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Tube Head in Europe

T

tomas_almeida

Oct 5, 2007
403
6
Portugal
#1
I want to buy a cheap tube head and I have two options in mind.
I want to play mainly metal and some fusion, but I'm aiming for a metal tone.

The first is the Traynor YBA-200. 200 watts and the price in the store is 815€ (Listing for 999€)

http://www.musik-service.de/traynor-yba-200-prx395754545en.aspx



The second is a Fame BVH-300L. 300 watts and the store price is 629€ (listing for 1209€ !!!!!, half the price!!!).

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I can't find a single review on the Fame, but seems such a good deal. The store alows for retoures whitin 30 days so if I don't like it I can send it back.


I would appreciate some advice. I'm more interested in the Fame but if I hear bad things about it I would go with the Traynor, but I would like a sound with good mids and I have heard the Traynor is a bit scooped (don't like that).

Cheers from Portugal.
 
#2
tomas_almeida said:
The second is a Fame BVH-300L. 300 watts and the store price is 629€ (listing for 1209€ !!!!!, half the price!!!).

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I can't find a single review on the Fame, but seems such a good deal. The store alows for retoures whitin 30 days so if I don't like it I can send it back.
Click to expand...
When I saw the head, I thought Ashton.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Never seen one in the flesh or a trustworthy review, so I dunno what it's like, but it screams 'cheap' to me. Standard generic Chinese manufactured product; for the price I would expect cut corners in design and cheap tubes. If I were to buy one, I'd replace and rebias the powertubes as I've had very inconsistent results with Chinese powertubes.

I've been designing and building tube gear for years, and I wouldn't trust it. No 'proof', but I trust my gut and am not willing to bet with my wallet.

It's probably cheap because I don't think they sold well and they may be clearing them. All tube poweramps are a small market.
 
#5
Hi, Tomas.

That Fame is quite a deal if it's true. Unfortunately there's a certain minimum amount of money and weight involved in any conventional high power tube amp and IMHO that price and weight for that matter falls quite a bit below the minimum.

That said, just ordered one, I'll let You know in about a month. I expect the delivery to be the same as with Thomann so it takes about three weeks to Finland.

If they are in clearance though, that might be too late for You, but remember the Traynor is by far the safer choice and I have a hunch about the low end power of the Fame.

Regards
Sam
 
#6
T-Bird said:
That said, just ordered one, I'll let You know in about a month. I expect the delivery to be the same as with Thomann so it takes about three weeks to Finland.
Click to expand...
As I'm sure it's the same amp as the Ashton I linked, I'm going to be interested in your opinion of it. Internal pics would also be great.
 
#7
Thank you all for your responses. T-Bird that's great, please tell us how it sounds and give us some pics.

The store is not in clearance, as Jazz said Fame is a MusicStore brand. The amps are manufactered in Poland (this particular model) i think in Laboga's factory. They sell cheaper because they order lots and lots. The list price is 1200 €!!! The store's price is almost half the list!!

A9X it seems to be the exact same amp as that Ashton, but the Ashton's price is 1400 $!!!!!

barroso that George Dennis amp seems interesting, but if it's discontinued I think I woun't be able to find one.
 
#10
tomas_almeida said:
The amps are manufactered in Poland (this particular model) i think in Laboga's factory. They sell cheaper because they order lots and lots. The list price is 1200 €!!! The store's price is almost half the list!!

A9X it seems to be the exact same amp as that Ashton, but the Ashton's price is 1400 $!!!!!
Click to expand...
Poland to Australia is a lot of shipping, and the exchange rate is 1.6x so E875. These can be had locally for $1200 or so.

Still think I'm gonna wait for the Peavey VB3.
 
#11
Hi.

A9X said:
As I'm sure it's the same amp as the Ashton I linked, I'm going to be interested in your opinion of it. Internal pics would also be great.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'm sure of that also. Too bad there's no manual for that head, for the guitar heads there seems to be.

I can promise there will be pics and a review. Also if I get my "sometimes in the future" lab temporarily running there will be some basic measurements.

Unfortunately I don't have any 6550s around so the "originals" will have to do. I'm more of a EL34 guy myself :smug:.

tomas_almeida said:
T-Bird that's great, please tell us how it sounds and give us some pics..
Click to expand...

Sure hope that the head is also at least good. Thanks' a lot for the tip, wouldn't have spotted that myself. For that only I feel I owe You a review.

tomas_almeida said:
The store is not in clearance, as Jazz said Fame is a MusicStore brand. The amps are manufactered in Poland (this particular model) i think in Laboga's factory. They sell cheaper because they order lots and lots. The list price is 1200 €!!! The store's price is almost half the list!!

.
Click to expand...

The head still might be. There's no mention of it in the Fame homepage (the link is in the heads web page).

There's a quite interesting feature on that page BTW :D.

Are You sure about Poland, everything kinda screams CHINESE? Made in Poland would be a huge + in my book.

Regards.
Sam
 
#12
LOL those features are kind of interesting!

I'm not 100% sure but I think it is.

It's not in the homepage and never was, the homepage doesn't have a big amount of Fame products. The only bass amps in the website are some tiny combos, when Fame already produces some bass heads. I know people that say their guitar stuff is of very good quality, but really really good, especialy for the price. If the bass products are like the guitar ones this should be great!
 
#13
T-Bird said:
I can promise there will be pics and a review. Also if I get my "sometimes in the future" lab temporarily running there will be some basic measurements.
Click to expand...
Awesome Sam. I'll look forward to it.

Basic measurements require a soundcard, some free software and a couple of resistors. Let me know if you want some help with this. There's also some neato free sofftware out there like RMAA.
 
#14
Hi.

Thanks', but I'm a bit of an old school young fart and I love hardware ;).

By basic, I meant measuring power output only octaves apart and to a pure resistive load.

I have an old 2 channel 10MHz scope, a separate Sampo signal generator/counter and HP8922M test set with some options as my basic tools. Plus a variety of not that interesting stuff.

I just hope that the head is anywhere near as promised, because if it is, that price can't really be beat.

Regards
Sam
 
#16
Hi.

tomas_almeida said:
So when do you think you'll receive the head?
Click to expand...


I'd imagine it'll be at least two weeks, possibly longer. The fixed rate shippings aren't usually the fastest ones. From Thomann it takes usually 2 weeks for the smaller items/packages 4 for the larger ones.

Haven't recieved nothing but the automatic order confirmation from MS, but that's understandable as there was an announcement on the site saying that they were at an expo last weekend. If they sold a lot of stuff there, they might be quite busy.

I'll keep You posted.
Sam
 

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