"Say Hello! to my new little friend"

I was looking at several Guanzo pre amps on ebay myself and I thought it was
Snow48_6 that I purchased from but it was from this seller > satistronics
That's probably why I got mine faster then everyone else, and living 35 miles
North of Los Angeles I'm sure helped too.

I like that thought on adding a 50K volume stepped attenuator, building an
enclosure would work nicely with that mod. I have some tube socket extensions
that would also work good so just the tubes would be on top of the enclosure.
 
This little guy looks interesting too. Runs off of a single 12VAC source. There must be a solid state HV supply on the board.
 
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I ordered one from Mr. Snow 48 yesterday. I bought it primarily for use with my Maggie 8802 but on receivers/amps that do not have a pre-in main-out can this use the tape inputs?
 
I ordered one from Mr. Snow 48 yesterday. I bought it primarily for use with my Maggie 8802 but on receivers/amps that do not have a pre-in main-out can this use the tape inputs?

I've had that same question. The tapes should be low level line, so I would think so. I've seen some nice pre amps I had to pass on due to only having one out, since I bi amp my Maggy's to my Klipsch speakers. Saw a Conrad Johnson $2000 pre amp with one out. What a waste of money in my book. You could get RCA Y connectors etc but don't want to go that route.
 
It's here. No instructions for the power. How did you guys connect this? 2 red, 2 black, 2 white, 2 blue. I can't read Chinese.
 
It's here. No instructions for the power. How did you guys connect this? 2 red, 2 black, 2 white, 2 blue. I can't read Chinese.

2Blk + 2R to 110V,

2Bl to AC1socket, 2Wht to AC6 socket.

I get info. from BrickBuster photos.

Still waiting for mine to come
 
2Blk + 2R to 110V,

2Bl to AC1socket, 2Wht to AC6 socket.

I get info. from BrickBuster photos.

Still waiting for mine to come

I saw that. Wanted to make sure. Don't want to cook the little thing. Actually looks like his is wired for 220, and since he doesn't have a location in his profile didn't want to assume he's in the USA.
 
I put mine together and tried it out. Looks nice and was fun but it sounds like a cheap pre amp to me. For the price it might be OK as is for a small system like MP3 player small set up PC speakers or something like that. No way I would put it in a serious system.

I have it connected to one of my Maggy's through the Klipsch RF-82's and they can't even make it sound good from my Sansa MP3 player or Marantz CD5003. It has way too much bass and is muffled pretty bad. Poor Led Zeppelin CD. :thumbsdn:

Not horrible, just not good to me. And the green leads under the fuses make it look hideous to me. Added switch, fuse, and amber lamp. Basic point to point wiring.
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Here are some markings from another 6N3 amp. Dunno if it helps at all. Which brings me to another question. Is there any advantage in using a different power transformer than the one supplied? Is it even possible?
http://www.aellock.cn/ebay/6N3-4.jpg
http://www.aellock.cn/ebay/6N3-3.jpg
Transformer is marked at 150V

Possible but personally I don't think this is worth upgrading unless you just have some old parts laying around. And it's not going to make it sound better. You could change the caps. Probably more trouble than it's worth. I don't see any values written on the caps on mine. It might not be bad if it had a tone pot on it. Could add one, maybe a 500 Ohm with a small cap there. I would mount it under the top board and have the control on top.

I'll toy around with it.
 
Possible but personally I don't think this is worth upgrading unless you just have some old parts laying around. And it's not going to make it sound better. You could change the caps. Probably more trouble than it's worth. I don't see any values written on the caps on mine. It might not be bad if it had a tone pot on it. Could add one, maybe a 500 Ohm with a small cap there. I would mount it under the top board and have the control on top.

I'll toy around with it.

I figured as much. Another noobie question, can output transformers be modified to act as power transformers? I know the difference between step up and step down transformers but that's as far as it goes. Reason for asking is that these buffer amps can be bought minus the transformer and I have a couple of small output transformers from a GE console pull sitting around.
 
When I first hooked it to my maggie I thought the same as you, it was when I tried the
solid state amps the next day and had the chance to crank up the volume is when
I heard it come alive, at lower volumes it's just okay.

Right now I have it connected to my Fisher 400 straight to pin 7 of V11 & V12 L&R
driver tubes bypassing the stock pre amp completely.
Very deferent sounding then the maggie, not as much bass heavy although very
smooth sounding.
I do like it best with the power of the Sansui AU-717 and with volume cranked to
about half way up, maybe it's just that synergy thing.

I listed the numbers on the film caps in post #37 using that info you can find the
values online with a little searching.

Those of you that have SS amps give them a try and post what your experience is.

BTW. DrMux those are some very nice pics.
 
When I first hooked it to my maggie I thought the same as you, it was when I tried the
solid state amps the next day and had the chance to crank up the volume is when
I heard it come alive, at lower volumes it's just okay.

Right now I have it connected to my Fisher 400 straight to pin 7 of V11 & V12 L&R
driver tubes bypassing the stock pre amp completely.
Very deferent sounding then the maggie, not as much bass heavy although very
smooth sounding.
I do like it best with the power of the Sansui AU-717 and with volume cranked to
about half way up, maybe it's just that synergy thing.

I listed the numbers on the film caps in post #37 using that info you can find the
values online with a little searching.

Those of you that have SS amps give them a try and post what your experience is.

BTW. DrMux those are some very nice pics.

I notice these are not all the same. Mine has smaller power caps than the other on pictured here. It's a 2.0 version. I see there's a 2.1 online too. Could be different audio caps too.

My only solid state pieces are receivers so I don't need a pre amp for them. I only bought this to mess around with since it was cheap. May be a good excuse to buy another Maggy. :scratch2:
 
Some of those SS receivers have the main in and pre amp out jacks on the back
and that makes it easy to try different pre amps for a comparison and you never
know something else just might sound better then the stock pre amp.
I have the Version 2.0 Guanzo and I have no idea exactly what the deference
is between the other versions.
I'm running the Rhapsody player in my computer through the Guanzo pre and the
Fisher 400 right now, Rhapsody has a built in EQ control and I got it sounding
pretty good, very silky and smooth.
 
I got some more 5670 tubes in the mail today, tested them on my Sylvania 220
tube tester and every one tested strong.
They are listed on ebay as 5670 396A 2C51 GE~BLACK PLATE ~D GETTER
Tried them out and they sound good, I thought they where a little smoother
sounding then the Chinese 6N3 tube, not by much.

Film cap values are

2 @ 105J 250v = 1 µF

4 @ 474J 250v = 0.47 µF

Be careful soldering on these boards they are cheap quality.
 
I got some more 5670 tubes in the mail today, tested them on my Sylvania 220
tube tester and every one tested strong.
They are listed on ebay as 5670 396A 2C51 GE~BLACK PLATE ~D GETTER
Tried them out and they sound good, I thought they where a little smoother
sounding then the Chinese 6N3 tube, not by much.

Film cap values are

2 @ 105J 250v = 1 µF

4 @ 474J 250v = 0.47 µF

Be careful soldering on these boards they are cheap quality.

The board on mine appears to be as good or better than anything else I've seen. Don't use over a 40 watt soldering iron and only a second or two. Any board will melt if you stay on it too long.
 
How many of you ordered and received your pre-amps from snow48_6 off of ebay? I paid for one of his pre-amps on July 7th but hadn't heard from this seller on receipt of payment, shipping date or tracking #. So today I emailed him asking for the shipped date and tracking #. He emailed me back asking for my address. Should have been on my Paypal payment statement. Then I see he's been an ebay seller in China only since June. That's no problem, I just wonder how many AK members have successfully bought stuff from him problem free. Thanks.
 
How many of you ordered and received your pre-amps from snow48_6 off of ebay? I paid for one of his pre-amps on July 7th but hadn't heard from this seller on receipt of payment, shipping date or tracking #. So today I emailed him asking for the shipped date and tracking #. He emailed me back asking for my address. Should have been on my Paypal payment statement. Then I see he's been an ebay seller in China only since June. That's no problem, I just wonder how many AK members have successfully bought stuff from him problem free. Thanks.

Got mine. You have to remember you're dealing with people who English is a second language for and it will take some time from China. He may be verifying your address to make sure they got it right. No problems here.
 
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