Supro inspired amp to build soon just finished 1st schematic

[swingarm]

So the amp is pretty much on the finished pile now. Dave I changed the 240 ohm cathode resistor to 150. I seemed to have better tone at moderate levels, dimed it seemed to get farty again. I thought I might change the .033 coupling cap between the preamp and PI to see if this makes a difference. If not i may play around with the values of the cathode resistor upward. I'm really surprised how this amp behaves full out. It very similar to a high gain amp in all it gnarly distorted feedbackish glory. Here are some final pics of the amp.

[Chuck H]

NICE! Tidy and tight. I like that you've used radial caps. There simply aren't enough good options in axial caps anymore. So it's good to see them accommodated in a hand wired build.

And, yes, when diming an amp it's very plausible to get some VERY high gain tones. That's how ALL those tones were achieved by many players from the late 70's to the mid 90's. And still do sometimes even in this age of uber gain amps. My favorite things about the natural, overdriven distortion is the acoustic interaction and sensitivity. It's really hard to go back to master volume, preamp distortion amps once you've had a taste

[Justin Thomas]

That's a really nice cabinet, and the fact that you named it after Chuck kind of puts my internal "homage tag" to shame... And, while I might make a small turret board just for the power supply, REAL amps look like THAT on the inside - viva la TPTP (true point-to-point)! Of course, a lot of those square layout PAs & organs don't lend themselves to boards.

Re: gain, I am wrapping up an EF86 - VolTone-1/2 12AX7-Cathodyne-EL34 build. Surprising amount of gain there, but I love the bristly lack of refinement. I have a new favorite. I suggest you enter rehab now for your what will soon be an addiction: amp building.

Justin

[Dave H]

Dave I changed the 240 ohm cathode resistor to 150. I seemed to have better tone at moderate levels, dimed it seemed to get farty again. I thought I might change the .033 coupling cap between the preamp and PI to see if this makes a difference. If not i may play around with the values of the cathode resistor upward

I'd leave the cathode resistor at 150R as it's there to set the bias current of the power tubes. I don't see a 0.033u cap between the preamp and PI on the 1624T. There's a 0.005u (5n) between the plate of the first 12AX7 stage and the 500k vol pot to roll off the bass. Do you have that? If there's still too much bass with 5n try 3n3 or 2n2.

[swingarm]

Hey Dave I looked at the schematic and realized I meant the .05 cap between the pi and the power amp that I had already reduced to .033 and thought I'd reduce further to .022. I'll try as you sugest as well.

Hey Justin I can't really take too much credit for the cab as its original. I just sanded off the dark brown stain and varathaned it. I alway prefer natural wood to paint or stain as a rule. I also like to use copper and or brass when I build. I have purpleheart on order and have decided to use that wood exclusivly with a black metal perferated grill and the brass and copper. In my mind's eye it looks champion! Thanks for your comments. I'd like to see your build, any pics? You know, I use the terminal strips because I have a huge bag of them I found at a gargae sale
I personally prefer eyelets for making quick changes and general ease to work on. Terminal strips can be nice though too.

I do suffer from the amp building addiction luckily my girlfriend understands. We are still at the point in the relationship that we each have our own places and she or I moves in on the weekend. Its a beautiful thing However the dreaded "i think we should move in together" has begun to surface. She often refers to caps and resistors as looking like "little bugs" laying here and there. I'm not sure, but that may be signs of a hidden reef that could sink a ship of amp building bliss. She is a good woman though Time will tell.

Hey Chuck thanks for the kind words and keeping me focused on the important things

[Randall]

Go away.

[swingarm]

Hi Randall, Thanks for your input.

Chuck you said " It's really hard to go back to master volume, preamp distortion amps once you've had a taste " I think it all depends on what your playing. The band of old farts I play in do old standards like "Fairies Wear Boots" this kind of tone inspired me to build this amp below. I finished it over a month ago I used a tube rectifier instead of solid state which is unusual for this kind of amp I think. It sounds great though. The circuit is from the Laney clone in Tut 3 and the donor amp once again is an old Davis 405 pa head.

Amplifier 405 Ampl/Mixer Davis, J. W., build 1960 ??, 5 pict

I'm a hero among my aging band mates and there nothing so satisfying as playing drums with amps I've built. The beer taste that much better too. Again its not my intention to fight with anyone here, so lets please let go of the mysterious animosity. Thanks

[Justin Thomas]

Go away.

???
Usually if someone posts something a bit out of character, I hafta ask why... Everybody okay? I mean, I haven't seen anything, ummmm, SoundGuberMan-worthy here in a while, since Chuck & Swingarm seem to have worked it out... ???

Justin

Forgot:

[swingarm]

???
Usually if someone posts something a bit out of character, I hafta ask why...

Sometimes there are reasons...

Malcolm Young's Family Confirms AC/DC Guitarist's Dementia | Rolling Stone

Who is this SoundGuberMan? Where does he reside? Do i have to climb a mountain to speak to him?

[Justin Thomas]

I was wondering about Randall... no explanation needed! Occasionally posts get put on the wrong thread by accident, sometimes with comicla results.

Re: SoundGuberMann, don't ask... he's a legendary character around here who usually got the response "GO AWAY!" As far as finding him, I wouldn't say you'd have to climb a mountain... more of a descent into the depths of the MEF. I found him comical, but many here didn't appreciate the extraordinarily rare gems buried in the torrent of assininity. Kinda sucked if you were a new guy. I bet he woulda advised you to bias your build with dynamite and a rubber chicken or something.

If I ever get around to figuring out the technology, I might get around to posting pics of my builds. I was almost really desperate trying to fix a hum in#3, but then I read about especially noisy power transformers, so I routed my grounds somewhere else that made absolutely no sense in the conventional wisdom, and it fixed the problem. The truth is, I tend to slap them together without much attention to neatness! No gooping or epoxy, though, amd I don't charge $4000 either!

[swingarm]

Re: SoundGuberMann, don't ask... he's a legendary character around here who usually got the response "GO AWAY!" As far as finding him, I wouldn't say you'd have to climb a mountain... more of a descent into the depths of the MEF. I found him comical, but many here didn't appreciate the extraordinarily rare gems buried in the torrent of assininity. Kinda sucked if you were a new guy. I bet he woulda advised you to bias your build with dynamite and a rubber chicken or something.

Well if i was a new agy dude I would say there are only two emotions fear or love. It sounds like SoundGuberman and others may be aligning themselves with fear. But since I reject the new age religion as a front/mind control to enable international central bankers to impliment world communism, I have to reject that kind of satanic dogma, and just chalk it up to colorfulness.

[Jazz P Bass]

Here is a post that is typical of SGM's mindset.
AMPAGE Forum:

[swingarm]

Hmm, I bet there must be more controversial ones than that huh? However, I do get the picture now, no need to go any deeper into the mind of SGM.

Oh and BTW, now may be a good time to mention, I intend to get to the bottom of who rated this thread 3 stars, even if I must triangulate your position, I will not rest until I find you/get to the bottom of it

[g1]

I didn't even know the threads had stars, I'm not seeing them?

[Justin Thomas]

I did my part to save a life today... Happy now?

G-one, you gave to be on the actual forum page. You don't see ratings from the What's New? list, which is probably all most of us look at... also at the top of the thread you can see "Rate This Thread" right beside the Display button...

Justin