Colossus Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 OK. String me and tar and feather me now since I know this was posted before but for some reason I can not find it using the Search Forum feature. (Yes, I do know how to use it. ) About a week or two ago I did see this topic or at least someone was posting a link to how to do it. It was saying how easy it really is to build your own amp. I never did check it out at the time but now I would like to pass the info on to someone else and can not find it. Thanks! Oh and gotta use this smiley. KEEP ROCKIN"!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoughtless 7 Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 Check out www.AX84.com Guytronix and Ted Weber also have kits you can buy and assemble them yourself. Word of caution. Its not as simple as you may think building a Valve Amplifier. Read carefully all the safety instructions and don't jump in two feet, it may save your life. The voltages running through a valve amp are very high and if you aren't careful you could end up a cabbage, or worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted September 29, 2008 Report Share Posted September 29, 2008 i got some stuff from this guy he was fast and every thing was really nice quality http://www.turretboards.com/ i have also used weber for some parts i haven't used him but this guy has some really nice prices http://dockeryamps.com/web/index.php also you might want to look at http://store.marshamps.com/ http://www.missionamps.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 (edited) Some nice kit amps are also provided by http://www.allenamps.com One day I want to build the 1x15 Brown Sugar kit. Edited September 30, 2008 by Paul Marossy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 (edited) Try Hoffman amps... he sells parts and has a forum with a lot of knowledgeable members. http://www.el34world.com/ http://www.el34world.com/Forum/index.php Edited September 30, 2008 by Geo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Marossy Posted September 30, 2008 Report Share Posted September 30, 2008 Yeah, Doug Hoffman is a good guy. I've bought a lot of amp parts from him over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colossus Posted October 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Thanks guys! I'll pass it along. I may try it after I do my first guitar build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Yeah, Doug Hoffman is a good guy. I've bought a lot of amp parts from him over the years. VERY good guy... he ships immediately. You get the stuff a day or two after you order it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted October 2, 2008 Report Share Posted October 2, 2008 Check out www.AX84.com Guytronix and Ted Weber also have kits you can buy and assemble them yourself. Word of caution. Its not as simple as you may think building a Valve Amplifier. Read carefully all the safety instructions and don't jump in two feet, it may save your life. The voltages running through a valve amp are very high and if you aren't careful you could end up a cabbage, or worse. do you have any experience with guytronix I have looked at the Gilmore Jr and it looks like a interesting build with the 2 watt conversion it looks like it could be very versital Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoughtless 7 Posted October 3, 2008 Report Share Posted October 3, 2008 Yeah, i bought the 1/2 watt Gilmour Kit from them and the 3 amp books they offer. The amp itself is very loud and clean for its power output. I managed to bake my power transformer and they were happy to replace it for free, which was pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 the question is do you want tube or solidstate. you can get really good sounds out of either. really the heart of a good amp is a rock solid powersupply. some people like a sagging powersupply some like one that will deliver the goods. i personally am working on a single ended el34 design with an 850V powersupply with 1200v caps on the power section. and around 90uf or better filtering on just the output section. the preamp supply is in the 400v range with a switchable eq section between the 1st stage and the third. utilizing a 6dx8 tube i get the best of pentode glory and triode goodness. personally i like pentodes the first guitar amps used them cause they cost less than triodes and now isn't it intersting how history has reversed itself. having said this. i also own a hughs and kettner blue 30r that i got for a song cause it was dead. it works nicely now that i upped the power supply voltage a little. i replaced the blown tda 2050 with a lm1875. the one i have shows the same pinout with a greater voltage ratting than the tda and it is really nice. so for a few bucks i replaced the powerstage. upped the tranny with one laying around the house. put in some sockets for the ic's and added some tlc222 dual opamps for the gain channel as it makes it sound closer to a tube amp. no it doesn't sound like a tube amp but its amazing how good it sounds. i left the clean channel as is cause it never distorted when i hit hard with buckers so i figure why fix somethign that isn't broken. both tube and solid state amps require a well built power section as this is the backbone of the amp since afterall we are just modulating a power supply into moving a speaker. food for thought Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 A rock-solid power supply is definitely needed for some styles (esp. bass amps), but a lot of classic guitar amps don't have great power supplies. In classic guitar amps, it seems that imperfections are part of the amp's charm. i personally am working on a single ended el34 design with an 850V powersupply with 1200v caps on the power section. What's your intent? I'm just curious. If you're looking for more power output and/or headroom, there are other ways to do it using cheaper transformers... or are you looking for those things in a single-ended design? I tend to look at designs with "new" power amps and think, there's probably a reason that's never been done... but that's just my skepticism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 power headroom etc however the transformer for the voltage needed is like 8 usd before shipping being a dealer in parts and such. mostly there was an old site lk turned me onto on tube amp design lessons and it was talking about marshall's being run closer to design max to get the sound they got. however obvioulsy they are not but it was interesting to see this old amp come into the shop a few years back that had an el34 run at well over 650volts and it was one of the best powersections i had the chance to hoook up to. keep in mind however it was really old and i dont' remember what it was but it got me thinking of recreating something along those lines. seeing as if you look up some of the old champ schematics they are getting nearly 400v or so and most of the datasheets for the 6v6 state 300 volts aprox max. and yet they sound amazing it lead me to expirementing with other tubes running at close or over tolerances. obviously i dont' want to blow the thing up. but if running design spec's yields tones close to what i got before, and gives me around 6mos average life or better i am pleased. it seems we should chat sometime about tube amps i enjoy building them for myself. drop me email we can talk. i am currently playing with 12sk7's and 12sj7's as i had a box of them. they work nicely. and sound great as an output tube for a mini champ. we built a mini marshall with a couple of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davee5 Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 I built a dumble-inspired amp froma kit sold by Brown Note, the d'lite. It's pretty dang sweet and does everything a boutique amp should for a build cost of about $1000. The best part is this: all the parts, all the eyelet boards, the chassis, all the instructions (schematics plus physical layouts), online forum for their products (very well populated), good support from the guys, ALL make it pretty hard to screw up. You just supply the cabinet and the time with your hands. Note that I consider myself reasonably competent with building things, but high voltage makes me uppity. I learned a TON doing this project, and cannot explain how incredibly glad I am that I built from a nice kit instead of trying to make it all from a schematic. Unless you are incredibly good with circuits, and troubleshooting, in which case you probably wouldn't be asking for our input anyhow, I would very strongly suggest you go from a kit. I will add, though, that it is immensely satisfying to play through an entirely DIY rig. I don't really feel like I cheated on the amp because I was never going to build a circuit from scratch... no one does anyhow, so you may as well do yourself some favors. -Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 thats cool my friend i actually do build my own amps and sell them. i have been for the last four years i am just always interested in hearing others opinions. Ole wild bill as i called him was my mental sparring partner for many years here and when he passed i stopped posting for a while for many reasons not many people would tolerate my crazy ideas and well on top of that not many people would want me calling them at 3 in the morning to tell them i sent them a new schematic i was working on and what do you think of it. lol. anyway he is gone so for the most part i am locked away in my mental hell of ideas and occasionally i come back to the real world to talk to people. that and my internet was down and now i got a laptop. but i really do my best work with doing cmos switching stuff like i did in engineering school. i spent three years in EE school for Electronic engineering in computers and Robotics. but it taught me nothing about guitar electronics i learned that from books googling and talking to Chaps on this board and others. Party on Wayne Party on Garth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thoughtless 7 Posted October 10, 2008 Report Share Posted October 10, 2008 ansil, you need to clear out your inbox =P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davee5 Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 Ansil, big props for making a bunch of amps and finding a way to pay for the hobby, it's nice work if you can get it. As for my comment that nobody builds "a circuit from scratch," it was not to imply that people don't sit down and work out new ideas on schematics and setups etc, but rather that in the current state of the art it's all about tweaking or modifying (more or less heavily) existing amp designs. That may be starting from the RCA handbook and working up from the super-basics, or modifying Fender schematics to integrate some Mesa circuitry, or putting your own spin on any or none of the above. I would be very surprised to hear about anyone who sits down and designs an amp by looking at tube schematics and then spinning all the circuitry around it. Since I figured all I would do if I were to work from a schematic level myself would be to take existing designs and make small modifications, it's not like I'm reinventing the wheel. As such... why not buy most of the wheels and focus on how to make 'em work (and, not to over-extend the analogy, go cruising sooner!). I'm not good enough on the EE side to do too many mods to analog circuitry, and my guess is most people asking for tips on DIY are in the same boat, thus kit it up! For those of you (Ansil) who can pull it off from a starting point that's a bit more abstract, by all means and you have my deepest respect. Peace, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluesy Posted October 15, 2008 Report Share Posted October 15, 2008 That may be starting from the RCA handbook and working up from the super-basics, or modifying Fender schematics to integrate some Mesa circuitry, or putting your own spin on any or none of the above. I would be very surprised to hear about anyone who sits down and designs an amp by looking at tube schematics and then spinning all the circuitry around it. Well I have been known to sit down with the plate curves and find an optimum loadline and bias point for the tube, then to calculate the component values around it. What would be really original would be to invent a totally new circuit configuration that no-one's thought of before - like when someone invented the ultra-linear output stage, or a new type of phase splitter, or the long-tailed pair, differential input stage. It may be the case however, that most of the possible ways of doing it have already been found. Yes, it's a very mature technology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jalien21 Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 i'd just add to this that people looking for a starting point in tube amp construction would do well to check out the 18 watt site- http://18watt.com/ there's a lot of good info there and a very active forum with people that are a lot of help. 18-watters are a simple project that gives an awesome result. i don't think you need a kit. sourcing parts yourself is cheaper and it feels more like 'your' amp. way more fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devnull Posted December 16, 2008 Report Share Posted December 16, 2008 This here Firefly is worth checking out: http://web.mac.com/calhoun/PCB/Firefly_PCB.html I'm doing one now and it looks very well planned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 the fire fly is a pretty cool little amp i have recently been doing some reading up trying to learn a little theroy of amp design and the out put on the firefly is pretty cool and unique. simple cheap build to and the pcb makes it that much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ansil Posted February 6, 2009 Report Share Posted February 6, 2009 ansil, you need to clear out your inbox =P did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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