Affordable Valve Amp?

OK, so given the costs, hassle & potential for a grizzly death-by-DC situation occuring, one is best advised to make bloody sure the transformers are genuine 240V!

Might have to press them on this issue, especially with regards to the monoblocks.

DT

 

Hi,

That is my advise.

The UK is worth in that respect than most other European Countries, but the US is nearly as bad, most US lines are more 117V nominal with 120V delivered to the socket and +/-10% on that, a Mainland China Amp wired to "115V" will be 110V actually and thus the worst case scenario will be a 120% nomainal mainvoltage, which often enough is too much for transformers and valves definitly do not appreciate such treatment for long. Often you also Powersupply Capacitors in China made gear being run near the nominal limits and 120% of nominal voltage can send them past their surge voltage rating with predictable results (early failure).

FWIW, certain places in the UK (including my worklplace) have really bad power, in our case we see across a whole day anything from 215V to 260V.... This makes a double conversion UPS or a PS Powerplant mandatory for expensive gear, including computers.

Ciao T