Advice needed on first cab build. Smaa single speaker type.

[J M Fahey]

Study for your own improvement but the beauty of a (well designed) kit is that you build it and it delivers what's promised so you can do it now instead of 2 years in the future .
Velleman is a serious company and their instructions are excellent.
Consider them for other things you may need in the future.
Start thinking about what cabinet or chassis you will fit this kit into, so you can transport it to a Club or rehearsal studio.
Generally the "mechanical" side is the most complex for the home builder.
*Maybe* you have a sheet metal shop nearby which can build a simple chassis, or explore the ones offered by Hammond Industries or other suppliers.
Or, one of my favorite solutions, get a dead guitar combo for free or peanuts (garage sale/Salvation Army/"dumpster shopping") , gut it, ,and you'll have a cabinet, empty chassis with power switch, fuse and power cable and maybe even an OEM guitar speaker.
You turn it into a powered box to boost your small tube amp.
Similar to a Tech 21 Power Engine 60 !!!
Tech 21 Power Engine 60 | Musician's Friend
How's that !!!!!

[tonequester]

K8060 kit amo.

Study for your own improvement but the beauty of a (well designed) kit is that you build it and it delivers what's promised so you can do it now instead of 2 years in the future .
Velleman is a serious company and their instructions are excellent.
Consider them for other things you may need in the future.
Start thinking about what cabinet or chassis you will fit this kit into, so you can transport it to a Club or rehearsal studio.
Generally the "mechanical" side is the most complex for the home builder.
*Maybe* you have a sheet metal shop nearby which can build a simple chassis, or explore the ones offered by Hammond Industries or other suppliers.
Or, one of my favorite solutions, get a dead guitar combo for free or peanuts (garage sale/Salvation Army/"dumpster shopping") , gut it, ,and you'll have a cabinet, empty chassis with power switch, fuse and power cable and maybe even an OEM guitar speaker.
You turn it into a powered box to boost your small tube amp.
Similar to a Tech 21 Power Engine 60 !!!
Tech 21 Power Engine 60 | Musician's Friend
How's that !!!!!

"Lead from the front !" Audie Murphy.

Greetings JM. You make a good point, as usual. If the people who designed and produced this kit didn't know what they were doing, they might be sacking groceries for
$6.00 ab hour. I will build as instructed, However I am reminded of the power supply considerations that you related to me, and the quality of todays semi-conductors when compared to those of the past. I think that it might be a good thing to go a little conservative on the supply voltage, if that could be a worry. Please correct me if I got this wrong. I am considering this projects use in the future. it did not begin this way, but you gave me cause to pause and think on this. This is why I am trying not to "go cheap" as a first priority. I appreciate your advice and keeping me grounded in common sense, which I all to often leave out of the equation. I haven't any knowlege of the Tech 21 Power Engine 60, but will check out your lead. Thanks much for the reply. It just occured to me that this has become a truly international project. I have had good advice from : Argentina, Scotland, England, Russia, and all over the U.S. funny how well simple folks like us can cooperate so well, and our leaders have such a time of it !
Have a great day in Buenos Aires ! tonequester.

[tonequester]

tinequester here.


Jm. I just checked out the Tech 21 Power Engine 60 at Musician's Friend. If this project does nor "pan out' this looks like a good alternative. Just considering the price
it seems like a good investment, when most s.s. state 60W. amps are higher. It al least sounds like connecting my Blackstar would not be a problem. I'm glad to have a back up plan in any case. thanks again for a good tip. tonequester.

[J M Fahey]

Yes,it's a clever idea.
An amp designed from the ground up, not to be used by itself (although it can, in a pinch) but to boost others or an emulator (Pod, VAmp, etc.)

[tonequester]

tonequester here.


Hey JM, Yea it's clever alright, and it's pretty much what I was "looking for". If the kit doesn,t do the job as expected, I'll turn it into the amplifier for a new stereo somehow, and go for the Tech 21 to "power-up" my little tube amp. $300.00 for the tube amp, and $399.00 for the Tech 21 would not be really "out of line" for the cost of a 60W.,
tube amp, and I already have very good tone with the little HT-1R. Thanks for the reply and have a great day JM ! tonequester.

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

Hi uberfuzz.

I'm running a little late on replies this week do to other obligations, but I appreciate your time in replying. I'm trying to keep my "eyes out' for any "trashed' amps as you suggessted. It's a shame that it isn't so common to find these things as when I first began to seriously "tinker' with them. The pawn shopsa were full of tube amps at good prices back in the early 80's. Not so anymore. They now think that anything at all, with tubes is a danged goldmine. I don't see near as many at garage sales these days either. I sure won't pass up a decent deal on one anymore. As for the kit, I felt that having never "built" a tube amp(plenty of s.s.) a kit might be the safe way to go, and in the end I might even be able to make some cash off of it, and procede to a more comllicated build. In any case, it's all about getting experience right now. If I happen to get fine results in the process, that's a definite bonus. I truly hate to have to be "cheap" in what I'm trying to do,but with the state of the economy...blah, blah, blah. I'm sure that you can relate. I'll try to maximize that which truly needs it, and cut corners where it won't cause problems. Thanks for the reply, and the wish for good luck. I can well use that anytime. I wish you the same in your endeavors.
toneguester.

[Austin]

Well... Don't hold back!



Except that he already has a low watt amp now!!! Your proposal won't get him to 30W as intended. And if you can build even the most bare bones 30W tube amp, domestically, for under $100 your better at this than I am!

Chassis - $30
Tubes - $50
OT - $30
PT - $50
knobs, pots, jacks, switches, filters, pilot, lead wire, components, board and eyelets, misc. screws and other hardware, possible cosmetic appointments and rubber feet!!! Probably another $50 easy! And no one can buy this stuff in town anymore. It's all on line shopping. So there's going to be at least $40 in shipping charges!

We're up to $250 on a conservative guestimate. I'll bet it actually can't be done for less $300. Unless you pay your workers with a bag of rice and a fish head. And low ball everything to death until the amp needs to be re engineered to keep it from failing with such low spec and quality parts.

Just sayin'

Heh yeah it is expensive and obviously just the power transformer and caps and output transforme to make 30 watts could cost more than 100 bucks.
I had forgotten about this post and just now found it again when I visited my profile page.. If I wanted to try and make a 30 watt amp
Depending on the standards of the build and the intended purpose but if you wanted to you could get:


2 6l6 or el34 used or nos from ebay or whatever you already have $15
1 12dw7 ebay $12
power supply from Antek for 30$
pp output transformer from Edcor 30$
capacitors and resistors $20
tube sockets 10$

Okay I was wrong 100 bucks isn't enough unless you already have some things sorry you are right..
Tonequester, if you nail all this stuff to a board using little finish nails to solder onto like lugs just to get it working and experiment with (I am pretty sure that plenty of people other than me have prototyped tube amps like this) then later you could transfer it to a cakepan or even a real chassis here is one on ebay and when it works the for the first time I bet you will be smiling big and swelling with pride, and probably a bit more so than buying a kit I think. You will surely appreciate how easy it is to work with tubes like how few parts, and how forgiving they are I wager. It won't have much gain for over drive without a booster pedal or perhaps later adding another gain stage for guitar but plug a mp3 player in and it could get pretty loud I think..

It's imo fun to experiment and learn by really doing it I guess is the point I was trying to convey and how good it can make you feel too.. Do you guys see anything wrong with this approach to getting started?

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

Greetings Austin. Thanks for the reply. I've got 4 projects going at once, and none of them are easy(for me anyway). They are all of equal importance to me.
I intend to build the tube amp kit in such a manner that I believe I will be able to sell it for a profit, and apply the money gained to building from scratch, the "amp of my dreams". Now, I haven't even concluded exactly what that is yet, so the kit will give me a good listen to what a Class A,s.e., cathode biased, 12ax7/EL-84 combination has to offer as well. I'm intent on
figuring out how to attenuate a tube amps signal faithfully for re-amping by a s.s. power amp. i know how you feel about s.s., and i pretty much share your opinions there. However, I have
much more bulid experience with s.s.. It's also very much cheaper. One thing cannot be denied about s.s. amps in performance. They can amplify very cleanly(low THD). I can build a s.s. power amp with 100W.R.M.S. output from a kit for about $150.00-$200.00. That includes power supply, speaker, and cab. A 100W. all-tube amp built from scratch would be much, much, more than that. If the idea pans out, both kits go "to the highest bidder", so to speak, and the profit goes toward my main build, again, whatever that will be. I can use all of the assembly
experience that I can get. So I'm committed to a "from scratch" build of an all tube amp. When that occurs, I will be burning up the forum with posts, and I hope you will be one to reply. You have much more experience than me with building tube circuits from the ground up, and I believe that you are my superior in electronics in general. You also have that never say die attitude, and I feed off of that. In addition, I think that my experience with salvage/scrounging of parts pales compared to yours, plus you know where to get the things you can't scrounge up at the best prices per quality. So, there is a method to my madness. I've built and sold solid state projects before, and always came out on top profit wise. Over the years I've built s.s. practice amps(even portables) and several effects for cash. I'm in hopes that within the year I will be building one Hell of an ALL-TUBE, bad-___ amp. Wish me luck. I can always some of that, but I'm confident that my scheme will work out in the end. In the meantime, I will be keeping busy, and gaining experience plus "know-how". I need to keep up the practice of soldering. At one time I was certified to hand solder avionics boards. You lose what you don't use. Thanks again for the interest and advice. It's ALWAYS good to here your thoughts on my posts. Have yourself a rockin' good day ! tonequester. P.S. That power amp is only an experiment in cheaply re-amping(without further coloration) of TUBE TONE, to the 100-200W. level. It'll all go on the "auction block". I live in Kansas. There are plenty of screwballs that will buy a hybrid concoction. Hell, I got burned on one !

[Austin]

I just bought two tube amps from ebay for 60$ (30$ each) out of a baldwin organ with HUGE power supplies and nice steel chassis, decent output transformers, two big chokes, power supply caps scads of resistors and lots of tube sockets on them. I could build two 100 watt tube amps if I got bigger output transformers, or two 50 watters as is. Plenty of room in there to experiment I love it, you can bet Im gonna try all sorts of stuff... I stripped the resistors yesterday and tested the power supply volts at 800 center tapped and am building the rectifier and LC filters today for dual 400 volt rails... Probably have something cobbled up by tomorrow or even tonight and likely will reconfigure it 3 more times next week, take it all apart and put it all back together again as many different ways as I can think of to try and understand how all this stuff works.. I am trying to be on as steep a learning curve as I can and I really feel I am making good progress, sadly a year ago I didn't even understand what a resistor did. I was too into girls and partying when I was growing up, I wish I had been this enthusiastic then I might have finished high school, gone on to college and bacame an engineer, who knows...


One thing I noticed is cool is it is just as fast working on two identical amps as it is one.. I am going to make some mono blocs first and then hope to build a circlotron very soon.
I think that the way the economy seems to be that it is going to be tough to sell luxury items like tube amps and not lose money or get sued over something, people seem to be pretty desperate.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/desperate

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

Austin, You are the S___ man !I'd like to spend a week with you just to absorb your positive vibes. I understand what you mean about girls and partying bro'.
I also here you on the economy and the growing desparate feel to the whole thing. You may never be an engineer, but you may vary well come up with the next great classic tube amp. I would not bet against you.I don't know how old you are just by your picture, but you have the enthusiasm of a teenager for iPods and cell-phones combined. I wish you all the best, in that van down by the river.....surrounded by tube amps, and "crankin out" great tone ! tonequester.

[big_teee]

Well... Don't hold back!



Except that he already has a low watt amp now!!! Your proposal won't get him to 30W as intended. And if you can build even the most bare bones 30W tube amp, domestically, for under $100 your better at this than I am!

Chassis - $30
Tubes - $50
OT - $30
PT - $50
knobs, pots, jacks, switches, filters, pilot, lead wire, components, board and eyelets, misc. screws and other hardware, possible cosmetic appointments and rubber feet!!! Probably another $50 easy! And no one can buy this stuff in town anymore. It's all on line shopping. So there's going to be at least $40 in shipping charges!

We're up to $250 on a conservative guestimate. I'll bet it actually can't be done for less $300. Unless you pay your workers with a bag of rice and a fish head. And low ball everything to death until the amp needs to be re engineered to keep it from failing with such low spec and quality parts.

Just sayin'

I agree with Austin, but won't say the L word.
I would put the bride to walking the Street to make the $300.
At least IMO you would have something worth while, when your done!
T

[tonequester]

tonequester here.

big___tee. The wifes past history. I refuse to take to the street myself. Who'd have me, let alone pay me ? tonequester.