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Dynakit ST-70 How Difficult?

Sir Bakerman

Sir Bakerman

Active Member
Hey there,

Looking into the (Dynaco) Dynakit ST70 or ST35 and need to ask. How difficult is this build for a complete newbie to the world of DIY electronics. I have soldered connections for a CD install on 5 different cars as well as my Stratocaster upgrade.
Are the instructions clear enough that almost anyone can do it? Is it worth the trouble? And most importantly how does it sound?

If I had vast amounts of moolah I would just do it, but since I do not I want to make sure before I start saving up.Should take me about a year to get enough scratch together for it.

Thanks

SB
 
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Been looking at this myself and have the same concerns. It's a fair bit of coin to spend on a whim.
 
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just take your time and work carefully and follow nstructions and always check work before going to next step. I built a heathkit color tv back in the 60s. worked 1st time.
IMO, get the st 35. its a great amp and sounds good as the 70 IMO. I have both, not built by me, bought from CL and the bay.
the 35 sounds fantastic and will be the easiest kit to build, 2 small bds to load parts on and point to point wireing under the chASSIS and you're good to go.
You will NOT be sorry.
many here on AK praise the st35.
 
ferninando said:
just take your time and work carefully and follow nstructions and always check work before going to next step. I built a heathkit color tv back in the 60s. worked 1st time.
IMO, get the st 35. its a great amp and sounds good as the 70 IMO. I have both, not built by me, bought from CL and the bay.
the 35 sounds fantastic and will be the easiest kit to build, 2 small bds to load parts on and point to point wireing under the chASSIS and you're good to go.
You will NOT be sorry.
many here on AK praise the st35.
Click to expand...

Don't think I can find the ST 35 Kit, but it is good to know. Maybe I can get one second hand. The "bay" has one but it looks like it has been dropped , all bent and twisted. I'll pass on that one.
 
Do you have an old junker circuit board to practice soldering on? you would have to desolder some components then reinstal to get the hang of it. there is also point to point wiring. You can easily buy some terminal strips and wire and practice to develope a technique. Circuit boards and point to point are a bit different from each other so you would want to get Familiar with both. I had the advantage of tinkering since I was a teenager building RC ships. I had to learn soldering wiring and frabricating brass running gear so when I began working on vintage audio and assembling amp kits I already had experience.
 
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Part of the thrill...

....Is to be able to put it together and trouble shoot it to get running. In my youth, 1955-1965, I put many electronic kits together. Mostly from "Knight", 'Heath", "Fisher" and several others. They were all a challenge but do-able.
Don't think you are going to be left out in the cold if there is a problem. groups like AK weren't around at all then. If there was a problem I managed. Everything I built lasted me a long time.
I also talked to a local TV repair guy and the "help desk" at "Knight".

Kits from "Knight", "Fisher", "Heath" had very good diagrams and instructions.
In the end, they always worked.
The big plus was that I learned something.

Paul
 
Sir Bakerman said:
Hey there,

Looking into the (Dynaco) Dynakit ST70 or ST35 and need to ask. How difficult is this build for a complete newbie to the world of DIY electronics. I have soldered connections for a CD install on 5 different cars as well as my Stratocaster upgrade.
Are the instructions clear enough that almost anyone can do it? Is it worth the trouble? And most importantly how does it sound?

If I had vast amounts of moolah I would just do it, but since I do not I want to make sure before I start saving up.Should take me about a year to get enough scratch together for it.

Thanks

SB
Click to expand...

A friend of mine was the principal distributor of dynaco kit's in sweden.
To show just about how easy it was he brought two Mk-III kits to his son
and doughter ( i think they were 11 and 13 years at the time) and suggested that they build them for him.

Both ended up with a working MkIII !
Those amps was used several years in his home-stereo.

Yes it was that easy. The dynaco instructions was very good, the only thing
that was difficult was the art of soldering, which is harder these days if you
user non-leaded solder ( don't !).

I also built my MkIII and used them for a time.

Recently i built a VTA-70 from tubes4hifi, it was not difficult, every part was
clearly marked but it differed in 2 ways from the dynaco kit :
- one have to assemble the circuit board and
- the instructions were good but not as detailed and clear as the dynaco's.

The conclusion is that providing soldering is done well it cannot go wrong
if given time and the work is done according to the instructions.

dynakitparts also sells kits ( more accurate dynaco clones) but i have no
experience of them.

I say "Go for it", you will end up with a first-class amp that you know howto
maintenance in the future.

One advice : don't try to "improve" the kit, build it first according to the
instructions, use it and then after some experience of it's sound you can
modify it ( although you probably won't get a better amp anyway, so it's
mostly a waste of money imho )

Good luck!
 
Just be aware, the original ST-35 had only 8 and 16 ohm outputs. Don't know about modern versions. The ST70 has 4, 8 and 16. I use 4ohm taps on my amps more than the others so it's important to me.

John
 
nerdorama said:
Just be aware, the original ST-35 had only 8 and 16 ohm outputs. Don't know about modern versions. The ST70 has 4, 8 and 16. I use 4ohm taps on my amps more than the others so it's important to me.

John
Click to expand...
The transformers used by dynakitparts st-35 has 4 & 8 ohm taps, a slight difference.
 
Hello all, just wondering what the options are for a pre-amp? Sorry if this is a non-intelligent question, but I too would like some input on this tube-amp gear. Don't want to have to change out all my recently acquired SS gear, and don't have room for much more. Thanks.
 
I built my Dynakit Stereo 70 and my Dynakit PAS 3X when I was 9 years old. They still work reliably to this day. Only things done was tubes as necessary and capacitor replacement as necessary.
 
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