a few new projects!

[umph]

right i've got few new projects that i'm gonna be working;

2 fearful 15/6 cabs built to the "tube" specs

converting an old valve reel to reel recording device to a mic / guitar preamp

building a valve compressor

finishing off high gain valve preamp design.

i'll take pictures of these projects as they pan out! i'm looking forward to doing them all though!

[Mikey R]

Excelent! Look forward to seeing these take shape

[umph]

i got wood



and the reel to reel arrived

it's full of mullards, score!

been playing around with it it's already working out great as a little amp just need to do a few mods so i can use it as a mic preamp, it's sounding great though!

[umph]

started on the reel to reel properly today it didn't really work out to well as mic preamp so i've decided to turn that into a completely seperate project

the things i've changed to make it more guitar friendly are;

changed the cathode resistors on the input for LEDs - much prefer the sound as they seem to be a little less sluggish in the lower frequencys when overdriven and provide a much more natural sound.

upgraded main power cap to 220uf since old power cap was on the way out - rectifier doesn't seem to mind and it's got rid of the sag.

upgraded size of cathode bypass cap on elc82 which really tightens up the overdrive on the output and reduces sag. I intend to replace this with a current regulator at some point though which should sound mint and give the amp a bit more of a fixed bias type sound.

added an input going straight into the 12ax7 and also one going into the pentode stage so you can choose to go for a more oldschool gain sound or a complete balls out distortion (may add a tone stack in here later on)

disconnected internal speaker and added a speaker out - bit iffy since the internal speaker was 1ohm.

Thats about as far as i've got so far apart from cleaning up some wiring etc. Still needs a complete clean out and some other parts changing, also need to build a lineout box at somepoint so i can use a DI for recording. It's really sounding great though and i'll do some sound clips of it at some point soon

[url="http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b96/stubbyrulz/?action=view&current=S8300383.jpg"][/url]

[url="http://s17.photobucket.com/albums/b96/stubbyrulz/?action=view&current=S8300384.jpg"][/url]

[Buzz]

"changed the cathode resistors on the input for LEDs"

Do LED's offer enough resistance? Seems really unusual to swap out resistors for LED's considering LED's themselves need resistors to stop them burning themselves out, although obviously they can be used to replace normal diodes.

Either way, that recorder looks partly like a work of art, partly like a bugger to work with, nice to see something being repurposed though.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Buzz

[umph]

[quote name='Buzz' post='785407' date='Mar 25 2010, 01:42 AM']"changed the cathode resistors on the input for LEDs"

Do LED's offer enough resistance? Seems really unusual to swap out resistors for LED's considering LED's themselves need resistors to stop them burning themselves out, although obviously they can be used to replace normal diodes.

Either way, that recorder looks partly like a work of art, partly like a bugger to work with, nice to see something being repurposed though.[/quote]
it's not about offering resistance its about making the cathode positive in regards to the grid and since red LEDS offer roughly a 1.6v drop it makes them ideal for biasing 12ax7's etc! You also get the cool effect of when you hit a loud note the Leds fade.