I just wanted to touch on the subject topic this afternoon. I have recently been helping out an individual who is assembling an amplifier with a purchased PCB. And he’s having a few issues.
Continue readingAmps, Kits, PCBs, and DIY
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Author Archives: Matt
The New SET is Finally Set
No, really, it is. I swear. This time I’m sure!
Continue readingBump In The Road
So I took some time the other day and got all the purple heart planed to thickness and ready to go for the new SET amp. Then, when I was checking all the layouts, I discovered a problem.
Continue readingAbout Tube Books
I often receive some variation of the question “Are you going to write a book?”. While the answer to this query is almost universally “no”, I thought I’d take the time to highlight what I think are some of the best books available on tube amplifier design and why I think so.
Continue readingFinally, A Decision
Well, it took a while but I’ve finally settled on the wood for the new amp chassis. I had narrowed the decision down to either the Purple Heart as I used in The 6DJ8 Headphone Amp or the Wenge that I used in the Dummy Speaker Load. So I took a careful look at both previous projects.
Continue readingDesign Details
I have been doing internal layout work and making some design decisions concerning the new SET amplifier. I have also been looking at different materials and I decided that I wanted to make the top plate holding the transformers and tubes of brushed copper. While this is an simple decision to make at this point, it raises the issue of what wood to choose for the chassis frame.
Continue readingThat “Other” Project
I have been working on the new SET chassis design but that’s not all I’ve been doing. This morning I got a little surprise when I checked on my sump pump under the house. It’s starting the rainy season here and I wanted to make sure everything was ready to go. Unfortunately, I found myself replacing a GFCI outlet and the sump pump that had failed and taken the outlet with it. Since the morning was shot, I decided to finish up a couple of other little projects this afternoon. Last week I mentioned another project, the portable class D amp. We’ll, I took a little time this afternoon to finish off that one.
Continue readingSET – Step One
The arrival of the output transformers today gave me the impetus to finalize a few things in the 6AS7 SET design. So now I have a complete schematic with all the important information noted on it.
Continue readingNo More Excuses
One simple sight that really gets me excited is to see that very heavy box sitting on the front porch. Today, the output transformers for the 6AS7 SET amp arrived from Edcor.
Continue readingOther Projects
There is one thing about vacuum tube amplifiers that sometimes gets in the way. They are not exactly what one might call portable.
Continue readingNew SET Coming
As I discussed in my last post, there is a new SET amplifier on the horizon. This SET will sit midway in power and performance between the little SETs (6CY7, 6CY7 V2, and the 6EM7) and the big 6336 SET Amplifier.
Continue readingDesign Decisions
So with the 6CY7 V2.0 Zebrawood amp finished and my 6L6UL project on the back burner, I’ve been working on a new SET amplifier. I have been thinking about an amp somewhere between my small SETs and the big 6336 SET amp. But I’ve run into a hiccough.
Continue readingA/B Testing
I was arranging some things today in preparation for an event this evening and happened to have a little Class-D amp in my office that I normally use in my wood shop. So I decided to try a little A/B testing.
Continue reading“Experts”
So I was reading one of the tube forums recently and I saw an amp builder who, when talking about his latest build, said “To my ears sounds nice but I am not an expert”. Now I read or hear variations on this theme all the time. And frankly, it upsets me greatly.
Continue readingIntroducing the 6CY7 Zebrawood
So it’s been a while since I first grabbed the plank of Zebrawood in my shop and envisioned it wrapped around an amplifier. That was June 13th. Here it is a little over two months later and I now actually have a functioning amplifier. I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
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