Cheap Forum Amp by Captainbeefheart

[KT88]

CBH, if I had even a fraction of your knowledge. No offence meant, given all the circumstances you explain why it's taking so long. But it reminds me of exactly what I've been waiting for myself. I had an old Porsche 912 from 1966 restored. It has now taken 7 years and everything has turned out very well. It was stripped down to the bare metal with welding and much more. Now the engine is being restored. I have found a great specialist for this task. But he has a lot to do. I will have to wait another 1 to 2 years until the engine is finished. Well, that's obviously how it is when you want someone good who doesn't take the prices of the official Porsche Klassik Zentrum.

[captainbeefheart]

2 hours ago, KT88 said:

CBH, if I had even a fraction of your knowledge. No offence meant, given all the circumstances you explain why it's taking so long. But it reminds me of exactly what I've been waiting for myself. I had an old Porsche 912 from 1966 restored. It has now taken 7 years and everything has turned out very well. It was stripped down to the bare metal with welding and much more. Now the engine is being restored. I have found a great specialist for this task. But he has a lot to do. I will have to wait another 1 to 2 years until the engine is finished. Well, that's obviously how it is when you want someone good who doesn't take the prices of the official Porsche Klassik Zentrum.

 

You officially have me drooling over your 1966 912 coupe. What color are you going to paint the exterior? I always liked either the light ivory or slate grey. Those flat 4 cylinder (616/36) engines are so cool. Are you keeping it all original with the original Solex Carbs?

 

I always envisioned my later years having an old beauty like what you got but as of now it's just not in the cards. A good friend of mine has a few classic cars, 66 GTO, 72 Mustang and a 68 MGB roadster. He is thinking of selling the MG at some point because it's the car he drives the least and his wife has been getting on his case to sell one of the cars since he just picked up his second vintage motorcycle. He is also a vintage hifi nut. The MG is the only car his wife likes to drive as she says the goat and mustang are too big so I think I can convince them to hang onto it for another couple years and hopefully then I can afford a luxury item like that.

[KT88]

On 10/20/2022 at 11:51 PM, captainbeefheart said:

 

You officially have me drooling over your 1966 912 coupe. What color are you going to paint the exterior? I always liked either the light ivory or slate grey. Those flat 4 cylinder (616/36) engines are so cool. Are you keeping it all original with the original Solex Carbs?

 

I always envisioned my later years having an old beauty like what you got but as of now it's just not in the cards. A good friend of mine has a few classic cars, 66 GTO, 72 Mustang and a 68 MGB roadster. He is thinking of selling the MG at some point because it's the car he drives the least and his wife has been getting on his case to sell one of the cars since he just picked up his second vintage motorcycle. He is also a vintage hifi nut. The MG is the only car his wife likes to drive as she says the goat and mustang are too big so I think I can convince them to hang onto it for another couple years and hopefully then I can afford a luxury item like that.

 

I hope this little excursion is allowed, otherwise I'll take the moderators' punishment🙄

It's slate grey, after being Viper Green for a long time in the US. But slate grey is not only a favourite colour of mine but according to the Porsche COA I have, it was the original colour in 1966.

Here are a few pictures from the last few years after the welding work with engine out therefore so high at the back. All original with Solex carburettors. Seats are black leather.

[captainbeefheart]

25 minutes ago, KT88 said:

It's slate grey

 

I forgot about the slate grey, I think I like that a little better than the dolphin grey. Great choice on color!!!  I don't like the viper green color at all but it's a little better than the original "Irish Green" I believe it was called.

 

29 minutes ago, KT88 said:

Here are a few pictures from the last few years after the welding work. All original with Solex carburettors. Seats are black leather.

 

looks amazing! I have seen people swap over to Weber carbs but if I had that beauty I'd like to keep it original with the original Solex carbs.

 

 

 

[jcn3]

19 hours ago, KT88 said:

 

I hope this little excursion is allowed, otherwise I'll take the moderators' punishment🙄

It's slate grey, after being Viper Green for a long time in the US. But slate grey is not only a favourite colour of mine but according to the Porsche COA I have, it was the original colour in 1966.

Here are a few pictures from the last few years after the welding work with engine out therefore so high at the back. All original with Solex carburettors. Seats are black leather.

 

That is spectacular! Looks like the time and effort are paying off!

[jjptkd]

On 10/19/2022 at 3:57 PM, captainbeefheart said:

My amp with the same power tube will do 12 watts with 1% THD and go up to 20 watts when nearing 5% THD, but only costs $1,200. Little bit better specs I think This wasn't the budget amp, Shakey wanted the very best parts and a nice exotic wood chassis with custom BMW paint. The output transformers were a huge chunk of the cost.

 

Any updates?

[captainbeefheart]

4 hours ago, jjptkd said:

Any updates?

 

I did post an update but don't think it was approved so I'll try again.

 

Shakey wanted Jupiter copper foil caps and I didn't want to solder them anymore than needed so they were only recently installed into the finalized chassis. Their properties at their layout location added too much parasitic capacitance into the plate circuit of the high gain pentode, Bode plots looked much different compared to the breadboard but it's expected not to be the same with different layouts but often things improve when in a real chassis compared to the breadboard with flying leads all over the place. It took a bit to find where that pole was coming from but it was confirmed when I swapped the Jupiters out for Panasonic ECQ in the same location. Shakey really wanted to use those caps so I needed to change the layout to reduce the parasitic capacitance in that plate circuit.

 

With an open loop (no feedback) amp this wouldn't be an issue but with -20db of feedback you want the open loop characteristics as good as possible before closing the loop and working out lead/lag compensation networks. I make certain my amplifiers are unconditionally stable even under heavy capacitive loads.

 

 

[jjptkd]

1 hour ago, OO1 said:

are you pondering getting 1  of these amps ?     sure sounds like a bargain

 

I'd love to see Shakey and Westcoast get theirs and hear their impressions I think its a bit overdue. 

[Travis In Austin]

On 1/26/2022 at 11:23 AM, captainbeefheart said:

This would be an assembled amp sold to only forum members. For the members that like to build there own I will provide whatever necessary information for them to make one on their own.

No more “assembled amp”’through the Forum please. Take that off line and away from here, it has morphed from the original concept and is causing more headaches than worth it. 
 

providing information for others to build and make the amp was, and still is, highly encouraged as it was with Henry’s efforts on Maynard’s design.

[captainbeefheart]

10 hours ago, Travis In Austin said:

No more “assembled amp”’through the Forum please. Take that off line and away from here, it has morphed from the original concept and is causing more headaches than worth it. 
 

providing information for others to build and make the amp was, and still is, highly encouraged as it was with Henry’s efforts on Maynard’s design.

 

You are aware the first one is the prototype which is the infancy stage. Circuit design, layout, bench and listening tests etc... all take time.

 

If you or people cannot understand that the design process takes a bit of time then I don't know what to say. I do this as a hobby in my spare time.

 

I do 100% agree that the idea morphed, it was supposed to be "cheap" or more accurately "inexpensive".  Shakey liked the idea but wanted it dolled up and fitted with only the best. Since he was willing to fund the prototype I felt that was a reasonable enough compromise.

 

The only headache I see is the fact people are expecting the time frame of an already designed product that only needs to be built which was never the case. Yes Shakey need only be patient but he gets the very first amp in a very nice package with all the best parts. Since funding the prototype he pays only for parts which is I thought a great deal but it's a prototype and been a tough long process. I think we succeeded in getting excellent results and I'm sure he will agree after hearing it.

 

I think the best way to move forward is with the original idea of the "cheap" forum amp which I will not need to have anyone pay for parts up front. The reason for Shakey paying for parts up front was because the parts were very expensive. I will only list and sell already made amplifiers. If people want to build their own I'll sell the boards and whatever else they need to them and let them assemble it.

[Travis In Austin]

@Shakeydeal and @MEH Synergy is there any update on this you wish to share?

[Shakeydeal]

All I am willing to say at this point is the captain agreed to a ship date of 1/5  for my amp with @MEH Synergy amp to follow and as of now has not honored that commitment. I have had no contact with him since last Thursday.

[Steve.]

Hopefully CaptainBeefheart does the right thing and refunds your money .   He is not a professional amp builder, it’s his hobby and he’s obviously not a good businessman…..    

[MEH Synergy]

On 1/23/2023 at 3:10 PM, Shakeydeal said:

All I am willing to say at this point is the captain agreed to a ship date of 1/5  for my amp with @MEH Synergy amp to follow and as of now has not honored that commitment. I have had no contact with him since last Thursday.

Ditto here.  Bucket full of empty promises and patience.  A year with a 2 month promise is more than patient enough.   I have lots to say, but don't want to get my post deleted as a result.  I paid $1400 CASH. In that price, I paid shipping and a tip, up front. 

[geoff.]

As to the amp maker, I believe his intentions were good.

 

But I recently read something that rung bells with me:

 

“Never make a promise when you’re happy, never reply when you’re angry, and never make a decision when you’re sad.”

The ego writes cheques (checks for youse guys) the body can’t cash.

 

[geoff.]

I think he should return the money, if that is what you want, finish the amp whenever time is on his side, be it another year from now, and offer it to you first at the agreed upon price. 
 

If not wanted others may have the option to buy it at the actual finished cost, which will no doubt be more.

 

 

[billybob]

Hope all will have their just rewards, in the due course of time.

[Travis In Austin]

3 hours ago, geoff. said:

As to the amp maker, I believe his intentions were good.

 

But I recently read something that rung bells with me:

 

“Never make a promise when you’re happy, never reply when you’re angry, and never make a decision when you’re sad.”

The ego writes cheques (checks for youse guys) the body can’t cash.

 

Well said. I was hoping it was good intentions  and got in over his head, had some illness down time, but many red flags.

 

What caused me a great deal of concern was CBH listed 3 or 4 amps in Garage Sale, and He was posting left and right on technical issues and I never saw the amps got delivered. So I PM and ask, what’s the status, no amps Well we can’t have that, so tried to give time for a resolution. Parts, amps, etc, CBH agreed and then nothing.

 

It’s bitter sweet, a lot of people liked his technical contributions, but a lot of people were upset that he was spending tons of time posting but their forum friends didn’t have their amps.

[Shakeydeal]

It is with heavy heart that I have to say I think it's over.  Here is a cut and paste of what I posted on the ASR forum last week.

 

I am not a regular member here, but I was given permission by a moderator to make this post. I will not get personal, only give the facts.

captainbeefheart, who is a member here, is also a member on the Klipsch Community forum. He has offered a great deal of technical advice on that forum just as he has here. He seemed like a very nice guy, very personable. When the subject of amplifier builds came up in the forum, myself and another forum member reached out to the captain to initiate a build for each of us. This was in early February 2022.

Initially it was supposed to take a couple of months, three at the most. For full disclosure, we only paid for the parts up front. He was doing this as a favor because he likes projects such as this. It was my intention (and I conveyed this to him) to pay him a handsome "tip" for building the amp. So I sent him 1000.00 in three payments. I used F&F instead a CC (my mistake) so he wouldn't have to pay a fee to receive the money. This is something I wouldn't normally do, but we had several long PMs and exchanges on the forum and I felt like he was trustworthy. There was a thread regarding the amp build on the forum in the beginning, but I think it's gone now. So yes, I was a gullible participant in this. In 30+ years of buying and selling on the internet, this was my first negative experience.

At first, things seemed great. There was good communication about the process. I sent the first payment on 2/9/22 and the last payment was made on 4/3/22. After that, things got a little dicey. There would be weeks between emails and sometimes he wouldn't respond unless I reached out several times. At the time of the last payment, he promised it would be ready in two weeks. When that didn't happen, the next promise of shipment was by the end of May. No luck. Then on 6/13, said it would ship in a week. So you get the idea.

To be fair, the design did change a few times at my request. So I understand the missed ship dates in the beginning. The summer and fall went by with excuses of illness, house fire, family surgery, issues at work, etc. I tried to be as patient as I could and just let it play out.

In November, a moderator on the klipsch forum reached out to me and the other individual to ask what the status of the amps was. This had been an item of discussion in the forums and members were constantly sending me PMs to ask about the progress. During this time, the captain sold some other items on the forum and didn't follow through with shipping. Complaints were made in the forum and to moderators so they now had him on their radar. Eventually he returned the money to the other members, but this took a couple of months.

So in early December we asked for a deadline of 1/5/23 to ship the first amp (mine) with the other amp soon to follow. According to the captain, mine was about 90% complete at that time. He not only agreed to the deadline, but even said he would like to get it to me by Christmas. Well 1/5 came and went with no shipment. The excuse was long work hours. We went back and forth on this a few times with more promises to ship. The next day, then the next, then by the weekend, etc. Until finally he just stopped communicating. No reply to texts or emails, no answer on his cell phone. I realize now that my money is gone. I've only seen one picture of the amp several months ago and nothing since. I have asked for more detailed pictures several times since then with no luck. So I'm not even sure the amp exists.

So my only hope is that no one else suffers the same fate. I'm sure he will materialize again here or somewhere else with a new screen name

 

There is one update since I posted this. On Thursday of last week he finally replied to my email from the weekend before. He said he and his wife had the flu. He was angry about an email I had sent to his wife. I only did this because it was her email that we sent all the funds to, so she is culpable as well. His question to me was "do you want the amp or not"? My response was "contact me when you have it boxed up, in hand and standing at the fedex counter ready to ship". No contact since then.

 

I agree with the sentiment of others in this forum. Why would someone who is so proud of his knowledge and experience with amp building not be excited to share photos and details of the build process along the way? Doesn't make sense. Another thing that doesn't compute is why would anyone go to such a great length to scam 2400.00 out of two people? I mean he had all the money by April, why continue the charade? Why not just disappear like he is doing now?

 

To sum it up, I'm not sure if any amps even exist. I asked for pictures several times during the month of December. Never got anything. He even once said he had it boxed and unboxed it just to take some pictures for me. I got nothing.

 

So this is a lesson learned. Either we were scammed from the start. Or the amps are real and he just isn't going to follow through. In the end the result is the same.

[Fido]

4 hours ago, Shakeydeal said:

It is with heavy heart that I have to say I think it's over.  Here is a cut and paste of what I posted on the ASR forum last week.

 

I am not a regular member here, but I was given permission by a moderator to make this post. I will not get personal, only give the facts.

captainbeefheart, who is a member here, is also a member on the Klipsch Community forum. He has offered a great deal of technical advice on that forum just as he has here. He seemed like a very nice guy, very personable. When the subject of amplifier builds came up in the forum, myself and another forum member reached out to the captain to initiate a build for each of us. This was in early February 2022.

Initially it was supposed to take a couple of months, three at the most. For full disclosure, we only paid for the parts up front. He was doing this as a favor because he likes projects such as this. It was my intention (and I conveyed this to him) to pay him a handsome "tip" for building the amp. So I sent him 1000.00 in three payments. I used F&F instead a CC (my mistake) so he wouldn't have to pay a fee to receive the money. This is something I wouldn't normally do, but we had several long PMs and exchanges on the forum and I felt like he was trustworthy. There was a thread regarding the amp build on the forum in the beginning, but I think it's gone now. So yes, I was a gullible participant in this. In 30+ years of buying and selling on the internet, this was my first negative experience.

At first, things seemed great. There was good communication about the process. I sent the first payment on 2/9/22 and the last payment was made on 4/3/22. After that, things got a little dicey. There would be weeks between emails and sometimes he wouldn't respond unless I reached out several times. At the time of the last payment, he promised it would be ready in two weeks. When that didn't happen, the next promise of shipment was by the end of May. No luck. Then on 6/13, said it would ship in a week. So you get the idea.

To be fair, the design did change a few times at my request. So I understand the missed ship dates in the beginning. The summer and fall went by with excuses of illness, house fire, family surgery, issues at work, etc. I tried to be as patient as I could and just let it play out.

In November, a moderator on the klipsch forum reached out to me and the other individual to ask what the status of the amps was. This had been an item of discussion in the forums and members were constantly sending me PMs to ask about the progress. During this time, the captain sold some other items on the forum and didn't follow through with shipping. Complaints were made in the forum and to moderators so they now had him on their radar. Eventually he returned the money to the other members, but this took a couple of months.

So in early December we asked for a deadline of 1/5/23 to ship the first amp (mine) with the other amp soon to follow. According to the captain, mine was about 90% complete at that time. He not only agreed to the deadline, but even said he would like to get it to me by Christmas. Well 1/5 came and went with no shipment. The excuse was long work hours. We went back and forth on this a few times with more promises to ship. The next day, then the next, then by the weekend, etc. Until finally he just stopped communicating. No reply to texts or emails, no answer on his cell phone. I realize now that my money is gone. I've only seen one picture of the amp several months ago and nothing since. I have asked for more detailed pictures several times since then with no luck. So I'm not even sure the amp exists.

So my only hope is that no one else suffers the same fate. I'm sure he will materialize again here or somewhere else with a new screen name

 

There is one update since I posted this. On Thursday of last week he finally replied to my email from the weekend before. He said he and his wife had the flu. He was angry about an email I had sent to his wife. I only did this because it was her email that we sent all the funds to, so she is culpable as well. His question to me was "do you want the amp or not"? My response was "contact me when you have it boxed up, in hand and standing at the fedex counter ready to ship". No contact since then.

 

I agree with the sentiment of others in this forum. Why would someone who is so proud of his knowledge and experience with amp building not be excited to share photos and details of the build process along the way? Doesn't make sense. Another thing that doesn't compute is why would anyone go to such a great length to scam 2400.00 out of two people? I mean he had all the money by April, why continue the charade? Why not just disappear like he is doing now?

 

To sum it up, I'm not sure if any amps even exist. I asked for pictures several times during the month of December. Never got anything. He even once said he had it boxed and unboxed it just to take some pictures for me. I got nothing.

 

So this is a lesson learned. Either we were scammed from the start. Or the amps are real and he just isn't going to follow through. In the end the result is the same.

I am sorry to see that you and WestCoast never received your Amps and that no matter what excuses CBH gave you guys it doesn't make any sense that he could not have sent you images of the builds in progress. It is sad that in todays world integrity of so many people has ceased to exist. Cant the moderators here ban members like CBH?