[Poultrygeist]

I understand these were bought from Pacific Valve but you would have been better off paying much less from a Chinese ebay seller.

PV wouldn't even send or sell me a cheap replacement tube socket for one of their amps still under warranty. Hell they couldn't even tell me where I could buy a replacement socket. They bank on the fact that their heavy gear is too expensive to ship back and forth for repairs plus Chinese gear has become more reliable than ever. I'd bet they don't have a tech on staff and any repairs they contract out. Their warranty in my case was meaningless.

[FullRangeMan]

I understand these were bought from Pacific Valve but you would have been better off paying much less from a Chinese ebay seller.

PV wouldn't even send or sell me a cheap replacement tube socket for one of their amps still under warranty. Hell they couldn't even tell me where I could buy a replacement socket. They bank on the fact that their heavy gear is too expensive to ship back and forth for repairs plus Chinese gear has become more reliable than ever. I'd bet they don't have a tech on staff and any repairs they contract out. Their warranty in my case was meaningless.

Hello,
The MC3008A or A2, sold on Ebay and Hong Kong shops are not the same amp, in the circuit and parts quality, they are a kind of second grade, hence the lower price.
Seeing the Ebay amps underside photo and the PacificValve underside photo, I see it is not the same circuit and the parts are different.
Once I read even the builder is not the same, a really surprising statement, surely I do not understand how it happen.
In the Ming-Da site thereis a announcement about this fake amps, I copy it just below:
Our most recent research revealed that a large number of internet merchants distributing products branded Mei Xing Ming Da.

We are not sure about the origin of those products, hence they are not purchased from our factory or other sources affiliated with our company.

It would be advantageous to consult our factory if you have doubt about the authenticity of your purchased product or if you are in the process of purchasing a product branded as Ming Da Meixing.

In order to benefit from the stringent quality assurance process of our factory and to protect the integrity of our brand, we advise you to purchase only from authorised dealers or directly from our factory if no dealer is located nearby your location. And we are able to manage the logistics of an overseas shipment in a timely and safe fashion.

Please do not buy from EBAY and pay attention especially for the following website, which we confirmed IS NOT our authorized dealers.www.cattylink.com

Meixing Ming Da
http://www.mei-xing.com/english/English/index.html
About the PV, I see in their site they no more sell tubes too, If your socket need replacement, it is a good time to fit a Teflon socket.
Regards,

[FullRangeMan]

I'm sorry, I'm trying to figure out how to answer you PM but somehow I cant see a way to do it.  I'm new to the forum and maybe that feature is not yet enabled in my profile.

Anyway, I've only had the amp for roughly 2 weeks so I cannot tell you how long the stock 805s or 300Bs will last.  I have the 3008C which, unfortunately, you've branded as ugly.  Don't worry I'm not offended, as long as my wallet is not the one hurting.  This morning I actually put back the stock tubes (Shuguang 805, Full Music 300B, Mullard 12AX7, GE 12AU7)  so I can get used to how they sound till I receive my preamp.  The 3008C is currently set to run as an integrated amp being fed by a Doge 6 Clarity CD player also from Pacific.    This is my first hifi tube amp but I've owned guitar tube amps for many years now so was not surprised at all that such beautiful sound would come out of my Monitor Audio GX300 speakers.  My first impression?  I was WOWed by the first few CDs  that I played.... mostly jazzy, bluesy tunes,  Nora Jones, Diana Krall, etc...   they were fuller, more depth and body.  What else can I say...If can get my wife to sit still and listen to more CDs that she normally doesnt care for, then it must be good.  Can't wait to try this setup with a preamp.

Are you handy with tube amps?  You mean when I roll the stock tubes with NOS tubes then I need to re-bias them?  I played them for hours with NOS tubes but didn't really notice any hum or noise.  The 805s just runs hot, stock or NOS.

Regards.

Pancham:
Thanks for you friendly reply; I apologize my candorless labeling.
Nice to read you own this fine amp, Iam sure you will be happy for many years.
A 40W SET amp is very rare nowadays and usefull to drive crossoverless fullranges and even regular multi-ways loudspeakers, also a Integrated Monoblock tube amp is most hard to find in the market, even in SolidState amps.

QUOTE: You mean when I roll the stock tubes with NOS tubes then I need to re-bias them?
Yes it is right. Iam not tube expert, but when you insert any new power tube in any manual Bias amp, you must adjust the bias, as the new tube may not be the same(same electric load, brand or type) you just remove.
You set the Bias for the tube(because of the tube), not bacause of the amp circuit.

I look forward to your 300B/805 tubes life spam, as your MonitorAudio GX300 are not hi sensitive(90dB), just curious to how many hours tubes will last.
I like not to change the valves until they are old, to not wear the sockets.
The 805 run hot indeed, as just the filament heater draws 10V and 3.25 ampere.

Maybe you unaware of this MC3008 test from Lampizator: (Scroll down the page)
http://www.lampizator.eu/AMPLIFIERS/CHINA/Mingdamc300-C/ming-da.html
He suggest some mods on the circuit.
Regards

[FullRangeMan]

Pancham,
Seems you right, just see this new addendum to the PacificValve site about the Bias Adjust in the MC-3008C, PV is informing your amp do not need Bias adjust.
Now my doubt increased, would this amp use Auto-Bias or Fixed-Bias ??  Surely it is not Self Adjusting Bias, due the hi power of 40W.
http://www.pacificvalve.us/WCMDMC3008A.html
Bias:
The MC 3008-C runs in class "A" mode, single ended and does not need a bias adjustment.  We write this
because there has been a lot of chatter on the net about the bias pot on the underside of the amp.  Well, it
is not a bias pot, it is a trim pot.  The trim pot is used by the factory to finely tune the 300B or 2A3 tube
driver for the 805 tube.  It is set so the amp performs best when either the 300B or 2A3 driver tube is
selected.  It rarely needs to be adjusted by the user and should only be adjusted by a technician.
To some extent this makes sense, because the 300B is the drive, not the output tube, and drivers tubes usually do not had Bias adjusting.
Regards

[Pancham]

 
It seems that you like this amp because you keep poking at it.  So why not just buy it and try it for 30 days so you can put an end to your misery. 

I just received my preamp also from PV... it's the Ming Da 300APS with extended legs which look the same as above you showed in the rack.  It came with Svetlana 5U4G rectifier tube, (2) 2A3 and (2) CV181 Treasures from Shuguang.

I've been using the 3008C in integrated-amp mode, so switched it to a full-amp mode after I connected the 300APS pre-amp.   To my ears, the integrated-amp mode was already good so I almost cancelled my pre-amp order.  I'm glad I didn't because this 300APS even made it sound so much better.  Listening to Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Seth Macfarlane (who is this guy?) ... we noticed that there was more separation between the singer and the band, the bass was more pronounced.   My wife noticed the change immediately and I didn't say a word...because she asked "how much is that?" again. 

I have the 3008C pair and 300APS set up on top of an audio rack.  The 300APS comes with a cage but I don't use it since the tubes aren't as hot as the 805s.  The cage is as ugly as the 3008C's cage.  But for safety reasons, I always have the cage on the 3008C since the 805s carry 900VDC. 

You may not like the look of the 3008C but I think it's unique and has to stand on its own, not a copycat to a Cary 805AE.  At its price point,  that is -- a poor man's price point -- there's nothing like it in the market.  To sum it up, if you have $7 dollars ($3 for 3008C, $2 for 300APS, and $2 for Doge6 Clarity), you can be listening to really high-end music (the MA GX300 is an extra $5 dollars).  I'm poor so I like to drop those zeros especially when the wife starts asking.

Oh, I almost forgot... I think the 805 tubes will hold up to driving the GX300.   On the 300APS or 3008C volume dials, with zero volume at 7 oclock,  I'm usually listening at between 8 and 9 oclock.  Its pretty loud at 10 which I did one time and my neighbors started to bang on the walls -- not fun in apt living.

So what are you waiting for?  Looks like you'll be drooling forever....

Regards.

[FullRangeMan]

It seems that you like this amp because you keep poking at it.  So why not just buy it and try it for 30 days so you can put an end to your misery. 

I just received my preamp also from PV... it's the Ming Da 300APS with extended legs which look the same as above you showed in the rack.  It came with Svetlana 5U4G rectifier tube, (2) 2A3 and (2) CV181 Treasures from Shuguang.

I've been using the 3008C in integrated-amp mode, so switched it to a full-amp mode after I connected the 300APS pre-amp.   To my ears, the integrated-amp mode was already good so I almost cancelled my pre-amp order.  I'm glad I didn't because this 300APS even made it sound so much better.  Listening to Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Seth Macfarlane (who is this guy?) ... we noticed that there was more separation between the singer and the band, the bass was more pronounced.   My wife noticed the change immediately and I didn't say a word...because she asked "how much is that?" again. 

I have the 3008C pair and 300APS set up on top of an audio rack.  The 300APS comes with a cage but I don't use it since the tubes aren't as hot as the 805s.  The cage is as ugly as the 3008C's cage.  But for safety reasons, I always have the cage on the 3008C since the 805s carry 900VDC. 

You may not like the look of the 3008C but I think it's unique and has to stand on its own, not a copycat to a Cary 805AE.  At its price point,  that is -- a poor man's price point -- there's nothing like it in the market.  To sum it up, if you have $7 dollars ($3 for 3008C, $2 for 300APS, and $2 for Doge6 Clarity), you can be listening to really high-end music (the MA GX300 is an extra $5 dollars).  I'm poor so I like to drop those zeros especially when the wife starts asking.

Oh, I almost forgot... I think the 805 tubes will hold up to driving the GX300.   On the 300APS or 3008C volume dials, with zero volume at 7 oclock,  I'm usually listening at between 8 and 9 oclock.  Its pretty loud at 10 which I did one time and my neighbors started to bang on the walls -- not fun in apt living.

So what are you waiting for?  Looks like you'll be drooling forever....

Regards.

Sorry If Iam boring you.
I wish say, Iam not advert this amp, my intend is to learn about it, and about others good amps.
I even can not try it where I live, and Iam running a small SET from a local builder.
I like this amp, cause it is SET, integrated(no preamp need), good tubes choice, seems reliable etc, but I would love any other amp like it from other builders, but as you said there is nothing like it in the market so far.

So I like post about good tube amps, and let other people to know its flaws and qualities, for this forums are for, I suspect.
But I have been kicked out of a local one to expose defects in famous amps to unlettered musiclovers(non audiophiles), fortunately this is not the case in this AudioCircle Forum, a great freedom place.
Regards

[Pancham]

@FULLRANGEMAN

Really? Are you kidding me? So you're not even in the USA? If you're not, then there's no way for you to get these babies from PV.   You're only option is to buy from China and modify it yourself - if you're able to, there's high voltages when dealing with valves and capacitors so get your local tech to modify it for you.  Sorry man,  looks like you'll be drooling forever.... I believe that these 3008C babies are the closest you can get to owning a Cary 805AE or 211FE monos which cost more than double, or triple in price. 

You might be listening to a SET 300B or 2A3 right now but I'm curious if a SET 300B or 2A3 is in the same league as an 805/845/211 SET.   I believe they're not so I'm planning to build a SET 300B just to compare.

Regards.

[npdang]

I have the 3008AB SE, which is the stereo version of this amp.  I would agree that it's a great value.  Unfortunately, there's no way to bypass the linestage which I suspect is the weakness in this amp.  I think that alone makes the monoblocks a worthwhile upgrade.

[FullRangeMan]

@FULLRANGEMAN

Really? Are you kidding me? So you're not even in the USA? If you're not, then there's no way for you to get these babies from PV.   You're only option is to buy from China and modify it yourself - if you're able to, there's high voltages when dealing with valves and capacitors so get your local tech to modify it for you.  Sorry man,  looks like you'll be drooling forever.... I believe that these 3008C babies are the closest you can get to owning a Cary 805AE or 211FE monos which cost more than double, or triple in price. 

You might be listening to a SET 300B or 2A3 right now but I'm curious if a SET 300B or 2A3 is in the same league as an 805/845/211 SET.   I believe they're not so I'm planning to build a SET 300B just to compare.

Regards.

Iam overseas. I will let North American custumers test pilot it for some time, there is few first hand info avaliable.
I not regard the Cary805 this good, it is not Integrated, needing a external pre-amp or variable output CD player, it no even use a 805 tube, only 211/845(less gain & power capacity on the plate, than the 125W 805 tube) and cost 11K USD. Gulp!

Also the Cary assemblage are not first class as your amp, as seen down in this Cary 572SE image, so better keep your ugly amp for many years.
Cheers

[Caar]

That's worse than being ugly - it's scary!!!