As some may already know, I’ve been working on a new version of the 6CY7 amplifier. There is a new chassis specifically designed for this amp and some circuit changes to improve performance. But here’s the issue, I can’t seem to get much done. Let me explain.

So I have been making some good progress. The wood chassis in complete, the metal is done and painted, and I’ve started assembly. In fact, here are pictures of the Zebrawood chassis and main panel being wired.

So things are getting done. It just that this amp assembly is taking so much longer than my previous amps.

This is my first pandemic amp. Now since the beginning of March I’ve been working from home. This has been a great time saver; a full two hours of commute time per day and I no longer have to “prepare” for work as that now entails simply walking into my office. With this change, I should have lots more time to work on amps. However, this has simply not been the case.

I believe that my issue is, in fact, that I’m spending so much time AT home. Before March I would go to work first thing in the morning, work all day, and return home. Being a little bit tired, I’d sit down, do a little reading or work on an amp, and spend some time with family. But now, I’m at home all the time. So I end up looking at things I didn’t before. Now I see all these other projects that need to get done and they all compete with my amp building.

For example, I recently reroofed my tool shed, my deck needs some new boards so I’ve got that planned, I installed some new flooring in my wife’s work room, there’s a new interior door to be installed (sitting in my shop), I’ve been doing some gardening, I’m cooking more; the list goes on and on. In short, even though I have much more time each day (at least 2-1/2 hours a day), I have even more to do than I did pre-pandemic.

Another good example. Yesterday I did my monthly check on the safety and trail gear in my jeep. This is a simple job that normally takes about 15 minutes. It consists of checking tire air pressure, checking my recovery bag for all the straps, tools, lights, and such that should be in it, making sure everything is in good repair, and a quick check of my recovery winch to make sure it’s working properly and the winch cable looks good. Well, yesterday the winch didn’t work as required. After some diagnostics I determined it was a bad winch solenoid. No big deal it’s a simple repair. But here’s the thing, before March, this would have been something that got put off because I was “busy” and I might not get back to it for a month or more. But now it gets handled right away.

It’s feels like a weird mental shift. Because I’m “home” more I see things to do either that I didn’t see before or saw before and put off. But now that I’m “home” more, I don’t put things off because I “have lots of time”. The upshot is that I’ve never been busier than I’ve been in the last 6 months! And hence my amps are taking longer to put together.

So that’s my excuse for why this amp is taking longer to put together. But I can say that when this gets done, it’s going to be something great.

Let me know what you think.