I’m like a blissful, happy and satiated FAT 2 year old sitting in a pile of sugary treats spread around him on the floor, munching away without a care in the world, getting gooey sugary goodness all over my face and fingers, smiling retardedly while making nom-nom yummy noises.
I can’t get enough of these sweet amplifiers, despite how much i have come to absolutely hate looking for matched & mated tubes to feed them😡
Mr Shigeki Yamamoto is an artisanal manufacturer/builder/creator who’s talents are very much appreciated in this home.
I know I cant fully appreciate what youre hearing obviously but that design looks so funky. Surely it sounds as funky as it looks.
Im sure opened up it would have as much japanese parts as as possible, gold plated screws, one of the cleanest pcb id ever witness and one heck of a transformer.
Quiet is the name of the game with yamamoto san
You got a hell of a lot of hi sensitivity speakers, im sure the k-horns had you hooked to the music. Thats super high quality midrange straight into your brain.
Sure you are lol I can feel your wanting for high sensitivity monsters all the way to where I am.
Getting all of his builds sounds crazy, but checking his webpage I see he did his best to put enough variety in the way he designed and engineered every single amp and preamp.
I got the bottom of the line yamamoto amp and its way too good for what it retailed.
I wish UPS hadnt broke the original pot, I really should put an alps pot there when I have the time and energy for DIY.
Well I guess youll find the right configuration and at least one synergy where you hear them trading blows, or maybe not but I dont think that A-08S is gathering dust anytime soon.
Grats on your amp again, im glad you gave yamamoto sound craft a chance and are very much enjoying it. Even if getting the tubes right is difficult.
I just noticed this comment, Yamamoto Sound Craft is a manufacturer of specialized audio parts. On their amplifiers all the metal parts are machined in house, they also specialize in exotic wood and do their own woodworking. The internal components that are not machined in house like the capacitors and resistors are from the US co. Dale.
“ Most of the resistors used in the A-08S are made by DALE of the United States. Non-inductive metal-clad type is used for large resistors, wire-wound resistors are used for medium capacity types, and metal-clad resistors are used for small capacity types. All of them are made by the same DALE company, and their sound quality is so excellent that they cannot be compared with the same class of Japanese-made products. The reliability is also remarkably high because they are manufactured in accordance with U.S. MIL standards.
Polypropylene capacitors are mainly used for the capacitors. Compared to ordinary chemical capacitors, polypropylene capacitors have superior response to pulsed signals and their own distortion rate is also very high. Since the difference in sound quality of these capacitors has a significant effect not only on the signal circuit but also on the power circuit, we have improved the sound quality by using polypropylene type capacitors in many parts including the power circuit. In addition, the input capacitors of the power supply and the coupling capacitors of the signal circuit, which have the greatest influence on sound quality, are made of the company’s original capacitors. These are film capacitors in ebony or Bakelite cases impregnated with epoxy resin to prevent vibration of the elements, thereby greatly improving sound quality.“
Every company has its own marketing, i don’t know much about electronics so i can’t speak to what is bullshit or simply a sales pitch. I do know the amp performs as they say it should, could not be more pleased.
This is very interesting because I thought all of my ha02 parts were japanese and american because of the way they looked, but the ha02 is their cheapest amp so maaaaaaybe not all jap/us although I wouldnt be surprised either after seeing the build quality
Sounds like you are enjoying it lol, i mean sounds like the marketing of the manufacturer is delivering
Capacitors are important and a popular very upgrade among the DIY folks but the sound is there both in your amp and in mine.
The way my amp performs it doesnt feel like a 1k amp it sounds like a 2k amp. (I got stuck in midfi for a very long time in fact I think im still there lol even tho my favorite chain is very good)
In your price range I believe price is a lot more subjective but idk im not there.
The speaker amp is actually also very good regardless of it having only like 1/4 or 1/2 of a watt it CAN fill the room on the rp600m, I dont use it tho id need some mini lores for that and also cant compete against the ion powerdac (I freaking love the ion powerdac its a huge upgrade from the 300 and 800dlls poweramps I had before).
PS. Off topic. The pass labs has so much detail with the adx5000 for someone coming from 1k to 2k new amp price range that sometimes its overwhelming and I have to swap it to the mass kobo so that the details dont make me “lose musicallity”
I guess ill get used to larger amounts of detail as im buying some other good cans later on (utopia, mysphere) plus the adx5k is no slouch in detail retrieval. Right now it can be too much on some tracks so upgrading the hp amp would be pointless at this point in my journey. The pass labs was exactly what I wanted from an amps thanks to everyone who recommended it.
Also the Pass didnt replace any single one of my amps, they all sound very different and have at least one very good synergy that I need to keep.
I went through allot of trouble and expense to hunt down some strong testing Globe UX-245 valves and of course it was my terribly bad luck to lose/destroy the one tube that had so much visual character and surprisingly the strongest tested of the bunch purchased the other day
After crying my sob story over on another forum I was warned to keep my Globes for the Yamamoto A08-S and stick to the ST style of 45’s on my Alan Eaton’s due to differences in amplifier design. I’m all about taking the advice of more experienced and knowledgeable tube folks so I decided to dust off the Yammy and play w/ it again for the next few weeks while rolling some tubes just to make sure I don’t have any more expensive surprises and I can focus elsewhere rather than worrying about having tubes stocked for the Apocalypse
I’ve been using the First Watt SIT-3 w/ this combination of equipment the past few weeks and have absolutely loved the synergy and sound character, I could live w/ that SIT-3 for many years and enjoy the performance w/ no further desires
Fortunately I need not do any such thing, First Watt SIT-3 has moved down to my main music room and the Yamamoto A08-S w/ freshly dusted off Old stock UX-245’s and a matching type 80, all RCA Radiotron etched, are warming up so that I can re-acclimate myself to this set-up
I’m enjoying the Holiday, and wish you all happy listening always.
A GREAT WATT on a DHT SET amp and single driver speakers for the win today
Wow, that really sucks to hear that happen to your UX-245 tube. Did the other forum mentioned why you can’t play the globe 45s on the Alan Eaton tube amp vs the Yamamoto A08-S amp?
The purple glow is usually air in the tube, tubes dead, but I don’t see how an amp could have been responsible for that. Maybe if the socket was really tight, it could have been damaged during insertion.
Now shipping certainly could have done it.
That makes a lot of sense. My Supratek Cabernet have a tight 6SN7 socket, so I have to put a little pressure when putting them in and I always try to wriggle them out as delicately as possible ever since my Melz 1578 died on me. My DHT output is the opposite where I can slide tubes with ease in and out. I can imagine vintage tube getting damage with a little force on it since they seem so fragile. I made sure to always wear the white gloves for vintage tube since I also heard you can damage tubes with finger prints I guess because of the oil on the skin and tubes get really hot when being used.
I have very little knowledge of electronics and how all things technological or electrical work, might as well be magic, here is one possible answer I received, no idea how true it is but sounded reasonable to me🤷♂️
Direct quote from a random internet forum member trying to be helpful follows:
“I believe it may be due to the immediate rush of b+ on the fragile filaments of the 245.
My Dennis Had 45SET has a separate switch to warm up the filaments prior to switching on the b+.
They are especially fragile if the tube has been dormant for 90 years or so.
Dennis recommends letting them warm up with just the filament heaters for about 30min before applying the b+ for the first time.
Even with this feature I have a handful of dead globes that have met a similar purple death, they are just more fragile in general than their st counterparts.”
The Alan Eaton vs Yamamoto comments came before this quote and this was an answer offered up as to possible cause. i repeat, these are forum comments i have no technical knowledge to dispute or agree.
Well, at least you got the Yamamoto to enjoy those beautiful 45 Globes. With yours and MON impression on the Yamamoto amp, I hope to one day find a sensitive speakers and this amp hopefully on sale in the USAM one day to experience it. I found this cool Yamamoto 300B and 2A3 amp (looks like the 2A3 got sold) in USAM. The 300B amp looks like it could work for my setup, but its out of budget for me right now, so I will just watch it get sold. The Yamamoto gear looks really special and cool to experience.
I found the 2A3 version that got sold btw if you anyone was curious on what it looks like:
Tubes are really simple devices conceptually, the cathode fires electrons at the anode, the grid just deflects that beam, the less electrons hit the anode, the lower the voltage.
The heater just facilitates the firing of the electrons, on older DHT tubes, the cathode is also the heater.
While it’s true that if the amp applies power to B+ to the tube at the same instant as the heater voltage, it’s broadly assumed this can shorten tube life.
In practice it’s not a big issue as far as I can tell.
There is a bigger issue with the heater supply if it just turns on, with or without a second switch, the cold filament has significantly less resistance than a hot one, so you get too much current flowing into the filament for a second or so before the filament heats, there are lots of ways to prevent that, lampizator has a 90 second voltage ramp up for their heater circuits, but some amps don’t do any on them and tubes are supposed to be able to survive that, but that is probably more likely to cause failure especially in an older tube.
But if it failed like that I wouldn’t expect a purple glow, the purple glow is usually caused by nitrogen (read air) in the tube fluorescing, something broke the vacuum.
I’m not sure what leaving the heater on for 30 minutes would do, a few seconds would likely be enough to stop damage.
Copy, got it thank you @Polygonhell i value your knowledge and experience. A few folks mentioned that the Alan Eaton amps are known to be hard on the older globe tubes but thats not what happened to me. I can assume that despite great packaging and care taken to get the tubes to me this one particular tube while in transit and probably also from my manhandling had a small gap develop and failed upon initial start up due to escaping gases. I have had this happen before just never so spectacularly and vividly, I’m happy i had a camera in hand and was able to capture the event for future posterity
We all take chances when handling very old tubes, this is a good reminder to take extra care and to also enjoy what time you get w/ your equipment when it’s functioning as intended
Happy listening to all!
And it’s certainly true that some amps can be “harder” on tubes than others. Both in heater design, and in just how aggressive they are in utilizing the power a tube can deliver.
That price is a bit over double the cost of the last one i saw being sold in 300B, once in a while they do come onto the market, unfortunately shipping tends to beat the crap out of them for some reason, they need even more packaging than Yamamoto provides, mine too got damaged during shipping.
I thought a bit too long about the 300B and it sold within hours, still kicking myself in the ass over missing out on that one It was all the way in CA and i felt it might not survive the trip to me….
They really do require just the “right” speakers though.
Always incredibly impressive to see your yamamoto craft builds with speakers
They just have something special; theres better gear out there of course but this has its magic
My yamamoto ha02 tubes just expired, I have new ones coming in no time!
Offtopicky:
Im not gonna delve into 2ch more because of not so recent happenings; headphones systems are cheaper.
After all this time its amazing that im still completely satisfied with my klipsch rp600m with the exogal powerdac and 2 small subs, since I got the klipsch I never felt the need to upgrade, its been years, and I dont think ill feel it until I finish the headphone stuff.
My Yamamoto A-08s has a bad power transformer. I want to buy a replacement from Yamamoto but I am having no luck at all. I do not know how to contact the company but I did ask a Yamamoto (accessory) reseller here in the U.S. – Mockingbird Distribution – to contact Mr. Yamamoto on my behalf but the owner was unable to find out why I have received no response to my request. I would appreciate it if someone could give me contact information for Yamamoto or shed some light as to why my request is being ignored. That little amp sure is pretty but I didn’t buy it. I did buy the amp used/2nd hand but the amp did worked fine until I bought new 45s for it but to look at I bought it to use. It would be too expensive to have the transformer rewound. FWIW I replaced the vintage Type 45s with a brand new pair of Emissiom Labs 45s. The gigantic EL tubes worked fine for a week or two, then the right channel died. Thanks for listening to me whine.
Homepage with email all the way at the bottom. Try that first. Their English is so so at best. Be brief and very clear in what you are asking, short easy to read sentences.
If that fails see if you can get a hold of this guy on Facebook or eBay or Instagram or whatever place he uses. He may possibly be able to order what you want directly if he is still a distributor for Yamamoto. Good luck
hi guys i need your help i have the yamamoto a09-s
and im searching for more warm flavor
i ordered we300b but couple of guys told me that i dont get that warmth becuse of the c3m driver tubes that is a very good tube but its not warm at all
any solution?
somone told me to get a 6sn7 to c3m adapter and i will be able to get the more warm and lush sound with 6sn7s nos tubes
anyway i got somone that can make the adapter for me but he asked me if its possible to change the filament voltage since the c3m is 20v
somone have any idea if its possible to make it work?
im willing to pay if somone can help me im not joking
Hey @marlboro, I’m no expert but I’m pretty sure you picked the absolute wrong 300B amplifier for “warmth”. If that amp is built and voiced like his other amplifiers warmth is pretty much the last thing you will get out of it. My experience is limited but I am a very big fan of the Yamamoto audio products and have read up as much as I can across the board on his creations.
Just read this one single review to prove my point, the A09-S is simply not built or voiced to be like other 300B amplifiers and warmth is not wanted by its creator. I’m over 90% confident in my words, go read up some more on their products to verify.
You will most likely need to look elsewhere for a warm 300B.
Let me know if you decide to sell that A09-S though, I adore the product line
Good luck and happy listening.
First Watt SIT-3 has moved down to my main music room and the Yamamoto A08-S w/ freshly dusted off Old stock UX-245’s and a matching type 80, all RCA Radiotron etched, are warming up so that I can re-acclimate myself to this set-up 
i repeat, these are forum comments i have no technical knowledge to dispute or agree.
It was all the way in CA and i felt it might not survive the trip to me….
