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Small Businesses for Building Amplifiers?

Ngen52 said:
I would be helping them for the love of the game lol in the event they wanted to expand or even create an online presence but I do see your point
Click to expand...

So, , , , now you leave me with a question of terminology VS intentions.......

Your thread title says "Small businesses for building amplifies".... And, as we all know businesses exist for one purpose, to make money.

But then, you come along with "I would be helping them for the love of the game".

This statement has the implication that doing it "for love" means doing it for free, as for me personally I've never paid for "love", , , and never will.

So, which is it? Are you proposing a revenue generating business, or a free service "for the love of the game" ?
 
Free service for the love of the game. Period.

Now, when I said “starting business” that may have been unclear. Technically, I’d be helping develop an existing business while developing my portfolio

But because it’s not actually free though… the person id be working with would invest their time in the process and their trust in me to honor their craftsmanship and creations.

It would cost nothing out of pocket but it may take the time to review photos, refine their vision for the brand, etc.

But “free” does not mean I’m not benefiting…

The “business” component is that it would allow me to generate a more audio specific portfolio for photography, web design, and graphic design. My entire career at this point has been in the nutritional supplement space as a creative director or working for large corporations as a marketing director (no love working here lol). My “side hustle” LLC has done portrait photography for professional athletes and social media and web design for small businesses (apparel brands mainly but I’ve done a surprising amount of contract work for Etsy businesses/one man operations who do woodworking or similar).

I built my entire business (I’ve ran it as my full time job and as a side thing) on working for free in the fitness industry at first. By doing this, I got to take pictures and video for the best bodybuilders in the world, NFL/NCAA athletes, etc. BUT I started by offering to do stuff for for people I admired / businesses I respected. For 2 years, I worked 20-30 hours a week on top of my 9-5 for not a single dollar.

And payment was offered multiple times from clients and until I felt I was a master at my craft, I refused it.

BUT when I finally started accepting payments, I was able to charge over a thousand dollars for a 45 minute photo session because my resume and portfolio were stacked.

Now, I’ve applied and interviewed for positions at various companies (AudioTechnica, Denon, Technics) and the two I interviewed for wanted to see audio/tech industry specific work and I was unable to provide it.

Let me elaborate further…

I’d like to think I’m good at what I do and I enjoy doing it. I love taking pictures of gear, designing logos/marketing materials, making short form videos, etc.

I am constantly working on audio related concept art, taking photos, editing videos in my free time for shits and giggles.

Doing this combines the two things I love most in the world: hifi and creativity.

MY LOGIC: help a GOOD person with a GOOD product make a few extra bucks if I can WHILE gaining tangible industry skills to allow to transition my career from something I don’t love right now to something I do love in the next 10-15 years.

I’m a decent human (I think? lol) and I thought this would be a really fun and mutually beneficial thing to do.

If anything I’ve said is being interpreted as predatory, inconsistent, etc. I do apologize.

I just didn’t want to dump all of this information on someone who didn’t ask for it but you did so here ya go!

But it seems like you understand things that I don’t too… if you’d be open to me buying you a cup of coffee, I’d love to pick your brain for 30-45 minutes.

Thanks for asking!
 
init4fun said:
So, , , , now you leave me with a question of terminology VS intentions.......

Your thread title says "Small businesses for building amplifies".... And, as we all know businesses exist for one purpose, to make money.

But then, you come along with "I would be helping them for the love of the game".

This statement has the implication that doing it "for love" means doing it for free, as for me personally I've never paid for "love", , , and never will.

So, which is it? Are you proposing a revenue generating business, or a free service "for the love of the game" ?
Click to expand...
Free service for the love of the game. Period.

Now, when I said “starting business” that may have been unclear. Technically, I’d be helping develop an existing business while developing my portfolio

But because it’s not actually free though… the person id be working with would invest their time in the process and their trust in me to honor their craftsmanship and creations.

It would cost nothing out of pocket but it may take the time to review photos, refine their vision for the brand, etc.

But “free” does not mean I’m not benefiting…

The “business” component is that it would allow me to generate a more audio specific portfolio for photography, web design, and graphic design. My entire career at this point has been in the nutritional supplement space as a creative director or working for large corporations as a marketing director (no love working here lol). My “side hustle” LLC has done portrait photography for professional athletes and social media and web design for small businesses (apparel brands mainly but I’ve done a surprising amount of contract work for Etsy businesses/one man operations who do woodworking or similar).

I built my entire business (I’ve ran it as my full time job and as a side thing) on working for free in the fitness industry at first. By doing this, I got to take pictures and video for the best bodybuilders in the world, NFL/NCAA athletes, etc. BUT I started by offering to do stuff for for people I admired / businesses I respected. For 2 years, I worked 20-30 hours a week on top of my 9-5 for not a single dollar.

And payment was offered multiple times from clients and until I felt I was a master at my craft, I refused it.

BUT when I finally started accepting payments, I was able to charge over a thousand dollars for a 45 minute photo session because my resume and portfolio were stacked.

Now, I’ve applied and interviewed for positions at various companies (AudioTechnica, Denon, Technics) and the two I interviewed for wanted to see audio/tech industry specific work and I was unable to provide it.

Let me elaborate further…

I’d like to think I’m good at what I do and I enjoy doing it. I love taking pictures of gear, designing logos/marketing materials, making short form videos, etc.

I am constantly working on audio related concept art, taking photos, editing videos in my free time for shits and giggles.

Doing this combines the two things I love most in the world: hifi and creativity.

MY LOGIC: help a GOOD person with a GOOD product make a few extra bucks if I can WHILE gaining tangible industry skills to allow to transition my career from something I don’t love right now to something I do love in the next 10-15 years.

I’m a decent human (I think? lol) and I thought this would be a really fun and mutually beneficial thing to do.

If anything I’ve said is being interpreted as predatory, inconsistent, etc. I do apologize.

I just didn’t want to dump all of this information on someone who didn’t ask for it but you did so here ya go!

But it seems like you understand things that I don’t too… if you’d be open to me buying you a cup of coffee, I’d love to pick your brain for 30-45 minutes.

Thanks for asking!
 
Ngen52 said:
Free service for the love of the game. Period.

Now, when I said “starting business” that may have been unclear. Technically, I’d be helping develop an existing business while developing my portfolio

But because it’s not actually free though… the person id be working with would invest their time in the process and their trust in me to honor their craftsmanship and creations.

It would cost nothing out of pocket but it may take the time to review photos, refine their vision for the brand, etc.

But “free” does not mean I’m not benefiting…

The “business” component is that it would allow me to generate a more audio specific portfolio for photography, web design, and graphic design. My entire career at this point has been in the nutritional supplement space as a creative director or working for large corporations as a marketing director (no love working here lol). My “side hustle” LLC has done portrait photography for professional athletes and social media and web design for small businesses (apparel brands mainly but I’ve done a surprising amount of contract work for Etsy businesses/one man operations who do woodworking or similar).

I built my entire business (I’ve ran it as my full time job and as a side thing) on working for free in the fitness industry at first. By doing this, I got to take pictures and video for the best bodybuilders in the world, NFL/NCAA athletes, etc. BUT I started by offering to do stuff for for people I admired / businesses I respected. For 2 years, I worked 20-30 hours a week on top of my 9-5 for not a single dollar.

And payment was offered multiple times from clients and until I felt I was a master at my craft, I refused it.

BUT when I finally started accepting payments, I was able to charge over a thousand dollars for a 45 minute photo session because my resume and portfolio were stacked.

Now, I’ve applied and interviewed for positions at various companies (AudioTechnica, Denon, Technics) and the two I interviewed for wanted to see audio/tech industry specific work and I was unable to provide it.

Let me elaborate further…

I’d like to think I’m good at what I do and I enjoy doing it. I love taking pictures of gear, designing logos/marketing materials, making short form videos, etc.

I am constantly working on audio related concept art, taking photos, editing videos in my free time for shits and giggles.

Doing this combines the two things I love most in the world: hifi and creativity.

MY LOGIC: help a GOOD person with a GOOD product make a few extra bucks if I can WHILE gaining tangible industry skills to allow to transition my career from something I don’t love right now to something I do love in the next 10-15 years.

I’m a decent human (I think? lol) and I thought this would be a really fun and mutually beneficial thing to do.

If anything I’ve said is being interpreted as predatory, inconsistent, etc. I do apologize.

I just didn’t want to dump all of this information on someone who didn’t ask for it but you did so here ya go!

But it seems like you understand things that I don’t too… if you’d be open to me buying you a cup of coffee, I’d love to pick your brain for 30-45 minutes.

Thanks for asking!
Click to expand...
Oh, and I should have mentioned this too: it would be cool to learn more about amplifiers this way and I’m very interested in amplifiers
 
And Thank You Ngen for answering :thumbsup:

The fact that you are offering your services for free, to help both the amp builder and you while building your portfolio is simply great! And something that I'm glad we clarified for the readers here.
 
init4fun said:
And Thank You Ngen for answering :thumbsup:

The fact that you are offering your services for free, to help both the amp builder and you while building your portfolio is simply great! And something that I'm glad we clarified for the readers here.
Click to expand...
Thank you for caring enough to ask!! Sincerely!
 
You can generally tell the orientation of the coils by the laminations, so while the laminations aren't the critical thing, they serve as the easiest way to figure out which way the coil is sitting.

in that amp above, one is vertical and the other horizontal, so 90 degrees in that plane.
 
c201f0ec-3d9c-4d40-a4b7-d58fad8ba9dd.jpg


This is the Showman transformer layout. Silver bell colored output transformer in the center. Choke in the middle. Black Mercury Magnetics replacement power transformer on the right. The small 45º-angled transformer on the bottom left is the reverb tank OPT.

I'm using JJ and Chinese 6L6GC to test the stability of B+ and the bias supply.

Footnote: I had to replace the PT because someone had replaced the 3-amp slow-blow with a 20-amp car fuse. The OEM PT became the fuse, along with the power supply caps.
 
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I have to wonder as to how many amps a small business can build sneaking under the radar of possible required regulations. UL listing, liability insurance, copy right infringement, the world today can be a tough place to wade in the water.
 
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