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My New Tube Amp from ampsandsound


bracurrie

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Best I ever heard my previous KHorns was with a Jolida CD into a JM Peach II into a pair of Welborne DRD 45s!

Too bad Mr. Welborne lost his way, his amps were pretty special.

I have been tempted to buy the plans for a pair of Starcheif 45s and try to find somebody to build them for me (I can put together things with wood, but do not have

the talent to build anything electronic :( )

But with Ron's tatered reputation, I am not sure I want to fork over even $10 to him knowing that he has people still waiting for things that were paid for but not delivered.

Edited by HPower
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No kidding guy's, I took the wife to an Audiofile store sat her down and ask the guy to give her some quality music,

Spoiled in 0.3 seconds.

Told her id be happy to put a system together in the living room just for her, Corus2s, mono blocks and a nice tube preamp, fed by optic cable from the dining room PC. she was happy, meanwile my evil mind keeping me awake at night wondering just how big of speakers will fit in the Mancave.

Won a bid on Ebay, and simply ask her if she would like a 'road trip' what girl wouldn't?

So were are we going mark? Bandon Oregon, hell ya crab dinners and LaScallas waiting!!!!!

Spoil the lil woman and you'd be surprised what system you end up with.

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Hey Everyone,

After some consideration about road showing ampsandsound, I am willing to send my Little Ben SE 5watt amp out for anyone who would like to audition. I had been hesitant to allow demo’s as the return policy is generis. That said, if you’d like to demo Little Ben, send me a PM or email through my site. I will need a deposit of $600 (doesn’t cover cost but is fair I hope.) Shipping both ways will be paid for by the recipient.

As a general rule, anyone who calls and wants to know some of what I’ve learned; I’m happy to share. This includes secret sauce ideas for Cornwalls which was learned from the experts here and my own trial and error.

My love of tube amps and horns was born of the support of communities like this. If you ever want to know something, ask… I’ll probably tell you how I do it and why and help you to succeed trying to do it too.

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Hey Everyone,

After some consideration about road showing ampsandsound, I am willing to send my Little Ben SE 5watt amp out for anyone who would like to audition. I had been hesitant to allow demo’s as the return policy is generis. That said, if you’d like to demo Little Ben, send me a PM or email through my site. I will need a deposit of $600 (doesn’t cover cost but is fair I hope.) Shipping both ways will be paid for by the recipient.

As a general rule, anyone who calls and wants to know some of what I’ve learned; I’m happy to share. This includes secret sauce ideas for Cornwalls which was learned from the experts here and my own trial and error.

My love of tube amps and horns was born of the support of communities like this. If you ever want to know something, ask… I’ll probably tell you how I do it and why and help you to succeed trying to do it too.

Wow if you are seriously thinking tubes may be for you and like me it was hard to justify the high priced "audiophile" stuff, jump on this. Please don't take advantage of Justin's willingness to do this, but if you are seriously in the market you really have to hear it to believe it. Horns and tubes are naturals.

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The deposit is a bad idea, I'll be surprised if you get any interest at all. I would use the least expensive model you build, and say goodbye to it. The idea behind a "Roadshow" is that you assume all risk and allow the community to experience your work at no risk or cost (except shipping). You shell out the money up front for the build, and it comes back to you in the form of positive reviews and these other things that you can't put a pricetag on -- trust and integrity. Your products will sell themselves as people get exposure to them, but none of these things happen if you complicate the process or put up barriers like large deposits. Just my 2 cents worth.

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The deposit is a bad idea, I'll be surprised if you get any interest at all. I would use the least expensive model you build, and say goodbye to it. The idea behind a "Roadshow" is that you assume all risk and allow the community to experience your work at no risk or cost (except shipping). You shell out the money up front for the build, and it comes back to you in the form of positive reviews and these other things that you can't put a pricetag on -- trust and integrity. Your products will sell themselves as people get exposure to them, but none of these things happen if you complicate the process or put up barriers like large deposits. Just my 2 cents worth.

Chances are good that if I've got $600 for a deposit, I've got $900 for the full product. And that if I don't have $900 to "pay to play", then I don't have the $600 for a deposit.

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The deposit is a bad idea, I'll be surprised if you get any interest at all. The idea behind a "Roadshow" is that you assume all risk and allow the community to experience your work at no risk or cost (except shipping). Just my 2 cents worth.

I agree. I spit out my coffee when I read the initial offer. It isn't a roadshow; it is a refund offer. For $600 or slightly more, I can buy a number of amps that I don't need to 'try' and I don't have unecessary complications. Offeror should rethink this promotion, or not.

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I appreciate the feedback. I have lost equipment to demoing before really can’t afford to again.

The reality is before my offer I had received no requests to even consider. Since my offer I still have not. So it’s been a moot point. All things are possible if some person expressed interest.

(The idea was suggested before and I was resistant to it.) I was encouraged to do so but a customer who felt others would be surprised by the work, so I put it out there is a way I could make work. I'm currently not big enough to do a road show of sorts... I didn’t call it that as such. If someone approached me and said, "Hey I'd love to hear... probably not what I’m looking for but really interesting", the deposit idea was too allow the person to try without any assumption of a purchase. Anyone who as ever purchased from me can attest, that I’ve told them, “If it’s not right for your system, I can understand that. You have 2 weeks from date you received the amp to listen and decide if it’s a good addition.” With that said, I’ve never had an amp returned. I’m also pretty rigorous during the 2-3 weeks to ask if it got there safely, set-up correctly, and is what they want. I want happy customers who become friends, but I’m not able to accommodate unsecured demos. To reduce frustration, I’ll assume the idea was poorly conceived by me and retract it. If anyone wants to talk shop, ask about amps or speakers I’m happy to talk and make a friend. Those who have spoken with me will tell you that I’m pretty open and willing to help and share.

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Guest David H

Mark, it looks like you pretty much covered your investment with the inclusion of a credit card to cover damages, non forwarding or returns.

I think that was a wise idea.

Quote from Get Juiced Roadshow.

"4. You must provide valid Credit Card information (VISA/MC only). Although we will not make any charge or deposit against your card, you will be responsible for loss/damage if you fail to provide proper shipping insurance as in #2 above."

Dave

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The road show is a cool idea. I didn’t call it that cause I felt it was a compromise... It appears one most don’t want which is ok. I’ve been working like gang buster building amps and trying to get the site up and running, back end meta data is killing me.

Currently I only accept PayPal. There is now way for me to accept CC unless I setup to paying monthly for the ability to process.

I wasn’t looking to keep anyone’s money but protect an asset that I can write down. Looking at similar products, I found many more expensive and some at a similar price point. I stand by the idea that I put the bulk of what I charge into the parts for the amp itself. This is still very much a hobby and as such without the capitalization one might expect. Anyone who wants to hear what we offer... call or write, I’ll try to make it work.

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So far never a bad exp from a memebr of this forum. We has have a love or love/hate relationship with horns. Was soured ounce from someone one another forum but such as life.

Anyone interested enough to audition, I hope will reach out and ask about them with me.

I try to not get bogged down in specs, nor do I show pics under the hood. I want the site to convey feelings of what the amps bring to the table. But, Im very proud of the work under the chassis and have given a good bit of time to measurement and evalation.

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I try to not get bogged down in specs, nor do I show pics under the hood. I want the site to convey feelings of what the amps bring to the table. But, Im very proud of the work under the chassis and have given a good bit of time to measurement and evalation.

Justin, I have to disagree with you about not showing what is under the chassis. If your work is good, show it! As a designer/builder, I can assure you that even non-technical folks can appreciate meticulous construction and attention to detail. Contrast this with equipment which is beautiful on the outside but looks like it was assembled by a bunch of high school science class kids underneath (in fact, I read a review of a very costly amp a couple of years ago in which the reviewer found so many faults under the chassis that he expressed serious concerns about safety, let alone longevity.) One has only to look at amps from Leben, among dozens of other companies, to understand the concept of under-chassis pride of workmanship:

http://lebenhifi.com/products/products-img/cs300x_down_l.jpg

As to specifications, why not give some description? If the amp's output at clipping is down 3 db at 20 Hz vs 1 kHz, then say so. If the bandwidth is 20 Hz to 20 khz, then state the conditions under which you make this claim. There's nothing to hide here, and it will not detract from your sales.

Maynard

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Guest David H
Justin, I have to disagree with you about not showing what is under the chassis. If your work is good, show it! As a designer/builder, I can assure you that even non-technical folks can appreciate meticulous construction and attention to detail.

I agree with both of you here.

Showing your work is a sure sign of quality, and I assure you Justins work is top notch. I have looked under the hood of every piece, no doubt built by a perfectionist.

That being said, its not the non Technical folks that tend to be the issue. Its the Capacitor and resistor junkies that tend to stir the pot!

For instanace "Why use brand X capacitors/resistors you should use Super duper caps there and bypass Mega fancy cap." Or, I never use that topology in my designs, I find the original XYZ point to point, much better with no feedback and AC heaters.

These never ending arguments about caps, wires, resistors, tubes/ss, ABX and topologies are impossible.

Dave

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I don’t place the pics up for all to see as I don’t want to get into the kind of discussions that Dave alluded to. Regarding the workmanship. Have send examples to potential customers. Regarding specs, I can place a basic blurb as to how measurements were done on the site… its right along with trying to get a digital shopping cart too. I’m getting a lot of great advise on what to include… I appreciate it, I don’t think it’s been the pivotal factor. When I have been asked individually, I tell me. Much of the disconnect is born of my inability to do this on my own and use of friends to help. I’m not building the site on my own and have to wait for a buddy to help me with wordpress.

So… with much frustration…. This info has been avalible to anyone directly asking me for it, IE not on a forum.

· The amplifier was set to 1 volt out across a resistive load of 8 ohms and swept downward to 20 hz and there was no change in amplitude.

· The amplifier was then swept upward to 20 khz and the voltage out dropped to 740 mv p-p.

· The signal generator is a wavetek 98 power oscillator, the resistive load is a home built unit with dale 50 watt non inductive power resistors, the scope is an hp 54602B.

· We usually do a -1 db down point when using the gr loads and that shows when the amplifier is just beginning to come down on both sides.

· Noise at idle is measured with the input shorted to ground and residual amplifier noise measured on a scope in p-p mv.

· I will not send an amp out which measure will more than 12mv p-p

· Power supply ripple is 4mv at idle and 35mv at full power.

Long story short… it does as I purported.

Edited by justinsweber
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Hope the additional info documents, my not trying to put one over on anyone...

Super small fry who works 3 jobs with wife and 21mo munchkin.

I worked from 7am to 3pm at the prison, drove to the hospital yesterday and then did 4pm-1am.... super bad day, left the unit cause if I didn't Id be living there... took a consult at 3am and was typing notes while falling asleep at the keyboard at 430am. All that said... love what I do. I do wish I had more dedicated time to family and ampsandsound. As they say, all things in time :-).

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Guest David H

:o :o :o:o OMG, its not point to point with VCaps and silver wire? :o:o :o :o

Instead I see quality work, nice layout, Transcendar Iron and "Made in USA"

Congradulations on a product well built.

Now bounce that little Girl on your knee, kiss your bride, and get some sleep.

Dave

Edited by GotHover
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