Brooklyn Amp Builders Union

tdbajus · Post by **tdbajus** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 9:45 am

I have been nose down in about 20 DIY electronics texts the past few months (thanks for the suggestions, all) and I'm about ready to get down to building my own amp.

In this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Amp-Handbo ... 602&sr=8-1

There is a plan for an amp called the Two-Stroke, which is based on a Tweed Princeton, more or less, but has the option to run 2 6v6s, single-ended, in parallel, in cathode bias.

Any one else out there building their own amps? A friend of mine belongs to a book club- I was wondering if anyone would want to do the same thing, except with amps.

ckeene · Post by **ckeene** » Sun Jun 22, 2008 10:17 am

tdbajus wrote:I have been nose down in about 20 DIY electronics texts the past few months (thanks for the suggestions, all) and I'm about ready to get down to building my own amp.

In this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Amp-Handbo ... 602&sr=8-1

There is a plan for an amp called the Two-Stroke, which is based on a Tweed Princeton, more or less, but has the option to run 2 6v6s, single-ended, in parallel, in cathode bias.

Any one else out there building their own amps? A friend of mine belongs to a book club- I was wondering if anyone would want to do the same thing, except with amps.

I built a 5E3 last year out of a old stereo amp that was rescued from the dump. Also I've rebuilt an AB165 BF bassman and a AB763 BF Dual Showman. I'd like to start doing more adventurous stuff like mods and building new amps around pieces and parts I have laying around. To that end I immediately need to learn more about power supply design and become more familiar with tone circuits.

Teacher's Pet · Post by **Teacher's Pet** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 6:38 pm

I'm giving this one a bump.

I have a few tube projects I'd like to have some outside input on.

A show-and-tell meet-up could be really cool.

Modifications, DIY, repair, recycle, barter, trade, etc...

Brooklyn, where you at?

- Robin

tdbajus · Post by **tdbajus** » Mon Jun 23, 2008 9:41 pm

I spent the past few days building a couple of the Build Your Own Clone kits. I got a bad footswitch and a bad LM308 in the rat clone (got a new footswitch and a TL071 chip from Main Drag this morning, so i know it was bum parts), but I just finished the 5 knob compressor, and it is quite the cat's meow. If used incorrectly (is there a better way?) the compression slowly fades in after your blended guitar signal, so you can have a clean sounding guitar that loves to feed back. That's a sound I have been looking for for the last, i don't know, lifetime.

The Mighty Mouse sounds a bit too bright compared to my old LM308 equiped rat from the early 90s, but I'm reserving judgment until i replace the TL with the LM. Other than that, it sounds pretty great (also loves to feed back, far more than my old Rat, which is no slouch at that) and the 6 modes of the pedal are giving me ideas on some homebrew kits, when I get that advanced.

My ears are ringing. I like feedback.

linus · Post by **linus** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 8:32 am

I've been thinking of re-racking some RCA mic pre's I have. It would be a simple job but I'm clueless when it comes to DIY so having a local crew to bounce questions off of would be very cool.

I also have 4 API 325 line amp cards that I want to rack as a 4 channel 1U rack 312 mic pre unit. That will be a bit more involved but it's on the burner.

Lastly, I've been wanting to build a tube amp for a while. I was actually looking at the Torres website this morning. I think I'd need to start with a well documented kit. I just don't know enough about this stuff otherwise.

Not sure if any of that is a close enough match to be of interest. Let me know.

Linus
646-287-6636

linus · Post by **linus** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:06 am

Here is another idea:

Some folks over at Prodigy-Pro dot com forum are gearing up to do a "Poor Man's 660" Fairchild Vari-Mu tube compressor project. There are some threads in the "Black Market" section signing up to buy PCBs, cases, power transforers, and stepped attenuators.

I'd like to build a stereo version, basicly a poor-man's 670.

It sounds like the bits will be ready to ship in July/August. Does that sound like a worthy project?

sparky · Post by **sparky** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 9:59 am

for what its worth, i'd be down for this too. we could share tools which could be sweet. book club, fuck that. amp club. where would we meet though? 3rd ward? anyone have a shop or a garage?

i've got like 25% of the parts for an amp piled up on my desk, but if it was like a _thing_ maybe i'd move it along.

linus · Post by **linus** » Tue Jun 24, 2008 10:28 am

Sounds cool.

My space is a bit cramped but could work out with some reconfiguring... possibly... It's not ideal.

There is a 33609 project going on Prodigy-Pro forum as well. PCBs and cases available for purchase.

And damn... A pultec EQ project. That would be sweet...

single_fin · Post by **single_fin** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 3:21 am

there's strength in the union!

unfortunately, the man said my papers weren't in order and i had to leave nyc and return to whence i came.
i even had a large apartment with a spare room for holding union meetings.
bummer, i could do with a bit of encouragement with my half-finished pultec eq.

on the upside - those hard to find inductors are easy to find in australia.

linus · Post by **linus** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 9:57 am

My understanding is that Sowter makes a fine Pultec Inductor set now. Not cheap but very nice.

tdbajus · Post by **tdbajus** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 7:31 pm

linus wrote:Here is another idea:

Some folks over at Prodigy-Pro dot com forum are gearing up to do a "Poor Man's 660" Fairchild Vari-Mu tube compressor project. There are some threads in the "Black Market" section signing up to buy PCBs, cases, power transforers, and stepped attenuators.

I'd like to build a stereo version, basicly a poor-man's 670.

It sounds like the bits will be ready to ship in July/August. Does that sound like a worthy project?

It sounds worthy, but far above my abilities. Also, i'm building out a studio with a friend of mine, which is a bit pricey. This comes, of course when I'm makes the least amount of money I have in 5 years.

Hah hah! Recession!

I was thinking something along the lines of maybe a bunch of us building the same tweed style amp, or maybe working on the same pedal project.

I am down for any kind of DIY confederation at all, though. It would be great to bounce some ideas around.

I suggest we meet up somewhere kind of quiet, have a couple of beers, and chew the fat.

How about this monday, at the pencil factory bar in Greenpoint, at 8? It's right across the street from where Robin and I both have our studios, so maybe we can stop by and show our stuff off?

as an aside, I have been working on the byoc 5Knob compressor, the BYOC Mighty Mouse rat clone with the rat (symmetrical diode)/turbo rat(symmetrical LED)/asymmetric rat/symmetric overdrive/asymmetric overdrive/mosfet overdrive clipping options, and their 808 clone platform with the ever popular more/less drive mods, increased bandwidth, and I removed all of the clipping diodes to make it kind of a dirty boost.

I'd be happy to show them off- what do you think?

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