My new old amp project: SE46 monoblocks

The latter pics w/the set up looks nice, bet it sounds nice, too.

'patina' as you call it.. tranny touch up.. To me it would be like looking at a 327 corvette motor with the aluminum valve cover caskets in a car show.

Like if somebody comes over and says.. look at those transformers!! :D
 
Thanks Dave! I think you'd like these. They're my best amps to date, I think. More detailed, more transparent than the EL84 amps you heard, in my opinion. Quite refined...
 
As it happens, I have another amp here at the moment that I am deliberately comparing these to. It's a stereo, SET 45 that I built for a friend here on AK (Jeff, aka specialidiot) a few years back, and it has nearly identical Electra-Print output transformers. The two circuits are probably similar enough that you could make broad generalizations about the "house sound" of the iron, and that was exactly my intent when I borrowed it from Jeff.

My 46 monoblocks that are the subject of this thread were built with some of Jack's best outputs: the secondaries of these transformers are wound with pure silver magnet wire. These same outputs are also available from Electra-Print in a PSSS version (Partial Silver Stranded Secondary) or a standard copper version. Jeff's amplifier was built with the copper trafos.

What I can tell you is that they are far more similar than different. Excellent tone. Wonderful sense of space. Smooth... The silvers are more resolving, more detailed than the copper transformers without compromising the excellent sound of the coppers - it's just a subtle amplification of everything that's right about the copper version, without sacrifice. This difference is immediately noticeable when you compare the amplifiers, but you would never call the copper transformers deficient if you heard them alone.

Here's a quick pic of the 45 amp:

D81D08FD-8A66-4489-811F-D7BF23A338C5_zpsmoguleyp.jpg~original
 
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Having heard Jack's OPT's before I can attest to their quality and sound. Jack's OPT's are very nice and are capable of bone chilling realism.
 
Two years later and these amps are still my daily drivers. In fact, the system is largely unchanged from what you saw in the pictures above. I haven't had the urge to replace or update anything about the amps, just an inexplicable desire to hoard 46 tubes...

I'll build more amps, but that's only because I enjoy the exercise. :)
 
I live vicariously through your builds. They always look as good as I imagine I could build something.
 
Your build threads always give me an audiophile itch I can't afford to scratch, especially given my devotion to those speakers built in White Bear Lake, MN. But even an old man like me can still dream about alternative sonic universes.
 
I live vicariously through your builds. They always look as good as I imagine I could build something.
Thanks for the kind words!

Your build threads always give me an audiophile itch I can't afford to scratch, especially given my devotion to those speakers built in White Bear Lake, MN. But even an old man like me can still dream about alternative sonic universes.
This kinda cracks me up.

But I get it! That's the thing about this hobby... you could spend your whole life "taste testing" and sampling the different ways and wares, and still never do it all. At some point, most of us have to commit to something and just roll with it! And as somethings go, I'd say Maggies are a pretty good choice. :)
 
Read through this thread again tonight. Red you've got cool gear
Thank you!

Problem is, I haven't had much impetus to roll anything new through for a while. I'm afraid I might be getting... (dare I say it?)... boring. :boring:
 
You have the schematic of the amp? I like to look at it because I am thinking about design one in the future.
 
If you search for Gordon Rankin's Bugle 45 amplifier, you'll have what you need. Mine are simply adapted to use different power transformers and to get a slightly lower operating point for the 46. The rest is Gordon's circuit, really.
 
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