Wanted: 300B amp on a budget

[Colin151]

I’m also looking for a 300B SE amp that hopefully won’t break the bank.


A few years ago several J soundlabs 300B amps were sold on forums for £500 or so. Not sure if they are any good but seemed like a good deal. I see one was picked up by Phil on Gumtree recently and it sounds quite good. Might anyone have something like that?

There is also a guy on eBay (Wynne Roberts) selling a new 300B amp for pretty cheap but I’ve no idea if it’s any good.


If you have anything suitable please let me know.

Cheers

Colin

[Wakefield Turntables]

Don't buy the Nobsound 300b monoblocks, mine got sent back after less than 24 hours. Hummed like a bugger.

[Colin151]

Don't buy the Nobsound 300b monoblocks, mine got sent back after less than 24 hours. Hummed like a bugger.

Thanks for the tip! Will avoid then.

I had a Yaqin 300B amp in the past and that was decent after David Coe upgraded some components. Something like that would be ok.

[Firebottle]

The Wynne Roberts amp looks very well made with decent looking transformers.

The only reservation I would have on looks alone is the mains transformer is wound for 220V, so voltages could be rather high, particularly the heaters.

[Colin151]

The Wynne Roberts amp looks very well made with decent looking transformers.

The only reservation I would have on looks alone is the mains transformer is wound for 220V, so voltages could be rather high, particularly the heaters.

Thanks for the info. I agree it looks pretty good but in the description it says it weighs 10 kg, which seems very low for a 300B amp. That Yaqin weighed about 23kg for example. Maybe the 10kg is a typo though?

How do you know the transformer is for 220V? From looking at it and recognising it? I actually have a small 240 to 220 step down I got with another Yaqin amp (MC100B) I bought many years ago I could potentially use. A UK guy (called Jerry IIRC) supplied it and he actually installed the same step down in the case of the Yaqin 300B amp as there was enough spare space to fit it into that amp. Worked well.

[Colin151]

Sorry I didn’t read when you said on looks alone.

So I had a look online and found the amp as a kit at AliExpress

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32961470854.html?spm=a2g0n.productlist.0.0.77ff52e 1oHGeCu&browser_id=66dcbbdfdec74235a3fce3ab91508a8f&aff_trace_key=a0c4aa0515454cf2ba0f3a1bfbfc8191-1632503707228-02216-UneMJZVf&aff_platform=msite&m_page_id=6ptugz0ozcocavke17c18cdb8eaac99af562058b f7&gclid=CjwKCAjw7rWKBhAtEiwAJ3CWLKnDiO2cOYiZ1ruxzmcD W4TsUJ2lo-NpjL0Tjx8UHRgSHqrtQtOUjBoCLJAQAvD_BwE&_imgsrc_=ae01.alicdn.com%2Fkf%2FHTB1UeeyaffsK1RjSs zgq6yXzpXai.jpg_640x640Q90.jpg

Looks like the same amp and it does say in the EBay ad that he builds them as kits.
Here it says it weighs 14 kg which is closer to what I’d expect but still perhaps a bit light. Do you think the Tx quality would be sufficient for this low price? There are some internal pics too in the link.
Also says 220v so you are likely correct on that as you said Jon the looks. Would need to use a stepdown to be on the safe side.

How about the circuit? Might it have too much hum? He says it uses humbucker pots.

£700 ish for a new built amp seems pretty good anyway. Seems worth trying if I can’t find anything secondhand.

However I think a used 300B like the J Soundlab or Yaqin or others might be better, if I could find one. Anyone got anything?




The Wynne Roberts amp looks very well made with decent looking transformers.

The only reservation I would have on looks alone is the mains transformer is wound for 220V, so voltages could be rather high, particularly the heaters.

[Colin151]

Although I’d probably prefer something cheap I’d also be to spend a bit more if necessary. Maybe up to around £1K

If you have anything suitable please let me know.

[jasonC]

Maybe buy one in kit form
And then have it professionally built
Here in the uk as the builder
Will do tests on it.
Im sure their must
Be someome on here who
Knows someone.