I too, shall construct an amplifier....

The New Gear: Maintenance, Repair, and Modification Forum.
----Hosted by Al Benoit

I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Tue Mar 09, 2021 4:00 pm

It shall incorporate some tubes and knobs (no “knob and tube” however) and wire and resistors and capacitors and a speaker ‘n’ shit.
Oh, and a wood enclosure with a strap of some sort.
.......and a baffle. I like baffles.

Pics soon!!
Last edited by Thom Chandler on Thu Mar 18, 2021 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Wed Mar 10, 2021 9:51 pm

Step one... get some parts together and get organized.

Image
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:04 pm

A few simple calculations to get the ball rolling...

Image
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:51 pm

Design note for everybody following along at home:
Make sure all wiring slopes downward at a ratio of 1” per foot in order to keep those electrons flowing.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Sat Mar 13, 2021 12:54 am

......unless of course you subscribe to the hole flow theory in which case you’ll be building from the ground up.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Sat Mar 13, 2021 3:46 pm

I have these MIL spec knobs left over from a project 20 years ago. They were the best sounding knobs I could find at the time after spending hours of A-B comparison, and can only imagine that their tone has improved with age.

Image

Image

EDIT: I mistakenly posted a picture of the volume knob, not the tone knob. I’ve since verified that the volume knob has not gotten any louder with age. Tone knob results are still pending.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Thu Mar 18, 2021 11:14 am

A little side trip into the wire selection process for the techies. Everyone else is free to nap, as this is going to get real boring real fast.
My main focus apart from voltage rating and physical sizing is of course smoke emission.
UL1685 guidelines are as close as I feel relevant, assuming that vertical tests are going to see faster flame propagation and therefore more smoke emission than near* horizontal deployment.
LSZH type wire is going to be the jacket of choice due to its performance in such tests.
Following the obvious logic, less smoke produced means that in the event of a component failure there should theoretically be enough smoke remaining to finish a set or a gig, dependent of course on the severity of the component failure.






*Refer to my 4th post in this thread.
Last edited by Thom Chandler on Fri Jun 18, 2021 7:03 am, edited 2 times in total.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:30 am

My PT and OT xformers are Hammond 373X and 1609 respectively. Chosen specifically because I have them in my inventory.
The search for a non-inductive choke continues.

Paying homage to lineage...and cartoon robotics...I have no choice but to dub this amp the “Bender Basement”
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:07 pm

I’m making my own turret boards of course.
In the past I’ve used Keystone 1503-3 turrets exclusively, but decided to experiment a bit with this project.
I received some samples of Keystone 1502-3 and proceeded to make an anvil for staking. Discovered during the process that 3/32” drill bits differ in diameter slightly by manufacturer. After mic’ing several bits I found one that was perfect for the job and made my anvil from an old 1/4” bit.

Image

Image

Image
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:08 pm

Will get back to this soon. Been busy building a nurse call / wifi Android system for a hospital.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Sun May 09, 2021 8:31 am

Got my soldering tools and supplies together, ready to begin assembling!

Image
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Mon May 10, 2021 9:05 am

HEATSHRINK SHOOTOUT!!!

The hotly debated topic of tone vs colour is, IMHO, merely the tip of the iceberg.
I’ll be comparing colour, shrink ratio, meltable inner wall vs standard wall, polyolefin vs flouropolymer vs silicone elastomer etc. and posting the eagerly anticipated sonic results.
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm

Re: I too, shall construct an amplifier....

Postby Thom Chandler » Tue Jul 27, 2021 6:50 pm

Who knew Covid would produce a global shortage of green 2:1 polyolefin??
Results are postponed in fairness to green. (Traditionally the best sounding IMHO).
“…I can tell you / my cottage love is really strong / after the jerk-offs of summer have gone.” (with apologies to Don Henley)
Thom Chandler
Bronze Member
 
Posts: 221
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2016 1:36 pm


Return to Fluid Wireworks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests

cron