The best 300B amp you'll get for £1000!

Well,

I'm selling my beloved Glasshouse 300B power amp / integrated amp.

Lets start with what it is, what's different about it, why you should buy it if you're looking for a quality valve amp (*and you dont have apogees).

300B Single Ended Valve amp. Glasshouse.

Designed by Andy Grove (audionote UK/ audionote japan). This example was hand built by Nick himself (the owner of Glasshouse/hificollective).

There are a few differences between this amp and a kit you might buy/build yourself:

1) I've upgraded the parts. Which parts? I can't remember!!.. I basically gave Nick about £300 and said ''change the bits that you think will make it sound the best". He did, and it sounds much better than it already did (which was very good).

2) It's got a really cool switch on the front.
Basically, this can run as an integrated amp. It's got a passive volume pot, a selector switch and multiple inputs round the back.
The nifty switch bypasses all of that for a purer signal tone if you want to use a seperate pre-amp. Good eh?

3) Buy any WAD or similar amp (*incidentally the WAD 300b's don't sound this good IMO/IME) and it's been made by Billy Bodget. This has been made by someone who's been making valve amps for at least ten years (never asked him exactly, but it's at least that long). Anyway, you're not going to fry yourself with something proffessionally made like this.

Ok, if you don't know the amp - it's just a really fantastic 300B amp, really powerful - (pushes out more than my old Border Patrol), big generous sound. Detailed, but never harsh. I've really loved it.

To stop the inevitable "why are you selling it, what are you buying"... because I need a bathroom, I'm buying shower cubicles not hifi.

The valves are expensive Mesh plates, and about 6 months old. The whole amp is about 6 months old (I dont have the date, but it's about that).

Add the build cost to the kit, the valves, the upgrades, the special features and you've got an amp that would cost you about £1650.

I think £1k is pretty reasonable - these things hold their value really well. You could certainly easily get your money back in a year or two's time.

Have a word with some of the other Glasshouse users on the forum - I wouldn't have bought this if I didn't think it represented the best value 300B amp available for it's budget (including second hand stuff)

Cheers
Chris.

Oh yes, no bloody silly offers please.

 

Hi Chris

And roughly the power output would be??

Andy

 

Oh Sorry.

Depends on the valves you use.

Between 9 and 11 watts.

Fine for speakers of about 89db and above in my view.

I've used them with 84db sensitive speakers and they were ok, but didn't go really loud.

 

now £950

 

Bottleneck,
how much to ship to NYC USA Im interested and would like to purchase unit.Its sold as long as shipping fees are reasonable
rollo
email me at [email protected]
thanks
charles rollo

 

email sent...

cheers
chris

 

now available again

 

an inside pic...

audionote caps, tantalum resistors, mills resistors, point to point wiring, large expensive transformers...

you don't get this quality of componentry in amps at this price..

 

Now £925 - a real bargain

 

Giving this away now - £900.

 

I have a friend very interested in your amp. Cannot send PM as your box is full.

 

Hi B

Pm room made now.

Sorry.

NB
The amp is about to be ''offered upon'' by a couple of people (one here on ZG and one on PFM) - so tell your mate to be quick if he wants it.

It's 'nearly sold' about 5 times now!

 

If I didn't already have one it would probably have been 6=)
The Glasshouse 300b is a fabulous amp, anyone still thinking about it should buy now before bottleneck comes to his senses and realises that his amp is better than a new bog....
I use mine to feed a pair of IPL transmission line speakers, 89db with deep bass.... The glasshouse has superb bass to go with the glorious midrange and treble that 300b SETs are renowned for.

 

Hi Beeroclock

you have a pm

thanks philip

 

Hi

Sold to Beeroclock.

Thanks for all the interest.

Its a great kit, and I can reccomend them for anyone looking for a good valve amp. Nick builds them up for you (for a fee) if you have 2 left thumbs.

 

300b amp info required

Hi I am a new member but have read Zerogain for a while.I was interested if anybody had thoughts on(I am gonna regret this) 300b amps.I have an awful urge to build another kit and quite fancied Hifi Collectives but I also was looking at Audionotes 6550.Has anyone any experience of the 6550.Current kit is a Graaf 20OTL and speakers are Claravox 8/16 ohm 96 db .I use a tvc preamp from Nick.:

 

Colin, rumour has it that after the last few 300B kits are sold, that's it for the glasshouse 300b amp.

Cost of parts/profit margin aren't that favourable to make the capital investment a good business product.

That may change - but it may not.

If you want one, get your skates on is really good advice..


In terms of 300B amps, you can build one with basic, basic bits for about £1,100-£1,200. With quality parts the sound gets a lot better.

If you have £2k-£3k to spend you might be able to score a second hand Border Patrol 300B amp. This has got greater dynamics and clarity, but can feel a little relentless. The quality is first rate however, it just needs matching carefully IMO.

6550's are the 'meat and potato pie' of the valve world - lots of beef, a cheap tube that gives loads of watts in push pull. Audio Research love them. Same goes for EL34.

You wont get the clarity/linearity you get from a good 300b amp, but the power is there..

 

300b

Thanks,
I may look at some of the american monoblocks,wavelength and bottleneck.Audionote do a 300b but I think its about a 3 or 4 watt output and I like just a little bit more .I am in no rusH raising funds for the next "improvement"