Porn_Star Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 how hard would it be to copy an old tube amp design? from the pictures i have seen they seem rather basic and i feel that i could order the modern parts and copycat build one. (not saying i could design one by any means) has anyone attempted this at all? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprags Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) I haven't but there are tube amp kits. Tubes4HiFi.com has kits. I bought one but had them assemble it. The ST-120 sounds great. Soon I will have it powering either Heresy's or maybe another Klipsch type speaker. I'd like a S.E.T. amp driving Klipsch speakers. I've heard a setup like that and the sound is very good in my opinion. Edited July 10, 2014 by Sprags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porn_Star Posted July 10, 2014 Author Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) how much power do i need to drive a la scala? i am picking the la scalas up today, and while they come with an amp, id like to go tube. edit** holy crap they are still expensive! what makes them so high?! Edited July 10, 2014 by Porn_Star Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taz Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 holy crap they are still expensive! what makes them so high?! I don't know why they are priced as they are. But I've spent from $250 to $1000 and did not feel it was high for what I got. Use what you have, save $$$ and when you feel like the right deal has come along POUNCE ON IT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minermark Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Years ago when I first started buying china amps, buying my first one, I took it apart, found it to be a copy of American design, not bad, I replaced a few caps as I remember and ran it till I traded it years later. Opening up my wifes Mono Blocks, I found nothing but quality parts, she has been running her KT88 based amps for the better part of five years. My cave amp is a single unit copied from a Mac design, Dual KT88s, pulled the panel when I received it and found parts to be top notch. Amp building is great learning tool, however seeing that imports have come this far, my amp building days have passed. Primeamp on the Bay out of Kowloon HongKong is my source. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Richard Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 If you have good soldering skills and basic electronic construction skills it should be possible to DIY a vintage amplifier. Make sure you get the proper type output transformer for the tubes you plan to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schu Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 how hard would it be to copy an old tube amp design? from the pictures i have seen they seem rather basic and i feel that i could order the modern parts and copycat build one. (not saying i could design one by any means) has anyone attempted this at all? you don't think all these modern amps are all "new designs" do you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) wind your own OPTs. use good tubes. enjoy! it's pretty easy. I build hi-end tube amps and I wind OPTs myself by hand. turn by turn. designing a Hi-End OPT is pretty tricky. hundreds of issues should be taken into consideration. core loss, cooper loss, core hysteresis and BH curve. eddy currents. material of core and it's effect on frequency response. and after all a wise interleaving pattern will assure wide frequency response with lowest distortion. this is an OPT I'm winding for a GM70 SE tube amp. it's a double C-Core transformer with 37.5% Nickel and +60% Iron, I've built the bobbin myself, it's precise. the primary and secondary comprise 10,000turns divided into 50 interleaving layers for maximum coupling factor and frequency response: Edited July 10, 2014 by Arash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 how much power do i need to drive a la scala? 1 watt or less. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 how much power do i need to drive a la scala? 1 watt or less. +1 like for ordinary listening levels I would vote for a 2A3 SE tube amp with 3 or 3.5 watts per channel. it's pretty adequate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigStewMan Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 how much power do i need to drive a la scala? 1 watt or less. Thank you for answering that ... i was thinking horsepower, and i had tons of questions...are you driving them uphill? how fast do you want to drive them? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Smith Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 never-mind towing capacity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 how hard would it be to copy an old tube amp design? from the pictures i have seen they seem rather basic and i feel that i could order the modern parts and copycat build one. (not saying i could design one by any means) has anyone attempted this at all? In spite of the relative simplicity of single ended amplifiers, proper electromechanical layout is absolutely critical if you want to get a good result. So, if you're going to duplicate a proven design, choose one for which lots of pix are available, and use exactly the same mechanical and lead layout. Something as innocent as crossing the wrong 2 leads can result in oscillation and other issues which you don't want to have. Also, do you have experience working with potentially lethal voltages? If not, I'd take Mark's advice and buy one of the better quality Chinese amps (Yaqin and Cayin have a good reputation also). If you need any advice, don't hesitate to drop me a PM. Maynard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arash Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) IMO one should have some equipment like oscilloscope and function generator to be able to design a good tube amp, without tools it's like shooting in dark. if you don't have the tools, then go for a proven kit, it's the best bet you can put your money on. Audio Note Kit one is a good thing to go for. Klipsch heritage speaker are damn efficient. a pocket radio will make them sing! considering this, you can still built mini-watt tube amp with tubes like PCL/ECL82 or 86. VT-25 which sound fantastic will be a good choice with 1.5 watt of calss A output. but if you want more headroom, more detail in both micro and macro, more damping factor and control over speaker, go for a 211 or a GM70 tube amp with 20-30watts of output power. Edited July 10, 2014 by Arash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 what type music are you listening to and how loud do you like it ?? sure you can drive a lascala with 1 watt but if you are into metal and like music very loud you will not be happy with 1 watt SET amps on the other hand if you like acoustic or jazz and like to set back and relax at 85 or so db I dont think you could find a better sound than SET amp type and power depends greatly on you listening habits............................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fjd Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 (edited) I haven't but there are tube amp kits. Tubes4HiFi.com has kits. I bought one but had them assemble it. The ST-120 sounds great. how hard would it be to copy an old tube amp design? In spite of the relative simplicity of single ended amplifiers, proper electromechanical layout is absolutely critical if you want to get a good result. So, if you're going to duplicate a proven design, choose one for which lots of pix are available, and use exactly the same mechanical and lead layout. Something as innocent as crossing the wrong 2 leads can result in oscillation and other issues which you don't want to have. Also, do you have experience working with potentially lethal voltages? IMO one should have some equipment like oscilloscope and function generator to be able to design a good tube amp, without tools it's like shooting in dark. if you don't have the tools, then go for a proven kit, it's the best bet you can put your money on. Audio Note Kit one is a good thing to go for. I believe it is good advice to start with a kit if you want to build for the first time. To give you additional ideas that you may not be aware of, here are a few sites (in no particular order) that sell kits (or at least used to sell kits), PCBs with parts lists, or schematics with parts lists, or even with build guides and parts lists, etc. In the past I've bought from Parks Audio (PCBs), Tube Lab (PCBs), Bottlehead (full kits), Tubes4hifi (parts, but I see they sell kits), & Triode Store (parts, but I see they sell kits) with no problems and have built a few projects from the DIY Audio Projects (sourcing own parts). I've been thinking about pulling the trigger on one of the Transcendent Sound offerings lately, just need to catch up on a few things and decide which one (the 300b OTL looks interesting but so does the Mini Beast or even the Son of Beast). Maybe others are familiar with other kits and can add to the list? Parks Audio http://www.parksaudiollc.com/ Shannon Parks forum on DIY tube http://www.diytube.com/phpBB2/ Tube Lab http://tubelab.com/ Tube Lab forum on DIY audio http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubelab/ Bottlehead http://bottlehead.com/ Bottlehead forum http://bottlehead.com/smf/ Tubes4hifi http://www.tubes4hifi.com/bob.htm Tubes4hifi Dynaco Tube Audio Forum http://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.com/f2-basket Audio Note Kits http://www.ankaudiokits.com/ Transcendent Sound http://www.transcendentsound.com/Transcendent/Home.html Triode Store http://store.triodestore.com/hifikits.html DIY Audio Projects http://diyaudioprojects.com/Tubes/tubes.htm Odd Watt Audio http://oddwattaudio.com/main.html Decware (a few kits listed with completed amps they sell) http://www.decware.com/newsite/mastercatalog.html Tubes and More (link to one kit but there is also a mono block kit) http://www.tubesandmore.com/products/K-502 Sams photofacts (the photofacts usually have schematics and parts lists) https://www.samswebsite.com/ Sams photofacts (the photofacts usually have schematics and parts lists) http://www.theschematicman.com/index.html Edited July 10, 2014 by Fjd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprags Posted July 10, 2014 Share Posted July 10, 2014 Bob Latino at Tubes4HiFi Ida good guy to deal with. Roy Mottram not so much. He tries to get away with selling defective merchandise. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tube fanatic Posted July 11, 2014 Share Posted July 11, 2014 Fjd, thanks for posting those links. I have never heard of Oddwatt, went to their site, and was amazed that they are using a differential output stage in their amp. The last time I thought about that was when Popular Electronics featured a similar design in the late fifties (and garnered some very favorable comments from those who built it). I've never actually built one as it just doesn't seem possible that the balance can be decent, but apparently (judging from some discussions I just came across on DIY, etc.) guys are using it and it's good. Mark D., or Mike BSE, if you're following this thread, have you any experience with that mode? Just curious! Maynard 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porn_Star Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 i have been gone for a bit, and dont have a whole lot of time to read this, till later tonight, but i listen to all kinds of music! country, new and old, techno, some rap, some rock, i like my music pretty loud and heavy on the bass. i do not mind working with live circuts. i work with 480 on a daily basis, the drop coming into my machines at work is rated at 1600 amps. i have a fluke 123 oscope, all kinds of amp clamps, multimeters, one thing i dont have is a function generator. ill read all of this in a few hours and get back to more detailed questions. thanks all!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porn_Star Posted July 12, 2014 Author Share Posted July 12, 2014 wind your own OPTs. use good tubes. enjoy! it's pretty easy. I build hi-end tube amps and I wind OPTs myself by hand. turn by turn. designing a Hi-End OPT is pretty tricky. hundreds of issues should be taken into consideration. core loss, cooper loss, core hysteresis and BH curve. eddy currents. material of core and it's effect on frequency response. and after all a wise interleaving pattern will assure wide frequency response with lowest distortion. this is an OPT I'm winding for a GM70 SE tube amp. it's a double C-Core transformer with 37.5% Nickel and +60% Iron, I've built the bobbin myself, it's precise. the primary and secondary comprise 10,000turns divided into 50 interleaving layers for maximum coupling factor and frequency response: IMG_0493.JPG man, that is pretty! id like to make these myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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