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So, I bought one of those cheap hand built FU-19 + 6N2 amps off of Ali, and much to my surprise, it is pretty not bad. Like, I think I enjoy it more than my Valhalla 2. Maybe a bit less than my TA-03S. Definitely more than my ZDT Jr. and Monolith. It is a measly 4w if used for speakers, but flip the switch on the back to headphone position and the unit pushes an easy 1w into cans. It is dead silent past the initial startup hum, and surprisingly balanced sounding. It is silent even with 32ohm sensitive cans, but the bass kinda sucks. Paired with suitably high impedance cans like the ATH-R70x it is dang nice sounding. Came loaded with a standard Chinese military FU19 and a good ol Voskhod 6N2P. I normally will instantly swap the tubes if they are of the Chinese variety, but this time I gave it a chance stock, and it didn’t make me sad. For the heck of it I swapped the FU19 out for some Phillips 5894 tubes out of Holland, and truth be told, I may be going back to the stock tubes. The Phillips don’t sound bad, but I think the FU19 may be a bit better. I still have to see how the 832 and Gu32 tubes sound, but only after I let the 5894s break in. The amp itself is built pretty well. Nice big external transformers and a huge choke for the power supply. Nice clicky power button on the front panel and a smooth potentiometer. Can’t ask for much more from an amp that cost $232.99 including UPS worldwide shipping.
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jaxtrauma
2104
Apr 28, 2021
Very interesting ;-)
Fayne
2581
Apr 28, 2021
jaxtraumaI thought so. I'm very much always interested in tube amps with a good cost to performance ratio.
silentbirdie
139
Apr 27, 2021
Got a link to this bad boy?
Fayne
2581
Apr 27, 2021
silentbirdieOh, and if you plan to buy one of these and use the stock FU19 tubes, it is highly recommended that you have a bit of DeoxIT on hand. The pins on the FU19 were pretty nasty looking. I've seen worse corrosion while buying random lots of valves, but these definitely need a good cleaning to get best contact. They sell a vacuum tube oriented kit ( Amazon / Parts Express ) that is very worth the cash when dealing with NOS tubes that haven't been stored properly or had their pins cleaned. It is specifically formulated for handling the high temperatures associated with tube amps. I'm still working my way through the one I bought back in June of 2019.
silentbirdie
139
Apr 27, 2021
FayneThanks for the heads up
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