well after all the bashing, trash talk, and general dispproval, I got one.
Yes, it did not work when I got it - hence it was cheap. The 330 ohm cement resistors had done a fine job of cooking the PCB. I replaced those, repaired 2 other joints and... It does not sound bad, in fact it is rather useable (the drive channel is kinda farty)
all the other 'problem areas' were fixed in 2005
flip this amp!