A friend is looking for an entry level tube amp. I suggested the A10 as it's a lot cheaper than the A12 and is easily modded to run 12AX7s by rewiring the tube sockets anyway. A 10min job really, which I said I do for him. I also offered to do Skunkie's mods if he wanted to go that far, but I suggested he live with it for a while to get used to what it sounds like. (I had an early iteration of the SoundArtist, ie. SA34A, which was basically an A12 version that came out a few years before the Reisong A12. It was a sweet amp)
Anyway, he calls me and asks me what version of A10 to buy, saying that the P2P version has a couple of transformer options available. When I looked, he was right! Both A10 and A12 have options for "upgraded" transformers. Have Reisong updated the transformers in their "upgraded" A10 and A12 models?
Well this is interesting. From my research, there are indeed different iterations of the transformers depending on the manufacturer. Yes, it appears there may be more than one or two! The A10 and A12 can appear with either Japanese or Chinese transformers. The trouble is that the potting means it is impossible to know what we are buying. There are at least two sellers that emphatically promote their Japanese made transformer versions and claim 50% more headroom from their 200w power transformer. They also state OPT at 15w.