Electronics! Falling into the geek rabbit hole.

[tgapp]

Egh scratch that last question.

Toying with the idea of upgrading my amp since my STBXW got the good amp in the divorce. Any recs on a good, extremely low wattage amp? I don't need a lot of watts. Like 3wpc at the most.

Basinbeater or Thom...any reccs?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[riser4]

You're gonna need all that bass!

[basinbeater]

You could build your own tube amp. You are a capable fellow, build your own...
https://bottlehead.com/product/stere...rated-2a3-amp/

3.5wpc i believe? $1200 or so?

[tgapp]

You could build your own tube amp. You are a capable fellow, build your own...
https://bottlehead.com/product/stere...rated-2a3-amp/

3.5wpc i believe? $1200 or so?

Hmmm what do I need? Soldering iron? Anything else?

Any estimate on how much time this would take?

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[tgapp]

Also how do I evaluate different amp designs?

This would be the other contender that I've found:

https://diyaudiostore.com/collection...l-transformers

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[highangle]

Also how do I evaluate different amp designs?

This would be the other contender that I've found:

https://diyaudiostore.com/collection...l-transformers

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

For a 3ish watt output you can probably afford the inefficiency of a Class A amp for less $$ bro.
Might pull 20w to make 3w, but the standing draw will be half that. Maybe half an amp.

And a pure sine battery backup will make anything you plug into it sound gooder, run cooler, last longer than straight wall power. A lot of ppl never even contemplate how crappy their home electricity is until they get picky about transformers and tube biasing, or get into some other electronic project. [Pure sine battery backups make hard drives last longer too...]

[tgapp]

For a 3ish watt output you can probably afford the inefficiency of a Class A amp for less $$ bro.
Might pull 20w to make 3w, but the standing draw will be half that. Maybe half an amp.

And a pure sine battery backup will make anything you plug into it sound gooder, run cooler, last longer than straight wall power. A lot of ppl never even contemplate how crappy their home electricity is until they get picky about transformers and tube biasing, or get into some other electronic project. [Pure sine battery backups make hard drives last longer too...]

The amp I linked is a single-minded triode (class A) amp, but the pure sine battery backup is a great recommendation.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[jorion]

People seem to really like the elekit stuff; it would be fun to make the 300b kit at some point.

If you can wait, the decware zen triode is supposed to be incredible and is relatively affordable. They never seem to show up on the used market, so people must like them. The catch is that the wait for a new one is close to a year usually.

For the music I listen to it seems like push/pull tube designs suit me better than SET design, but it would be fun to compare them at some point. I certainly have speakers that are efficient enough to work with SET.

[tgapp]

People seem to really like the elekit stuff; it would be fun to make the 300b kit at some point.

If you can wait, the decware zen triode is supposed to be incredible and is relatively affordable. They never seem to show up on the used market, so people must like them. The catch is that the wait for a new one is close to a year usually.

For the music I listen to it seems like push/pull tube designs suit me better than SET design, but it would be fun to compare them at some point. I certainly have speakers that are efficient enough to work with SET.

Nice yeah I've thought about an Elekit 300b amp, but that might be out of my price range for the time being. Right now I am running an AppJ Miniwatt 6n1 + 6j1 amp, it's decent, but I definitely have upgradeitus.

Thinking about this amp now:

https://glow-audio.com/collections/a...tube-amplifier

It's point-to-point, got great tubes, and comes with a 24kHz DAC. What am I missing here? $680 feels like a steal.

[jorion]

The 6moons review is very positive. Looks like a great value for sure. Seems that it’s so cheap because it’s made in China and direct-to-consumer. People turn up their noses at Chi-Fi, but it’s the only way you’re going to get a new amp at that price without building it yourself.

Caveat: I haven’t listened to any of these.

Note that the Mullard el84s are the new Chinese tubes that have nothing to do with the old school Mullards. So the tubes in it are not that special.

[tgapp]

Yeah, I guess my question is - do I buy the chi-fi amp for $700, or look at an amp kit in the $1200 range?

I definitely don't need more than 5 watts. Hmm.

[Flyoverland Captive]

Have you looked at PS Audio’s Sprout 100?

[tgapp]

Have you looked at PS Audio’s Sprout 100?

I have, but it has more than I need - 50wpc, bluetooth receiver, good DAC - I have a great DAC and a receiver (as well as a turntable and a good phono stage). I need a minimalist amp.

Leaning strongly towards the GLOW Amp One, even if the Mullard teams are not that special.

[JimmyCarter]

I have, but it has more than I need - 50wpc, bluetooth receiver, good DAC - I have a great DAC and a receiver (as well as a turntable and a good phono stage). I need a minimalist amp.

Leaning strongly towards the GLOW Amp One, even if the Mullard teams are not that special.

Schiit Vidar or aegir?

[zion zig zag]

So I always read this thread with interest as I try to learn, even though I haven't invested anything yet. Why only 5 watts? Super efficient speakers? Is there any downside to having more than you need wattage wise?

[basinbeater]

Yep, very efficient speakers, even then, a majority of the listening normal people do with less efficient speakers rarely exceeds 5+ watts. So efficient speakers and a low powered amp should get to perfectly loud listening levels.
Single ended triode circuit topologies do not produce a ton of power, but introduce a certain tube distortion that many people find very pleasing to listen to.

[highangle]

The amp I linked is a single-minded triode (class A) amp, but the pure sine battery backup is a great recommendation.

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

Lolly lolly I'm a fkn idiot...and this after I saw 3 output modes in your link.

Anyway, you'll lose some power factor in a sine wave backup, which will add to your dead draw and maybe bring it up to something like a compact fluorescent bulb...

[highangle]

So I always read this thread with interest as I try to learn, even though I haven't invested anything yet. Why only 5 watts? Super efficient speakers? Is there any downside to having more than you need wattage wise?

In a Class A amp, yes, because they draw power when they're on. That's the limitation of Class A - hard to scale up without hudge transformers and tubes and 50s-style power requirements. And since your tubes are your primary power modulators and amplifiers, they make a big difference in how the amp sounds. Tgapp can swap those long plate JJs out of his linked kit for some Sovtek [what's in a new Macintosh], or Chinese Genelex Gold Lions, or some others he may like better.

And speaker efficiency is measured by how loud it will produce a test tone into a test mic at 1m distance. The venerable Klipschhorns will make something like 110db with 1 watt input, which is very loud...

Contrary to some, I don't think there's much percentage in trying to create a reference amp with consumer hifi gear, especially if one's room is super reflective or otherwise less than optimal. All amps are going to "distort" a frequency reference curve, so does the human ear. You want your distortion to be musical and fluid so it doesn't detract from the source signal. Best way to do that is with natural sine waves with the distortion concentrated in 2nd and 5th order harmonics, which makes a source sound "bigger" and "cleaner"... And no matter how digital your system is, your speakers ultimately move air to make round waves humans evolved to hear and not square ones best suited for pulse width modulation.

[basinbeater]

...

[EWG]

Whelp, I’ve got another guitar amp issue. Solid state Marshall amp head with a preamp tube. Grounding problem. Bad hum and distortion when it’s plugged in. I think it’s a straightforward fix but I don’t have the skills. And it’s not worth enough to take it to a shop and give them $200 to maybe not fix it. Anyone on the front range and wanna fuck around with looking at it, or anyone know a person or shop around here that would do it for some side cash?

[zion zig zag]

Copy on the above explanations, thanks.


Sent from my iPad using TGR Forums

[highangle]

Whelp, I’ve got another guitar amp issue. Solid state Marshall amp head with a preamp tube. Grounding problem. Bad hum and distortion when it’s plugged in. I think it’s a straightforward fix but I don’t have the skills. And it’s not worth enough to take it to a shop and give them $200 to maybe not fix it. Anyone on the front range and wanna fuck around with looking at it, or anyone know a person or shop around here that would do it for some side cash?

60-cycle hum? Could it be your jack? Power cable? Leaky cap? Power supply?

have you tried hitting it with a stick? that's what Dimebag did...

[EWG]

60-cycle hum? Could it be your jack? Power cable? Leaky cap? Power supply?

have you tried hitting it with a stick? that's what Dimebag did...

Does it without the patch cable plugged in so probably not the jack. Took out the preamp tube, still humming. Changed the power cable. I'm guessing cap.

And of course I tried hitting it with a stick. That's my big move. Maybe I should get a bigger stick?

[basinbeater]

Short the inputs to the power amp section. Still get hum? Do you have a scope?

[EWG]

Short the inputs to the power amp section. Still get hum? Do you have a scope?

And everything you just wrote is totally Greek.

No I don’t have a scope.

Plugging a guitar into the FX return does not impact the hum/buzz. From some research that seems to mean that the problem is in the power supply or power amp. Does that sound right?


Buzz is the same coming through headphones when I plug into the headphone Jack.


One other clue - when I turn the amp on the buzz/hum comes on, and after a few seconds it gets much louder, then drops away for a few seconds back to that original volume.