DIY Tube Amp

scornful
scornful Posts: 272
edited April 2006 in 2 Channel Audio
I've been toying with the idea of building my own tube amp, mainly for the learning experience. Below are a couple of links to designs that I've been considering:

KT88 Push-Pull

EL34 Push-Pull

What pains me greatly is the issue of re-sale value if/when I decide to take my interests elsewhere. Would it be worth my while in regards to resale value to build a "kit" rather than one of the above designs? I suspect the answer is yes......


Thanks
Denon 3802
B&K 7270
Outlaw ICBM
Behringer DSP1124P
Samson S1000
SVS 20-39CS+ (x2)
RTi150's
CSi40
FXi30's
RTi38's
Win Vista HTPC
InFocus 4805 ~100" Screen
Post edited by scornful on
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Comments

  • ND13
    ND13 Posts: 7,601
    edited March 2006
    The first one seems like the purest design from what I can tell.
    "SOME PEOPLE CALL ME MAURICE,
    CAUSE I SPEAK OF THE POMPITIOUS OF LOVE"
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  • Early B.
    Early B. Posts: 7,900
    edited March 2006
    If the goal of building a DIY tube amp is for the educational experience, why concern yourself with re-sale value? How much is this knowledge worth to you?
    HT/2-channel Rig: Sony 50” LCD TV; Toshiba HD-A2 DVD player; Emotiva LMC-1 pre/pro; Rogue Audio M-120 monoblocks (modded); Placette RVC; Emotiva LPA-1 amp; Bada HD-22 tube CDP (modded); VMPS Tower II SE (fronts); DIY Clearwave Dynamic 4CC (center); Wharfedale Opus Tri-Surrounds (rear); and VMPS 215 sub

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  • pjdami
    pjdami Posts: 1,894
    edited March 2006
    Scornful,
    You may have seen the Bottlehead website before.. or maybe not. A good place to start with a "kit" like you say. Bottlehead amps are fairly well known and would have some resale value if you assemble it well.

    If it were me and that would be a rookie at building a first tube amp, I would go with a kit first to make sure I could pull it off successfully.

    http://www.bottlehead.com/et/et.html
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  • scornful
    scornful Posts: 272
    edited March 2006
    Early B. wrote:
    If the goal of building a DIY tube amp is for the educational experience, why concern yourself with re-sale value? How much is this knowledge worth to you?


    I understand your viewpoint. I guess looking at some old kits on Ebay such as Dynacos ST70 made me wonder if I wouldnt be better off in the long run with the kit. I actually had in mind restoring a ST70 or similar to begin with, then got side tracked while reading up on tube technology. Believe it or not, they dont teach this stuff in engineering school any more... or at least they didnt 10 years ago :)
    Denon 3802
    B&K 7270
    Outlaw ICBM
    Behringer DSP1124P
    Samson S1000
    SVS 20-39CS+ (x2)
    RTi150's
    CSi40
    FXi30's
    RTi38's
    Win Vista HTPC
    InFocus 4805 ~100" Screen
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • scornful
    scornful Posts: 272
    edited March 2006
    pjdami wrote:
    Scornful,
    You may have seen the Bottlehead website before.. or maybe not. A good place to start with a "kit" like you say. Bottlehead amps are fairly well known and would have some resale value if you assemble it well.

    If it were me and that would be a rookie at building a first tube amp, I would go with a kit first to make sure I could pull it off successfully.

    http://www.bottlehead.com/et/et.html

    I've been here before. I'll look them over again. Thanks for the suggestion.
    Denon 3802
    B&K 7270
    Outlaw ICBM
    Behringer DSP1124P
    Samson S1000
    SVS 20-39CS+ (x2)
    RTi150's
    CSi40
    FXi30's
    RTi38's
    Win Vista HTPC
    InFocus 4805 ~100" Screen
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  • scornful
    scornful Posts: 272
    edited April 2006
    I finally got pricing back on the transformers listed in both of these schematics. $350 (output) and $250 (power) is little high for my "experimenting" when you consider I'd need 2 of each. Time to look at other designs I guess.
    Denon 3802
    B&K 7270
    Outlaw ICBM
    Behringer DSP1124P
    Samson S1000
    SVS 20-39CS+ (x2)
    RTi150's
    CSi40
    FXi30's
    RTi38's
    Win Vista HTPC
    InFocus 4805 ~100" Screen
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • audiobliss
    audiobliss Posts: 12,518
    edited April 2006
    Ouch. That is a bit of coin.
    George Grand wrote: »
    Jstas wrote: »
    Simple question. If you had a cool million bucks, what would you do with it?
    Wonder WTF happened to the rest of my money.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,802
    edited April 2006
    Try the current iteration of Doc Bottlehead's "SEX" amplifier. Even if you outgrow it, it should make a fine headphone amp.
    http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/S.E.X./SEX.htm
    sexnuderedo.jpg
    SEXbacksideweb.jpg
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