How many of you build amps as well?

[powerplayj]

.....Heard some of the clips over at www.ax84.com (Doug Hammond's Firefly, etc.) and now I am intrigued at the prospect of building a extremely low wattage tube amp.  My 30W Classic 30 rarely leaves the house so it sure would be nice to put some of these DIY pedals  (especially the fuzzes) in front of a cranked amp.  Other than the dangers involved how difficult is amp building compared to stomp box building?  Do any of the skills involved with stompbox construction translate well into building amps?

Thanks,

Jason

[Peter Snowberg]

I think the skill translate very well.

I've built a handfull of little amps and modded a bunch of larger ones. It's a lot of fun. 

[RDV]

I'm in the middle of building a stereo amp(using LM3886 chipamps) inside of a dead Carver CD player(that was about $600 USD when new, now junk!) and all the buttons that were in front are now big empty spaces for lots of air to get in. The chassis and rear panel were already quite well ventilated. When I'm done I'll take some pics and post them. I'm working out the layout tonight and will be wiring tomorrow. The hardest thing was cutting a hole for the computer style AC input. I hate having a cord just dangling anymore. This will be rack mountable as well as the CD player was. Me wifey didn't much like seeing her CD player torn to bits, but then she did marry me, so that's that. I'm using nice big heatsinks for the chips and a 22v + 22v 160va toroid transformer to power her up. I'll have me one loud computer when I'm done. I'll be running twin 12" Peavey Black Widow monitors for now, but I'm on the lookout for a nice pair of bookshelf speakers(shielded of course!).

Too-da-loo

RDV

[petemoore]

  Other than heater pins, tube socket pinouts relate to transistors, if you're used to wiring Q's, tube circuits are quite similar to identical in places.
  I managed to build a 5e3 into a chassis, 7'' less wide than normal.
  The new, 'uncertain' part for me was the PS wiring around the transformer, but that wasn't too hard, a few tests here and there as you go is a good idea, roam the amp forums for info on first fire ups etc. Wherever I think there may be a large potential, I like to test for non-continuity there...stuff like that, double checking grounds.
  The grounding 'could' be tricky, but there are good pages I've seen on star grounding, I had to figure out what to do on alot of it, mainly IIUC it's keeping the flow of ground current from getting back into the near input sections by running radial wires to points that need supply, all those go back by 1 wire to the ground lug so as not to produce currents through the chassis as 'wire'. Dual Star etc.
  Transformers facing the 'right' way...worth it to read up on this stuff if you don't have a well planned chassis layout to work from, good reads.
  I'd have to say go for it, it's not too dangerous, you'll have a joy of a big amp sound in small volume amp [I find smaller the better>or to suit the occasion as necessary]. You can have a fine piece of custom tailored equipment that lasts a lifetime.

[WildMountain]

I recently completed a 0.5 W Gilmore Jr kit. Very nice amp. Very loud as well through a 1-12 setup. I've only started soldering 9 months ago and didn't have any electronics background. You pick things up as you go along. Indeed, building a tube amp is a great thing to do. When you succesfully fire it up that first time, it's the same great feeling you had with your first stompbox.

[d95err]

I'm building a 15W amp based on a kit from www.madamp.biz. It's a lot of fun. I love having these really big and sturdy components, and a lot of room instead of trying to squeeze tiny parts into a small cramped box. Building the cabinets will probably be the most difficult part. I haven't done any real woodworking for 15 years...

I intend to try the MOSFET powerscaling discussed on the 18 Watt forums (www.18watt.com), so I can run it cranked at any volume level. It will be really cool to see how it turns out. Regarding the Classic 30, I actually sold mine to get some money for the kit   

[WorkBench]

Heck yeah, I went the other route.  Built a twin reverb amp and then went on to build effects.  I learned just about all I know, and am still learning everyday over at Hoffman amps.com forum.  Great people!  Tube amps carry large amounts of voltage, so ya' need to be aware at all times!  It is really simple if you just take your time, and so damn rewarding!

Chris

[Paul Marossy]

The Firefly was my first tube amp build. Second was a Matchless Spitfire clone. Third was my Octal Fatness. Not sure what's next...

[Pushtone]

Just finished a FireFly amp.
http://www3.telus.net/david65/FireflyDebug/

I learned a lot but it would have been harder if not for the experience I got building my first 7 stompboxes. Especially the ordering of parts.  I also used a paper template taped to the chassis for drilling, a techniques from geofex.com, and the Unibit tool I learned about from stompboxes as well.

Going into the Firefly I was confident because I trusted Doug Hammond's schem and Paul Marossy's layout ( gee that name sounds familiar)  available on the ax84 site.

My FireFly shows my stompbox background too. I didn't use turrets or eyelets. I wove the components lead through Pad-per-Hole board.  Perhaps, as a result, I had some issues with hum and I'm still debugging the cascode boost. After the Firefly, the P1 looks like a snap to build. If I were to build another amp I would use pre-made turret board from Mouser prt # 534-15318 and use a much bigger chassis.

My Firefly sounds very good with Orange Squeezer or MiniBooster in front, not that loud, not that dangerous (you did read Paul Ruby's website, right? http://www.paulrubyamps.com/info.html), but dangerous enough to make that first power up exciting!  I am glad I built it because it satisfied an itch to build an amp. Cost was $200 CND to build the head. I was very lucky to find a used Behringer 4x12 cab for $100. Thanks to Paul, Doug and Doberman Amps!!!

[petemoore]

  All these tube amps sound great/different, totally worthy of the troublesome natures of the beasts...not so bad these days...
  Once you get one working great...a lifetime of joy can be had simply by turning standby to 'on'.
  Vintage...if you like messing with old worn out or dirty pots, caps, tubes, etc's. or simply building it up to within specs. I wouldn't spend alot on an amp that needs service just cause it looks 'ridden' and has an old original nameplate.
  New if you want maximum reliability, performance etc.
  Nothing wrong with an old or new tube amp that's working great, and rebuilding is usually a caps and tubes change, speakers notwithstanding.
  I'm pretty certain I could get .4w or .5w IMO to sound preferable playing along with accoustic instruments 'n vocals, or at bedroom levels, much more like a big amp than a big amp ever could at those volume levels.

[XtraMedium]

I built and modded a MXR+ clone first, but I didn't have a great amp to play it through.  I had sold my old guitar amp for a pair of "flat" (keyboard) amps to use with my digital guitar amp modelling gear.  I wanted to get back to the analog thing, so I decided to build a P1 combo (www.ax84.com) before I made any more pedals. 

I had to learn a lot of new things to get it done, including basic woodworking and tolexing--gluing vinyl on wood.  Be careful with the high voltage and you'll be fine.  Wiring houses helped me respect the dangers there.  You'll need some bigger drill bits to do holes for the tube sockets.  My Dremel got a lot of use on the chassis, especially doing that odd-shaped IEC plug for the power cord. 

A DIY amp will cost a bit more than a pedal, but it's really satisfying to crank up an amp that you built.

[smccusker]

I haven't yet, but I find myself thinking about making the step from pedals to amps more and more. I still have alot of questions and reservations about starting, so i'll probably give it another few months of reading up and building pedals before I make my first attempt. When I do, I'll probably build the P1 from AX81 first, since it's well documented and looks like a nice easy introduction to this sort of construction.

[Connoisseur of Distortion]

building an amp is way easier then building a pedal. you just have to be wary. purchase a big (20 or so watts) resistor with respectable (22k+ ?) ohmage, and you should be able to quickly and safely discharge those crazy capacitors.

that is alot of voltage!!! double/triple/quad check EVERY wire! hell, pull out the schematic and cross out wires as you go! BE CAREFULLLL

but other than that, the big components and miles of room make it a delight to work on.

[PaulC]

Building tube amps is my day job.  I do all the design work for Heritage Amplifiers.  I've got some pedals out, but I'd much rather work around 500vdc than 9vdc!!

[zachary vex]

i guess i do.  the nano head amp and the iMPAMP, which is stupidly hi-fi and not guitar-worthy.

[geertjacobs]

If you have made some pedals, building a tube amp is not so difficult.
The thing I really like about tube amps is that there are so little parts involved. That makes using quality parts really worthwhile.
Just for the price I would recommend getting a kit somewhere. (Doberman, Ceriatone, Ted Weber,...)
Sourcing the parts is the most difficult part in my opinion.

Be sure to read the safety instructions, +400V hurts 

[barret77]

Building tube amps is my day job.  I do all the design work for Heritage Amplifiers.  I've got some pedals out, but I'd much rather work around 500vdc than 9vdc!!

So, you build the "Kenny Burrell" amp! that's top of the notch, way to go! 

[petemoore]

  A voltage indicator light, something like an LED that could be attached say to B+, as a first safety measure to be done upon opening an amp, and would turn off when B+ got below say 30V or so, would be a very nice bench item, if not something to put as a permament safety/nonsafety indicator in a tube amp, up, near B+. But I guess it''d be a difficult to implement item, and little interest thus far has been shown for the idea I got from a Sunn Power Amp I repaired.
  As it is I have a 'slot' to hold the Bright Yellow clipwire with the 22k bleed resistor, I just hook the resistor lead on B+, the slot holds the hook/connection and wire, a few seconds later I read B+ dropping quickly under 30v, and the Yellow Wire is impeding access to the Standy Switch!, Also I have some electrical tape on the resistor, it is a smoke indicator, just in case somehow I hit standby with the bleed resistor still there. I Clip the bleed resistors wire to the standby switch during sound/standby on testing, this way I end up with the bleed resistor/yellow wire/clip in my hand when I turn standby off...starting with this method and using it religiously, it's thus far proved foolproof...still, I like the little safety light idea.

[jrc4558]

I do. Several amps for local friends and my own use. Very fun and rewarding. My bandmates keep complaining that I change my playingevery time I come up with a new amplifier to use at the studio.

[bancika]

I made AX84 Firefly as my first amp, youcan see it here
http://photobucket.com/albums/c22/bancika/FireFly/