agedhorse Posted May 28 Share Posted May 28 12 hours ago, bassman7755 said: Yeah been watching a few youtube vids of people bench testing various modules, the worst offenders seem to be blessed with fake voltage regulators which over heat and marginally specced caps (50v). I've pulled the trigger on a module with 60v caps so now I just have to wait for the boat from china ... You are putting a lot of faith into numbers that can be totally made up, or perhaps mean nothing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassman7755 Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 10 hours ago, agedhorse said: You are putting a lot of faith into numbers that can be totally made up, or perhaps mean nothing. Well its £25 so not the end of the world if true. Also the caps in the pics of the unit are 63v so it would be a pretty elaborate scam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agedhorse Posted May 29 Share Posted May 29 12 hours ago, bassman7755 said: Well its £25 so not the end of the world if true. Also the caps in the pics of the unit are 63v so it would be a pretty elaborate scam. Not at all very elaborate. The values the caps are labeled as and what specs they are built to can be entirely different. Below is a far more elaborate "mis-labeling" than a simple printed number: 1 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted May 30 Share Posted May 30 12 hours ago, agedhorse said: Not at all very elaborate. The values the caps are labeled as and what specs they are built to can be entirely different. Below is a far more elaborate "mis-labeling" than a simple printed number: There are a number of YouTube videos showing that many caps emit magic smoke at way lower than the quoted voltage. This picture probably explains why. Another reason for probably buying an integrated amp or power amp from an established manufacturer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted June 2 Share Posted June 2 I think I ought to add something here. Just in case anyone is thinking of going the cheap Chinese route. John ( @Chienmortbb ) and I were looking at these amps as a lockdown project. I was particularly interested in a battery powered version of the House Jam Micro Cab. The reason it didn't get anywhere was that we didn't find a reliable supplier of a board we could recommend. John got some of the amps 'working' but the quality of some of the components and the heatsinking issues meant we were never going to recommend anything. I moved to looking at the Warwick Gnome to use with the House Jam cab and John went on to look at better manufactures for boards. Any potential savings weren't worth the risk in terms of reliability. Not everyone in China is making capacitors like the ones @agedhorse pictured but it's the Wild West out in the East and definitely buyer beware. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agedhorse Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 This is one of the reasons I have stuck with ICEPower for all of my designs. There were many Asian vendors that made great promises yet every one of them had significant questionable elements with their offerings. Ultimately it made more sense to pay a premium price for a premium product. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chienmortbb Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 6 hours ago, agedhorse said: This is one of the reasons I have stuck with ICEPower for all of my designs. There were many Asian vendors that made great promises yet every one of them had significant questionable elements with their offerings. Ultimately it made more sense to pay a premium price for a premium product. I bought a few of the cheap modules and they were invariably unreliable. I have had power supplies +\- 50V and they were +/- 70V. There is almost no technical support or documentation. I have modules from Connex that work flawlessly and I have had good support from Connex but, as with 3e, the actual cost is virtually the same as a certified ICEPowet module. A little knowledge IS a dangerous thing and whatever route you take, you must know what you are doing. These amplifiers have dangerous voltages, not only on the mains side but also at the output of the power supply. In addition, The regulations around safety and emi/rfi are also important and most enthusiastic amateurs (since retiring I must include myself in this group) do not have the knowledge or experience required. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agedhorse Posted June 3 Share Posted June 3 It comes down to “the quality is proportional to the cost”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 Just an update on the Harley Benton. Spent a bit of time on it yesterday, I have some studio stuff upcoming and give my recent bout of sickness (see elsewhere), I've not played much. Used it for about an hour, fairly loud, plugging in various devices, started to get some farty overtones/weird distortion; wondered whether it might be the cabs (nope)...it just doesn't seem to like a hot input. Went back to the Darkglass and it was fine. I realise the AO900 is undoubtedly going to be more robust, but in conclusion, I guess it's fine for short-term playing, but not for longer sessions. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JottoSW1 Posted July 11 Share Posted July 11 Quilter Interbass . Got a second hand one and it's ace. Not a power amp but pedal bord sized 4sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted July 11 Author Share Posted July 11 I'd not really given the TC Electronic BAM200 a single thought until earlier. Understandably, I really don't want to keep chucking money at these things; I just want something titchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Starr Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 A couple of years ago we tested the BAM/Gnome/Elf against each other. We ran frequency responses and had a look inside. They aren't all the same and each has it's own voicing, they sound different but the power output is the same suggesting they use similar components in the power amp. I now use the Gnome for most gigs and rehearsals through a 1x10 and it is plenty for on-stage monitoring and small gigs. The BAM is it's equal as is the Elf. I'm a bit surprised at the farty tones unless you were really loud and I've never looked at a Harley Benton but the three above all have really high gain so turning up the input gain would lead to clipping in the pre amp and pass horrid distortion to the output stages. Try turning the master volume up full in the HB and your bass down and see if that helps. If not then either the HB is faulty or 100/180W isn't enough for what you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo.gwillim Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 A quick shout for the gk mb200 which is in the elf size camp, well just a bit bigger. I had it apart recently to change the DI output chip which was noisy. Really well made, the preamp section has through hole components so repair is possible and a real icepower module. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo.gwillim Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 Ps really interesting thread, thank you all 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted July 19 Author Share Posted July 19 On 13/07/2024 at 08:40, Phil Starr said: A couple of years ago we tested the BAM/Gnome/Elf against each other. We ran frequency responses and had a look inside. They aren't all the same and each has it's own voicing, they sound different but the power output is the same suggesting they use similar components in the power amp. I now use the Gnome for most gigs and rehearsals through a 1x10 and it is plenty for on-stage monitoring and small gigs. The BAM is it's equal as is the Elf. I'm a bit surprised at the farty tones unless you were really loud and I've never looked at a Harley Benton but the three above all have really high gain so turning up the input gain would lead to clipping in the pre amp and pass horrid distortion to the output stages. Try turning the master volume up full in the HB and your bass down and see if that helps. If not then either the HB is faulty or 100/180W isn't enough for what you need. I suspect the farty may have been the bass. Spent a bit of time in the Spector control cavity and rolled back the Tonepump, which has improved things significantly. I haven't hooked the HB up since doing this as of yet (it's also had a positive effect through my AO900). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexa3020 Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 incidentally i just bought a fosi audio bt20a bluetooth amp to power some old tannoy hifi speakers - it was cheap on prime day. it uses the 3116 chip. i have to say its pretty good as a 'hifi' amp. To my ears that setup easily beats the Q acoustics m20 active speakers that i was tempted to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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