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My Preamp build


davesans

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Hello Everyone

I thought I would share my latest project it is based around the Hagerman Clarinet. I had bought the half kit manny years ago and started putting it together then my audio quest did a U-turn and I went in another direction. I sold the circuit board but I kept the parts I bought I also started the chassis and punched the top plate. So last year I decided to get back into tube audio I bought a pair of Klipsch Forte's  So I thought I start off finishing up this project seeing I had most of the parts on hand to keep the cost down the chassis in made from padauk wood. I point to point wired it and a friend of mine made me the turrent boards. I had it up and running for a few hours now and I have to say it sounds real nice I been using a passive preamp that built for a few years now and thought that it sound pretty good but this add deeper bass notes and more detail in the high frequencies I know there more burning in it has to do. Next project will be pair of mono SET amps the Maynard designed around output transformers I have in parts box. 

Thanks for looking 

Regards

Dave

 

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guts.jpg

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42 minutes ago, Schu said:

Thats nice looking...

I am wondering which "pots/attenuators" you chose and why?

 
 

Thanks Schu 

I chose to use two mono pots over stereo so I could adjust each channel separately in case there might an imbalance between left and right in the recording. There made by Precision Electronics I used them before and had good luck with them. 

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1 hour ago, mike stehr said:

Ditto!

I like the tongue and groove hardwood flooring for the base. I did my RH84 amplifier in Brazillian Cherry.

 

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That is a very fine looking amp Mike nice choice of parts as well. I will look into the hardwood flooring and see if I can get small quantities. 

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4 minutes ago, davesans said:

The preamp is starting really sound good after some burn in time. I replaced the Golden Dragon 12AU7's with a pair of RCA's that really smoothed out the top end the Golden Dragon's were rough on the highs. 

I'm no 12AU7 expert, but it seems folks are fond of RCA 12AU7 clear-tops.

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Bugle boys... mullard... mazda... and of course telefunken.

 

My preference is for long plated 12au7's.

 

Rca clear tops with long plates are good and sound really clean, but slightly dry in my setup... its your taste that counts.

 

I run a siemens silver plate in the follower position and a early production Mullard in the output position on my pre 

 

Heaven forbid you use tube rolling to taylor the sound of your system... measure, measure, measure.. nothing else matters! :P

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4 minutes ago, Schu said:

You dont hear differences in different tubes?

 I hear a difference in tubes I just tailor the sound by tube rolling like you said. The right gear needs to be matched to speakers, amp, and so on. If the tube circuit is designed to get the most out of that tube type then rolling high dollar NOS tubes in and out is only going to make a little difference. I would think that changing the operating point would change the sound more but I am not and expert on that. 

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  • 2 years later...

Hi Dave,

 

Apologies for posting to an old thread. I was browsing and saw your build of the Clarinet and just wanted to comment on what a nice job you did. It looks very nice.

 

I bought the Clarinet circuit board and parts from someone who had ordered all of the components years ago but never built the unit. I built it over this past weekend and think it sounds quite good with only a couple of days on the unit. I think yours looks much better with the wooden case and metal top.

 

Alan

 

 

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