are welcome. I live in Bangkok, and the techs here are not likely to be familiar with the amp and often don't work to a high spec.

Thanks!

Options I would think of:

• Continue to reach out to Amp8
• I sent your ask to Yoshida, a DIY audio member from Tokyo and vfet amps enthusiast. Not sure if he would want to take on the job.
• Also looping in our own AK EE resident expert, who also resides in the land of the rising sun: @Sparkplug

 

[Gaoming]

Hi Rottalpha -- thanks for following up. I will reach out to Amp8 again. I have also contacted a few other shops in Japan (thanks Google) and a vendor called Fortissimo Audio in Gifu says they may be able to take this on. They show some Yamaha work here, but I don't see anything V-FET.

All other recommendations/introductions welcome, and I will be in Tokyo most of next week prowling a few shops there and stocking up on LPs.

 

[Sparkplug]

…

• Also looping in our own AK EE resident expert, who also resides in the land of the rising sun: @Sparkplug

Thanks Rott, appreciate the vote of confidence … being under heavy workload, however, plus a few upcoming international trips … not enough time in the day to even finish some of my own stuff waiting on the bench, let alone a B-3 that needs its own dedicated time and detailed attention.

 

[Gaoming]

Hi Sparkplug -- thanks for following up. If you can recommend shops in Japan that would do quality work on a B-3, it would be great

 

[Gaoming]

@Sparkplug I'm in Tokyo this week and it would be great to find a shop that can take on overhaul of a pair of B-3s. Let me know if you recommend any shops. I tried Amp8 a couple of times and will give that another shot too. Thanks!

 

[Sparkplug]

@Sparkplug I'm in Tokyo this week and it would be great to find a shop that can take on overhaul of a pair of B-3s. Let me know if you recommend any shops. I tried Amp8 a couple of times and will give that another shot too. Thanks!

@Gaoming , welcome to Tokyo and thank you for your message and no, I was not ignoring your first one, just busy up to my neck and it fell off the tray … you have my sincere apologies, I usually reply promptly.

As far as audio shops go, I honestly don’t know any I trust, especially for Vfet related works. I do my own audio work when time allows, it’s not my day job. The only time I used a repair service, was for my Sansui amp and only because the person who ran the service was actually one of the main engineers (Ichiro Oshima) who designed it (AU-a607DR) and the X-Power supply in it. For Yamaha amps, I did a quick search for audio repair shops after your last message and except for Amp8, couldn’t really come up with any that had done Vfet work. For Vfet equipped Yamaha amps, I can’t recommend anyone I don’t know or haven’t worked with, it’s as simple as that.

I’ll keep looking and will advise if any reliable service shop with Vfet experience turns up.

Hope you enjoy your stay and be safe.

 

[Gaoming]

Hi All,

Just to update you on the B-3 service search, I finally able to get in touch with Amp8 and he has now taken delivery of a pair of B-3s for overhaul. It will be a few months, but I'm eager to see how this turns out. Thanks to all @rottalpha and @Sparkplug for the advice.

For any of you reaching out to Amp8, be aware that his email replies typically go to your spam folder. Will update when there's some progress on the overhaul.

 

[Sparkplug]

Hi All,

Just to update you on the B-3 service search, I finally able to get in touch with Amp8 and he has now taken delivery of a pair of B-3s for overhaul. It will be a few months, but I'm eager to see how this turns out. Thanks to all @rottalpha and @Sparkplug for the advice.

For any of you reaching out to Amp8, be aware that his email replies typically go to your spam folder. Will update when there's some progress on the overhaul.

Glad you were able to connect with Amp8. I found another place also that said they had done work on B1, B3, etc. but were only contactable through email, I just couldn’t recommend them because I don’t know them, ‘probably Okay’.

I still wish I weren’t so pressed by work/life at the moment to do this for you, and hope everything turns out as you expect. Good luck.

 

[brendfet]

Hi Gaoming,
Just want to ask how was your experience with Amp8?