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making bread

jbryant_77

jbryant_77

Active Member
Ok my first bread board amp build ever and it plays music:banana:and sounds nice:drool:... I read and learned all I could over the past year about building tube amp circuits here on AK. I started collecting parts about 2 months ago and with alot of help from an oldtimer learned to build a power supply. I decided to use a scheme from boozehound labs for a single ended 6v6-6sn7 amp. The circuit was modded just a bit and I droped the 6sn7 for a 6j5g and used a 5v4g for the rect. The 6v6 is triode straped for about 1w and with the right speaker sounds magical. Running a small 2 way 8" with a horn I can get pretty lound volume from it befor it starts to distort.. Well here are some pics and I will continue to update as I drill and finish the chassis. Thanks for reading

First pics are of the mono build to see if it worked:scratch2:
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Time to try stereo

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Ill do my best to answer any questions and keep the thread updated

Jason
 
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Thats some nice looking Navy iron in the power supply . What are you using for the output transformers .
 
The opts are heathkits I pulled for this build ill be ordering a pair of james audio for the final build. The iron is all nos ive got access to about 20 more powers and maybe 60 chokes. These peices came from a friend who has been collecting for about a life time. I cant seem to find any navy or vintage potted SE iron but would love to.
 
This sounds much better than it looks. All it needs is some real speakers and it might actually sound as good as my ST70. Get it laid out and I will put it in cad for you to drill the chassis.
 
I guess the post I made about an amp build from scratch is just to borring:boring: or to advanced:no: to recieve a comment. Ohwell Ill just post about tubes and rebuilding magnavox amps from now on...:tears:
 
Bravo!

jbryant_77 said:
I guess the post I made about an amp build from scratch is just to boring:boring: or to advanced:no: to receive a comment.
Click to expand...

Well, I for one think it's beautiful! :tresbon: Will you please tell us more about that groovy tube sound? :yes:
 
No boring at all:thmbsp: I think what you did it is he fun part of this hobby. I've enjoyed my scratch/breadboard build much more than the Fisher rebuilds I've done. The cool part is you know every piece and it's function. It will be easy to trouble shoot problems in the future. And, you can always think of things to play with and improve.

Very nice build by the way!
 
Thanks for the comments I thought id stir the pot a little and see what replys I got. Im working on cleaning up the wiring now and will be painting and doing final bulid in the next few days. The amp is triode wired and lacks power but makes up for it with very nice highs and mids. Bass isnt great on my speakers but on a friends khorn theres more than you need. I think the upgrade in opt. iron will help with that also. Ive got some good ides for a cabinet build I dont think this ones going on a chassis.

Jason
 
Way to go man!
I have spent hours studying that boozehound design -
neat to see someone dive in and just do it -

were the heathkits OPTs an exact match to the boozehound design or were they in the ballpark?

the price of the iron is what has kept me from diving in...
 
All the iron was salvagged from other amps and equipment. That helped keep cost very low not to mention a buddy whos been very kind with his stash. The OPT'S are a nice match but not perfect really need to be bigger but they are 3.5k. I pulled them from a pair of heathkit monos and plan to order a new pair from james audio.
 
I missed this thread earlier - glossed over it because I assumed from the title that it was in the Cooking & Spirits forum...

That's one great looking breadboard! :yes:

Cool iron, too - that potted stuff is very nice.

You can get your James transformers from tctubes. I've purchased from him in the past and was very pleased with the service.
 
Way neater than my breadboards! I once built a ham transmitter for my high-school buddy without the board and without solder -- just haywired on his folk's kitchen table, using parts salvaged from old TV sets. I insulated some of the connections by wrapping with shreds of a plastic bag from the dry-cleaner. Probably set some sort of record for getting on the air fast and cheap!
 
Thanks for the comments and thanks for the link redboy ill check them out for sure. I have some good ideas for the final build but kinda bummed about tearing it down. The iron could really use some paint though and the wiring need to be cleaned up anyway..
 
Redboy said:
I missed this thread earlier - glossed over it because I assumed from the title that it was in the Cooking & Spirits forum...

That's one great looking breadboard! :yes:

Cool iron, too - that potted stuff is very nice.

You can get your James transformers from tctubes. I've purchased from him in the past and was very pleased with the service.
Click to expand...

Hehe I looked at it twice because I actually thought it was about bread. BTW, setting your dough net to your tube amp is great for getting your bread to rise....
 
update time

Well its been some time since ive posted and thought id do an update. The amp is still on a bread board and unfinished due to a few problems and some experimenting...

First the problems...
I had to get a real set of speakers once I did there was a problem right away... the right channel didnt have the output of the left... after a few weeks pokeing around I found a bad coupling cap problem solved..

One night with nothing better to do I dug through the tube stash and decided to try a pair of 1626's ... This required a few very minor changes and what do you know I now have a true single ended triode amp...

The sound is way beyond what the 6v6gt is capable of the highs and mids sound amazing with more bottom than you would ever expect from so few watts..

Id highly recomend this to anyone running a 6v6 amp that is triode strapped or for that matter any of the maggie amps are a good candidate also..

Thats all for now sorry no pics ill try to get some up later

Jason
 
Glad you bumped this one up to the top again because I've been wanting to ask.... What's between the two OPTs - the four bits that look like AA batteries? If that's what they are please explain how they are used. Thanks.
 
Chubby
I think what you are asking about is the set of gold speaker terminals between the OPT's on the back of the board...

Really if there were battries and other fancy gadgets in the circuit I think it would be over my head im really a noob here...

This is such a simple build...
I think its a nice amp to do your first build around... The schematic is easy to read, There arnt alot of parts and the mods are endless as I get smarter.... The $$$$ of the build is fairly low and all the iron is available from hammond transformer...

Jason
 
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