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Old tube amp revived.


JL Sargent

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The areas of the circuit where matching was advised is where the phase inverter splits the positive and negative half of the wave form before the music signal (wave form) is handed to the push pull pair of output tubes... half the signal is handed to each output tube for brute force amplification which is then rejoined in the output transformer. If this signal is not as equal as possible in all respects the defect will be compounded by the amplication factor of the output section. This equals big distortion numbers and generally bad sound. This is where push pull amplifier get most of there bad rep from the single ended guys... I've found that just about every single ended lover (not all) when asked what push pull amplifier they have auditioned you always get back either a few budget modern PP amps or vintage PP amps that are usually in need of a blue print type rebuild (and usualy also built to a budget).

Matching key resistors and capacitors in a circuit is similar to blueprinting a high peformance motor build up. In amplifiers I design I even go a step further and install trim pots to allow me to match the circuit to the actaul tube used.

I'm an ex drag racer from way back! My forum handle when I first stuck my nose into this loony bin was NOS440... Nitrous Oxide System and 440 cubic inches. Hence the reason my company name ended up NOS Valves but that Idea was born from the web page designer that first put together my website.

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( Quote ) I'm an ex drag racer from way back! My forum handle when I first stuck my nose into this loony bin was NOS440... Nitrous Oxide System and 440 cubic inches. Hence the reason my company name ended up NOS Valves but that Idea was born from the web page designer that first put together my website.

For some reason I dont think the 440 was Mopar, I think it was Chevy taken a step further !

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"If this signal is not as equal as possible in all respects the defect
will be compounded by the amplication factor of the output section. This
equals big distortion numbers and generally bad sound."

So this where the signal generator and scope come in?

Off to a family reunion for me today. Boy am I gonna eat too much!

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at this point in the circuit you would use the function generator and scope to confirm proper phase inversion. The actual tuning of the circuit spoken of earlier will be done at the final output of the amplifier. Speaking of that I forgot to mention you will need a pair of 8 Ohm 20 watt minimum resistors to load the output for testing once we get to that point.

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( Quote ) I'm an ex drag racer from way back! My forum handle when I first stuck my nose into this loony bin was NOS440... Nitrous Oxide System and 440 cubic inches. Hence the reason my company name ended up NOS Valves but that Idea was born from the web page designer that first put together my website.

For some reason I dont think the 440 was Mopar, I think it was Chevy taken a step further !

You have that right.... it was a 60 over big block chevy 427 which equals 439 cubic inches but I just rounded up.

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The last four solder joints for the evening before snipping the leads. I feel like its going pretty good at this point. I'm just taking my time.

Craig, I got a couple of 8 ohm 25 watt resistors ordered also.

If you see a problem in these pictures please just thump me on the forehead. [;)]

post-34863-13819657938712_thumb.jpg

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Hey Craig, I want to run this by you to make sure I'm going in the right direction.

On the Sectoral cap:

Old New

50uf to 100uf

40uf to 100uf

30uf to 50uf

15uf to 50uf

I'll install one on top witht the clamp and one underneath. I thought I would solder the two ground pins to ground circuit first and then work the Pos.

Thanks.

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OK, made a little progress tonight. I got most of the resistors in. Waiting on the 47nf and the 1.5meg. All other resistors on the board have been replaced.

Hope that 47nF is a typo. That is if we are talking about the same small cap as previously the cap you need the 47pF not 47nf.

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Hey Craig, I want to run this by you to make sure I'm going in the right direction.

On the Sectoral cap:

Old New

50uf to 100uf

40uf to 100uf

30uf to 50uf

15uf to 50uf

I'll install one on top witht the clamp and one underneath. I thought I would solder the two ground pins to ground circuit first and then work the Pos.

Thanks.

By george I think you got it. The 17 years of fog is lifting [;)]

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Hey Craig, I want to run this by you to make sure I'm going in the right direction.

On the Sectoral cap:

Old New

50uf to 100uf

40uf to 100uf

30uf to 50uf

15uf to 50uf

I'll install one on top witht the clamp and one underneath. I thought I would solder the two ground pins to ground circuit first and then work the Pos.

Thanks.

By george I think you got it. The 17 years of fog is lifting Wink

Be careful about making the DC supply capacitors too large since the inrush current may become so high that it strains the power transformer and rectifier too much.

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Inrush lasts about 15 seconds.... way over stated. Prolonged over current is way more harmful then insrush current and if inrush was a problem a simple inrush current limiter would cure that. But really a 300uF total to charge up is nothing to worry about.

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I don't remember reading the model number of this SC amp, but it looks like an ASR-120.

Tom Bavis (IIRC) maintains the Made In Rochester site for SC stuff, and has the schematics and a bunch of sales literature for a BUNCH of Made In Rochester (NY) stuff:

http://www.audiophool.cjb.net/MadeInRoch.html

I have the SE little brother to this PP unit, the ASR110. Thinking about turning it into a 120 if I have the sockets for it as my next project. Needless to say, I'm reading this thread with great interest!

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Yes, this is the ASR-120. This same type amp is on Ebay this week. You might do better with buying one and refurbing it that way instead of a single ended to PP conversion.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Stromberg-Carlson-7408-tube-amplifier-VERY-NICE-/200616968209?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item2eb5b40011

Craig, I just contacted Angela.com about my week old tranny order and they have one in stock and the other is apparently backlogged from Hammond. Bummer, so I cancelled that order. I then called to verify "in stock" and now have them ordered from Antique Radio Supply.

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Just to update where we are. The board is done with all new caps and resistors. Im thinking with the larger transformers blocking the old cap hole it might be best to go with both of the big caps under chassis as shown below. Are there noise concerns with the location of the caps?

Supposed to have the transformers here from AES in the next day or two and will hopefully get it all together.

post-34863-1381965830768_thumb.jpg

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