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Seems like we have a few DIY tubers hanging around now, so rather than hijacking Cradledorfs thread, I started this one!
Here's one that I've done.
It's a DIYTube Dynaco ST35 clone
http://imageshack.us/a/img24/8939/diy35.jpg
Great PCB-based kit, easy to build and sounds like an amp that is way bigger and more complicated! Perfection for my Altec HF compression drivers especially.
Very nice Mike!. It's amazing what glorious sound comes from a simple, well-designed tube amp. Makes you wonder what all that other stuff is for.
My KT88 based, transformer-coupled Cathode Follower. 3W/ch:
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2013/05/4.jpg
Inside the CFA:
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2013/05/5.jpg
And my output transformerless EL-509 based Son of Beast. 15W/ch.
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2013/05/6.jpg
Inside the SOB:
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2013/05/7.jpg
Both are all P-P wired. They came with simple to follow step by step instructions. I have no electronics background, but I can follow directions! If you can follow a Lego book, you can build these amps.
Oh yeah, and my phono preamp:
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2013/05/8.jpg
Looks Like Nice work there guys ! :smile2:
A very simple 6DJ8 - 2A3 build....
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc.../2013/05/9.jpg
This was only 3-4 years in the making. I'm a bit slow in getting projects off the ground when I'm breaking new ground. It was worth the wait. Believe it or not it powers the Simplex/M19 stacks and the 604s with ease. All of 2.5 WPC...
Build thread here....
Looks like you need to dust off those tubes Alan ! LOL!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!Quote:
Originally Posted by Altec Best
Toobs need a layer of dust to smell correct when they get up to temperature.:D
Seriously though, don't clean them unless you're aware of how delicate the numbers and other graphic print on the envelope is. Some tubes lose their numbering/lettering if you just look at them wrong. I'd much rather have 60 year worth of dust than some squeaky clean mystery tubes.
here's an odd bit.
If you can't read the number on a tube, rub it on top of your head. The oil in your hair makes the number more readable. Taught to me by an old TV guy back in the 60's when I was a teenager teaching myself TV repair....
No clue why it works but it does...
I've never heard a tube amp... I wonder how they compare to my SS. All I know is that changing amps can make a substantial improvement depending on what your switching up to.
Check out this unique tube amp.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-50s-60s-...item19dc598f04
One I made for my daughter. Basically a Soldano Atomic 16 with buffered tube effects loop.
As long as we're talking DIY tubeys, This is the most amazing OCD-laced build I've ever scene. It's a pair of TS 160W OTL monoblocks by Mark in Oz.
http://sharksphotos.yolasite.com
Stunning!
Awesome work guys, Alan your wiring and soldering skills are excellent!!! My vintage Pilot amps wiring, doesn't look that good...I bet they sound very nice.... I love tubes with my M19's.
Thanks. However, my meager skills are nothing compared to my mentor. I've had the good fortune to hook up locally with a legend in the business, Dennis J Had, founder of Cary Audio, and in the HAM arena, Dentron and Ameritron. I've been helping him get a little boutique single ended amp business off the ground, and he is building some amazing amps.
Here's my amp next to some of his current work...
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/10.jpg
And this is what real soldering looks like.....
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/11.jpg
<Shameless Plug Warning>
And some better pix of some of his current line up...
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/12.jpg
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/13.jpg
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/14.jpg
And for the first time anywhere, the Fire Bottle...
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/15.jpg
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/16.jpg
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/17.jpg
Dennis builds these amps himself, and sells them through E-Bay for $1200-$1500, a bargain if you think about it. It would be like buying a set of 604s build personally by Alvis Ward, or a Paragon carved and wired by JB Lansing. Anyway, if anyone has any interest in these amp, let me know, and I can point you in the right direction
might need to find a tube of brylcreem to make that work any more. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Old Guy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6F4GtyRfto
Nice EL84 SET design. Clean & simple.Quote:
Originally Posted by analog addict
Mine.
PP300B, Citation II opt, Altec power and chokes, transformer coupled.
28W RMS
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/23.jpg
Ron
nice, Ron! That is a sweet-looking 300B.
Alan, what kind of trannies are on that amp of yours? I can't tell from the pic.
Which Alan?Quote:
Originally Posted by Alien_Shore
Sorry...this one.Quote:
Originally Posted by analog addict
Thank you!Quote:
Originally Posted by Alien_Shore
Ron
They look like painted chokes to me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alien_Shore
Agreed, looks like the OPT's are the ones with end bells directly behind the 2A3's, or maybe those are the ones Alien is asking about............................Quote:
Originally Posted by alancohen
That's why they make Sharpie's Bowtie ! :wink2: You mark the tubes before the lettering disappears.Quote:
Originally Posted by bowtie427ss
I have a question for you guys.What do you think are the best sounding Tubes for you die hard tube guys. KT88's :Thumbs up:
Original Tung-Sol 6550's thru Acro or higher quality iron.Quote:
Originally Posted by Altec Best
But, in the right circuit, on the right iron, you can make a JJ/Tesla EL34 sound pretty damn sweet.
Then i heard Pass' Firstwatt and D'Agastino's Krell and rolled all my tubes right on out of here........................
Any pics of those amps ?
Not really thinking of any one specific 6550 or EL34 platform, but rather the few of each that i have heard over the years that were outstanding from the bulk of tube amps i've heard.Quote:
Originally Posted by Altec Best
Used to be that you could step into an Allen 75(6550's on acrosound trannies) pair for less than the 6550's were worth, ebay and online forums have changed that. I have owned those and heard others that had been modded extensively and they were nothing short of spectacular.
I also owned a Conrad Johnson PV75AL, that was an excellent amplifier. However it runs the 6550's uncomfortably close to their limits, too hard for me to burn beloved vintage 6550's in it, and hard enough that some import 6550's will only last a week or two, with about a year of regular use being the best you could hope for. I was informed of some mods that would extend tube life but was afraid of killing it's value. Ended up with another a couple years later, but it was noisy needing restoration and it fell victim to my fading interest along with probably 20 other various tube amps, with my one regret being not getting to hear properly restored Altec 1568's.
One of the most impressive uses of the EL34 i've heard was in an heavily modded(again) Peavey 50/50 or 60/60. I don't recall the circuit specifics, but i know the factory output iron was replaced with Heyboer's or something of that ilk, i remember the owner/builder griping that he could have just bought a plug n play amp for what he spent on the OPT's, although i think he achieved a sound quality that few if any plug n play EL34 amps have.
And of course Pass and D'Agastino are solid state guys, currently and for at least a while to come i am a firm member of their camp, and my curiosities are looking at the evolving class D technology. That is not to say that i won't revisit tubes again in the future, however.
Yeah changing/burning up tubes all time gets to be a real bummer... It's always nice to have 200-400 wpc SS amps on hand.. Totally plug and play.:cool2:
KT88 and 300B SE bi-amping my model 19s.
Kyle.
Let's see if i can post some pics without getting the size error. For me it's all 300b except for a couple EL84 amps kicking around.
I Like the Audio Note Kits and I have a buddy, Digital Pete build them for me
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/26.jpg
Here's my one of Audio Note Interstage Mono Blocks. It's 300b tubes in parallel
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/27.jpg
Here's the underneath view
- - - Updated - - -
OK, got it figured out finally
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/28.jpg
Here is my AN Kit 1, it's an integrated 300b amp
http://www.hostboard.com/forums/hbmc...2013/05/29.jpg
Here's the AN DAC 3.1 that goes with the Mono Blocks. I also have a couple of 2.1 DACs, line stages and phono stages as well, if you want to see pics of those.
"Best" tube is like catching mercury. Kind of like what is the best driver for a speaker. The circuit it's in makes a big difference, just as the enclosure and even room parameters also affect the end result for a speaker. And eventually the answer comes down to what you prefer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Altec Best
I have KT88s in my cathode follower. I love it. It is warm and musical, but not as transparent as the EL-509s in my output tranformerless amp. In a transformer-coupled amp, the OTs make a huge difference and really good ones can cost a small fortune. The law of diminishing returns is in full force here.
I'm currently awaiting my newest toys which will be a pair of 300B output transformerless monoblocks. That's a real trick since "In an OTL, the cathode is connected to the speaker. A 300B triode has a directly heated cathode. That means the cathode is the filament. This places the filament in direct electrical contact with the speaker." Eliminating the A/C hum on the filament has been cleverly achieved in this circuit by using a separate power supply running at 25Hz instead of 60Hz to heat the filaments. There will still be a hum, but below audible levels. Pretty cool. So in effect you get the best of both worlds. No transformer between tube and speaker to color the signal and the bliss of a 300B. Actually 8 of them..ouch!
As far as "replacing tubes all the time", again, it depends on the circuit. A well designed amp should be able to provide many years of service for the tubes. Reliability is job #1 for an amp designer.
AB, you're more than welcome to stop by and listen to both...anytime.
Thanks Alan for the offer ! :cool2:Quote:
Originally Posted by alancohen
I'll even sweeten it: I'll bring 'em to you so you can compare on your speakers and front end. You'll have to make the coffee though.Quote:
Originally Posted by Altec Best
How do you like these? I was very interested in these a while back, but they were a bit to pricey for me at the time and I ended up going down another road when I got a killer cheap deal on a very nicely built up Sun Audio 2A3SE amp.Quote:
Originally Posted by tinpan
I have three DIY SET amps that were built by a friend of mine who recently passed away. He was a prolific DIYer and these were his pride and joys. I bought two of them from him prior to his passing, and the third was gifted to me by him in exchange for liquidating his audio related estate when he was terminally ill.
The first is a set of 5842/45 monos in solid copper chassis. They were built around the basic Monkey design, as interpreted by Thorsten Loesch - Calculating DC coupled Single Ended Valve Amplifiers - Part #1 - Page 2 - diyAudio. These are very, very nice sounding.
The red one is a E180F/300B design based on this schematic AudioRoundTable.com: Group Build => SE 300B Project, Part 11 - The Amplifier Schematic These are very clean, but slightly rolled off on the top ? but I know the problem here and simply have to change out a variable R pot for a fixed R.
The green one is a 12HG7/845 based on a low-voltage implementation designed for the GM70 and adapted by Ken for the 845 to run at 750v on the plate. 8-10w clean output + ~15w headroom - How to Make a Transmitter Class Amp
I am just starting down the road of biamping my GPA-IIIs, and have a hot-rodded Rane AC23 ? replaced all the ICs with better quality and the ?? jacks with RCAs. Should be interesting.
I try not to buy used power tubes, since the "NOS" ones can be very pricey with very few of them truly New Old Stock - especially with DHTs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Altec Best
I have had a couple of KT88 amps, and used a fair few 6550s in there as well. The 60s Tung Sol 6550s were very nice, but pricey. Penta tubes (a reseller that did a lot of QC on Shuggie tubes) were very nice, but you cant get them anymore. But, I think the best option now is the Golden Lion reissue KT88s.
Jim McShane is a highly reputable seller, is a joy to do business with, and is into restoring old Citation amps as well.
Tube & Information Page
I have been using Svetlana 300B's, but the quality is rather poor, they can't be found, and I'm down to my last 4. Will have to find replacements. Ugh. Or convert to 6550/KT88 in Triode mode.
I run the things rather hard.
I have 10 or so Tung Sol 6550 (used) and about the same of the GE (NOS) although in my Citation, I liked the Tung Sol better.
Haven't visited McShanes page forever, so thanks for the link!
Ron
I absolutely love the Interstage Monoblocks. I am saving to buy another pair to drive my A4's
Is that really $4500 for the kit!? Why?Quote:
Originally Posted by tinpan
Youre welcome!Quote:
Originally Posted by RonSSS
The Svetlana's are not that great, I have a pair and I am not impressed with them at all. Nor am I with the bog-standard Chinese ones. I think JJ (got a pair with the red amp) and TJ meshies are the good, albeit slightly pricier priced options. I am very impressed with my EML 2A3 tubes (nice birthday pressie!), and I am sure their 300B are great as well, but they are very expensive.
I'd actually beg to differ on that one, at least for the designer I know. Dennis Had could care less if your tubes last 2000 hours or 10,000 hours. He designs amps with performance in mind. It's all about the power and the sound. I have a early prototype 6BQ5 amp built out of a modded Zenith, and he runs the 6BQ5s hard enough that some of my tubes will exhibit a faint orange glow on the plates. It's a bit disconcerning the first time you notice it, and that amp will quickly sort out which of your tubes are good and not so good. I just got it back from him after a tune up, and he said that it's putting out about 8 WPC, which is huge for a single ended 6BQ5.Quote:
Originally Posted by alancohen
Anyway, as far as tubes, I prefer the smaller triodes, such as 2A3s and 45s for their oh so sweet sound, and 6BQ5s for a SEP design. Dennis also has a new 807 based amp which I will eventually have an example of, and he raves about that one a lot....
I have had Cary amps and a Cary pre, and I have known a few good techs that have worked on Cary gear. I liked them, but you are right, Dennis' designs do not respect the tubes very well and they do burn through them - regardless if how good they are.Quote:
Originally Posted by analog addict
A very well respected local tech I use when stuff gets over our heads actually called said his amps' design that he worked on "did some questionable and dirty things" (like just simply reducing the bias point in "standby" mode).
I guess different strokes for different folks. I can't think of any successful amplifier designer/manufacturer that would include in their marketing literature the phrase, "We could care less if your tubes last 2000 hours or 10,000 hours."Quote:
Originally Posted by analog addict
Reliability in any piece of equipment is not the main thing, it's everything. Personally, I would never buy an amplifier where I had to worry about tubes frying every time I turn it on. And I really can't see how pushing a tube to its limits enhances anything. It might boost a little power, but it can't improve its sonic characteristics. I find it hard to believe you have to sacrifice reliability to gain performance.