What is the simplest best sounding 2-tube amp to build?

[SKArface McDank]

Do you always need a transformer for tube amps or is there some way to build that yourself?

[iccaros]

which question?


AX84 has a nice two tube amp, the P1
a Champ sound good with a good speaker..
Rick's Murder 1 or his firefly with SubMini's



I am building a two tube amp from a compatron (6af11) and a 12xa7

yes you can build your own transformer, you will spend more building and debugging your transformer than spending $30

[SKArface McDank]

 thanks for responding. Which of those do you think would be best for blues and already has a good amount of headroom?
I like how much brother's champ 600 sounds but It breaks up at around 10

[iccaros]

Definitions??
Head room, will not break up until really cranked..  So 10 is really cranked .. as its all the way up or are your saying 10 o clock?  which would be 4 on most amps??

Do you want distortion or clean head room?

for blues, the Champ is a great amp, they distort because of the speaker, adding a better speaker will stay cleaner longer.
the P1 could also be with a slight adjustment to the BIAS on the second triode section.


P1 -->

[SKArface McDank]

10 on a champ, I want the tubes to be fully saturated but it just breaks up too easily on my brother's
He also put a vintage 8" philco speaker

Im going to build a ts808 for drive

[iccaros]

P1 cranked.. 

[therecordingart]

Do you always need a transformer for tube amps or is there some way to build that yourself?

Yes, you need transformers in tube amps.

For me, the actual building isn't the hard part. The hard part for me is staying mindful of the danger involved and remembering to discharge the filter caps before poking around. It's really easy to get impatient and do something stupid.

I'd say find a Firefly board and source the parts, get one of the Doberman kits (P1 or P1-Extreme), or get one of the kits from Triode Electronics (18watt or Champ). The Firefly was really easy to build and get setup.

[Derringer]

10 on a champ, I want the tubes to be fully saturated but it just breaks up too easily on my brother's
He also put a vintage 8" philco speaker

Im going to build a ts808 for drive

I can speak from experience that a tubescreamer into either an AX84 P1 or P1eX sounds awesome.

[jazbo8]

thanks for responding. Which of those do you think would be best for blues and already has a good amount of headroom?
I like how much brother's champ 600 sounds but It breaks up at around 10

See if you can get a Fender 5F2-A Princeton kit, two tubes 5 Watts, with a simple tone control, it is a very simple build and sounds good for blues. Tubescreamer in front sound good as suggested, I also tried it with a variac - sounds even more "crank'd" as the PT goes into distortion earlier - although not quite the earlier EVH Plexi sound (it is only 5 watts afterall) but pretty sweet imo.

Jaz

[iccaros]

I would watch the variac use, as you lower voltage for the amp, you are lowering heater voltage by the same percentage.. I know Eddie did it, but he could afford to replace tubes.. it would be better to put a switch or pot on the anode and cathode resistors and change its values for the same effect..

Matter of fact I read a story from a Van Helan guitar Tech, talking about having to change tubes every other show.. good thing he was rich..

[theundeadelvis]

I built a Champ that uses an EL34 power tube, and it sounds mean! Super simple build too!

[crash415]

Has anybody built a Tramp from Trinity?  I am thinking of building that.

[merlinb]

10 on a champ, I want the tubes to be fully saturated but it just breaks up too easily on my brother's

Hint: turn down the guitar volume a bit...

[tubelectron]

Hi,

When it turns to small guitar amps, I can't resist to display again my DIY VOX AC3 Top Boost :








A+!

[StarGeezers]

   Guys , this is now our favorite amp .... simple to build ,  sounds Killer ...  Inexpensive too ... < 75USD to make mine

http://www.wattkins.com/node/17548

[fretzburner]

Which is better,a tube amp with lots of components mounted on pcb or just a simple amp like the one above.I'm planning to build a two tube amp using my working japanese tube amp with pcb parts.Is this right decision?

[bluetubes]

It's not really about "which is better".  You should build an amp that suits your style or needs.  I built an 18watt lite IIB as my first amp because I wanted an amp that delivered power tube distortion as opposed to preamp distortion.  A lot of people call this amp a one trick pony, but I love it.  I think it sounds absolutely awesome.  Use your ears and research these amps and don't build an amp based on other peoples opinions.  Not that they are not valid, use them as a reference and build what YOU think sounds good to you.  There are tons of write ups, clips and videos out there on all these DIY amps.  Do the research.  In the end, you'll be happier with what you have created.

Cheers,
BT

[fretzburner]

Yes I was just asking their opinions(technical and experience) before deciding here what to do.I was confused just by looking at the circuit because i dont have schematic for this old japanese amp.It has 2 volumes and a master volume.I'll post some pictures next time.I am not planning to built from all new components because of parts availability in my location that's why it popped into my mind to rebuild the old one.

[StarGeezers]

   I just voice my "pony" to sound like what I want , then pedals add all the diversity ...  

  Fretz,  simple is usually better with a short and more direct signal path...    Less to fool with at repair time ...