Noremac82

Maynard, thanks for the response. I have done some basic work (tube changes, transformer replacement, cap replacement) for friends in the past but never done a full build of an amp. I have wired homes with 110/220 and had some training through work that was meant to prepare me for high voltage DC work involving LiPo systems for vehicles. As we all know the whole electric vehicle thing didnt really stick like expected so i never got moved to that program and in turn never really used what i learned in the training. So long story short, no i have never specifically worked with the higher AC voltages contained in an amplifier but I do however feel like i have a grasp of what i will be working with and i am aware of the safe working practices needed to do this without melting my fillings. Plus i am not afraid to ask questions so if i come across something i am not familiar with or dont feel comfortable with, i wont hesitate for a second to ask someone with more knowledge than me for help or guidance. I also have to equipment, multimeters, oscilliscopes, function generators, etc. that should help me safely troubleshoot any issues that may come up. Overall my confidence level on this is about a 6 or 6.5/10. I think that will go up with some additional knowledge and experience but since i am completely new to this i am replacing some confidence with caution for the time being. I am glad to hear that those speakers should pair well with a tube amp. I do not need a whole lot of volume since my listening room/man cave isnt exactly a sprawling room of luxury. Its pretty much a tiny spare bedroom with a television, stereo and a chair. Might upgrade to a mini fridge in the near future but for now i am making due walking back and forth to the kitchen. I suspect the OPT is NG due to its cosmetic appearance and comparing the Resistance measurement of the output of one to the other. Since i wrote that i did a little more research and am thinking the difference i am seeing may be due to the difference in feedback resistor value of CH1 vs CH2 since i measured at the connector instead of the output of the transformer. So i am back to where i started and I dont really know if the one is OK or NG. It does look pretty rough though. Actually they both have seen better days but one is in a lot worse shape than the other. The gentleman i got it from said it was working when it was removed from the cabinet but he didnt specify if both channels were working or just one. Even if this one is good i would like to replace them at some point with something that gives me a little better frequency response and is cosmetically a little more appealing. If they are both good then i can make due with them for now and put some of that money towards improving other aspects of the amp. As to SE vs PP, i am not partial to one vs the other. My main concern is getting the best sound i can get and have enough power left over to upgrade my speakers down the road. I do not know enough about the differences between the two but i would like to keep the original look somewhat intact. I would also like to keep the parts count down for simplicity sake which is why that second schematic really appealed to me. I am leaning more towards a PP amp just because i feel like i owe it to the amp to leave it in some resemblance of its original form. Now if that is going to compromise SQ at all then its off the table. If not and its going to be a matter of preference, i think i would like to do PP. Nothing against SE because honestly i couldnt tell the difference between the two at this point in time. i am basing that decision on trying to retain some of the original form of the amp. If there is a schematic that allows me to use the current tube layout, 2 12AX7/46v6, or some variation thereof, i would not be opposed to using it so long as it is a good sounding amp. I know this is very subjective but i think we can all agree that there is a baseline as to what is above average SQ or good SQ and that anything above that is mainly preference. I would also like to have something that has the ability to be improved upon at a latter date if i choose to go that route. For example, one thing i would like to do, and i dont even know if it is possible, but i would like to put an headphone out on this amp at some point. I plan on getting a pair of HE-6's at some point in the future and they require quite a bit of power. For now i will stick with my HD650's but i would love to be able to plug them into this amp for late night listening. I have looked at a couple of things to try and match impedance while preserving frequency response but have not came up with anything definitive yet. Maybe someone here has tried that in the past and could point me in the right direction. Sorry for such a long winded response but right now i am somewhat overwhelmed with all of the information i have available to me. Once i begin to understand it all a little more i believe my confidence will improve. Again, thank you for taking the time to respond and hopefully we can get this thing up and running soon! I have the money to throw at it right now so i guess its as good of a time as any since i have been wanting to do this for a while. I dont want to frivolously spend on it but i dont have a problem buying quality components if they will truly improve the listening experience. Right now i have the chassis, a working set of tubes (not matched or even the same brand but they are all there), original transformers and choke (one OPT is suspect but i hope to upgrade them after i get it up and running), i have ordered fuse and new power cord along with RCA terminals and speaker terminals. I have a lot of odds and ends components laying around but i will be placing a component order once i have finalized the decision on schematic. I am going to research the difference between PP and SE today and will report back once i have reached a conclusion. Gut feeling is i want to stick with the PP design but i want to thoroughly weigh my options before making the final decision.

I am new to the forum and I know this is an older thread but the OP was in the same situation a year ago as I am right now. I acquired this same amp at a really good price with the intent of restoring it to original. After reading a little about the sound of the original design and hearing about some of its shortcomings, I am not sure it is what I am looking for in my build. I am not trying to rattle my windows or anything but i do what some bass in my music. I am also afraid that one of the OPT is NG so i will be replacing them and i really like what i am reading about UL OPT's. Since this will be my first full build I also like that it has a low parts count and I dont mind that the output drops to 5W. Based on what I have read to this point, it seems to be a good fit for what I am wanting to do and I think my 60 bucks wont be wasted because I have a good platform to start building. I also think it will be a good opportunity to learn a few things and hopefully end up with a really good sounding amp in the end. I dont want to hijack the OP's thread so would it be OK to continue discussion here or would it be better if I start a new thread? I am new here and dont want to start off by stepping on peoples toes so i dont mind to continue this discussion in a new thread. If its OK to revive this post, and the gentlemen are still willing to help, i can follow up this post with a couple questions along with some additional information about my goals for this build. Take care everyone and thanks for putting this information out there for everyone to learn from.