Tube Amp build for Dummies

charley95

I would like to get my hands wet so to speak on building a cheap tube amp. I want a little tube amp for my garage to hook up I-Pod and portable cd player. My abilities in electronics build is worthless. I was able to sucessfully solder in a larger output transformer to my Fender Pro Jr. with success. It made a huge difference for a 15 watt amp. I have small Boston Acoustic bookshelves. I don't need high quality sound, I just want the learning experience. My Radio Shack amp from 82 is failing slowly and I don't want to mess with it. Could I get some kind of kit say maybe in the $100 range. My current amp is 10 watts. Any thoughts on this would be great.

mhardy6647

your best bet at the bargain end of the spectrum is probably the S-5 Electronics line of PCB amp kits: http://www.s5electronics.com/thome.html

These are truly bare-bones, though!

There are also myriad vendors of even more skeletal/nominal kits on (e.g.) eBAY. There's also
stuff like this, too: http://www.diytube.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=3382
see also: http://www.head-fi.org/t/542210/best-diy-tube-amp-kit-for-under-100 and http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=316840

another quasi-kit option based on Compactron (late TV) tubes: http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/6T9-Tube-Amp-Kit/

Pete Millett's site has tons of good DIY projects at all levels of cost and skill: http://www.pmillett.com/index.html

In terms of price/performance, you might want to consider a headphone amp as a good, inexpensive place to start.

sucks2beme

Hard to wrong with a Pete Millett design

SDA1C

Have you checked into that Decware, Pat? He is not far from you. Might lend a local experienced ear if you have questions.

http://www.decware.com/newsite/homepage.html

dracoskeeper

I have one of these,http://www.s5electronics.com/gstereo.html, brand new in the box. One of my friends purchased it at CES a couple of years ago and just gave it to me. PM me if interested.

mhardy6647

The S-5 amps are very simple but are (IMO) very quiet and sound quite respectably good. I built one of the 11BM8 stereo amps a long time ago; it did time in college dorms (ensconced in an S-5 sourced enclosure!) with both of our kids and lived to tell about it :-)

SDA1C

Looks like two sets of 80 year old **** in the shadow ! LOL

charley95

SDA1C wrote: »

Have you checked into that Decware, Pat? He is not far from you. Might lend a local experienced ear if you have questions.

http://www.decware.com/newsite/homepage.html

Ya know I totally forgot about checking him out Dan. I never knew he existed. I see that he has a couple of nice looking ladies working there too. I thought the only hi-fi guy left in town was E.D.I. located down town. Looks like he has some really cool stuff. The bug is really starting to bite again on this gear. Got my matched quad of 120's this week and had to send them back for exchange. I ordered my larger cover from Rogue today.

I got to talking with Nick at Rogue and he told me my "IP" numbers were to high on the matched quad I got, so sent them back today for a lower reading set. It didn't take long for him to get over my head when we were discussing that.

I see your doing some house cleaning, I sure hope the 2.3"s are not part of the cleaning process?

charley95

SDA1C wrote: »

Have you checked into that Decware, Pat? He is not far from you. Might lend a local experienced ear if you have questions.

http://www.decware.com/newsite/homepage.html

Holy crap! What an interesting site and product. I can't believe we have a place like that here in redneckville! I forgot, how did you find out about them? I'll have to go over and take a look at that place. His tube stuff looks amazing. It is for the $$ is no object crowd for sure.

SDA1C

He's got some cool stuff that's for sure. Find his new assembly room pics. His place is amazing. seems like I was researching folded horns and his name came up. Or It might have had something to do with a fan sub I cant remember. No, the 2.3 are not on the list. I am anticipating a move to the west coast in the next couple of years and figured I'd get a head start on the packing or tossing.

charley95

SDA1C wrote: »

He's got some cool stuff that's for sure. Find his new assembly room pics. His place is amazing. seems like I was researching folded horns and his name came up. Or It might have had something to do with a fan sub I cant remember. No, the 2.3 are not on the list. I am anticipating a move to the west coast in the next couple of years and figured I'd get a head start on the packing or tossing.

West coast sounds awsome. Went to San Diego last summer for the first time and loved it. We would move there in a heart beat. Glad the big boys are staying with you. Hopefully it's in a warm section of the country. Have a cousin who lives in the San Fran. area who wants us to move out there but, it's too cool and dreary there for me. G-freind has 10 to go before retiring. Have to stay here till then. So much for discussing tubes!

mhardy6647

SDA1C wrote: »

Looks like two sets of 80 year old **** in the shadow ! LOL

:-) I was going for the 2001: A Space Odyssey "The Dawn of Man" monolith effect - I didn't quite get there.

Speaking of Steve Deckert -- FWIW, my first modern piece of vacuum tube hardware was his early Decware Zen SE-84B amp... he's certainly a marketeer first and foremost - but his products do sound pretty good.





second photo courtesy of http://icouldbeahero.blogspot.com

charley95

His shop is only 10 minutes from where I live. His website is interesting.

zingo

Don't forget about Bottlehead for DIY kits as well. They offer all-in-one packages at beginner to advanced skill levels.

pitdogg2

charley95 wrote: »

I thought the only hi-fi guy left in town was E.D.I. located down town. Looks like he has some really cool stuff.

EDI is the Shiite....love going there. Last time i went the older gentleman gave me a grand tour of the WHOLE building. Lets just say what they have in the showroom is 1/10 of what they have on the other floors.

cnh

mhardy6647 wrote: »

The S-5 amps are very simple but are (IMO) very quiet and sound quite respectably good. I built one of the 11BM8 stereo amps a long time ago; it did time in college dorms (ensconced in an S-5 sourced enclosure!) with both of our kids and lived to tell about it :-)

That looks a lot like this amp (which I am pretty sure is the one that Jstas debuted on a pair of KLH at Polk Fest '10? It had a really nice sound on a pair of KLH 17s! Really enjoyed it! Am considering something like this for my KLHs, thanks Jstas!

http://www.tubedepot.com/diy-k12g.html

cnh

mhardy6647

cnh wrote: »

That looks a lot like this amp (which I am pretty sure is the one that Jstas debuted on a pair of KLH at Polk Fest '10? It had a really nice sound on a pair of KLH 17s! Really enjoyed it! Am considering something like this for my KLHs, thanks Jstas!

http://www.tubedepot.com/diy-k12g.html


cnh

Yes same amp - S-5 is the progenitor; I actually have the "K-502" version, which was sold by Antique Electronic Supply (www.tubesandmore.com ). I got the case direct from S-5, though, a year or two later, when my older child wanted a tube amp to take to college (bless her heart) :-) The amp was heavily used by her & her buddies and much enjoyed for its sound quality (and portability).

zingo wrote: »

Don't forget about Bottlehead for DIY kits as well. They offer all-in-one packages at beginner to advanced skill levels.

Bottlehead stuff is great (I own Paramours and a Seduction) but:
1) The layout makes many of their kits a tad harder to build than beginner level IMO.
2) Their specialty is fleapower; fine for me with 100+ dB/watt @ 1m sensitive speakers, but not for everyone.
3) Their "real" kits are not inexpensive any more.

That said, if they still sell a version of their SEX amp, it could be a contendah - also worthy of consideration is the Crack headphone amp and/or the little Quickie linestage. In fact, I have a continuing hankering for a Quickie (preamp, that is)...