The Amp Garage

A jeweller my wife buys from just died after years of ill health from solder fumes. I told her about halogenated flux fumes and tried to talk her into a smoke evacuator 2 years ago. She was not willing to "go to the trouble". That's too bad. I should have known better. I did use a fan to blow the f...

Dislocated rt shoulder June 2016 I think it was. Five days later a 3/4" dry wall ceiling hatch fell out of my garage ceiling (I was trying to opening it with my good arm using a broom stick, I know, I'm a genius) and it landed square on my nose and just frickin' smashed it, for like the 5th time. Th...

You're not wrong. There's a reason that anyone that solders for a living uses evacuation systems to pull the fumes away. I started experiencing flu-like symptoms every time I'd spend a day soldering. I read up on it and found it's really bad. I already have asthma, so I was fast to get a good fume ...

I hope I'm completely wrong about this, but I have a strong suspicion that the rosin fumes are really bad stuff. Diethylene glycol dibutyl ether is listed as a hazardous substance that can cause lung damage and skin irritation.

Try reducing C1 to 10uF or 5uF, and/or similarly C7. That will trim some of the low-end. That is exactly what I would recommend. A 10 uF in V1 cathode bypass works wonders, I use one in 2nd stage as well and it removes flubbiness almost entirely. I use a 10 uF/2.2K bias resistor for EF86 cathode by...

Whether or not a parallel triode stage has more gain than a single triode stage depends on the rest of the circuit. And don't worry about losing any 2nd harmonics - the signal just doesn't get big enough on an input stage to see that effect. If you have a typical input stage, want to keep the same ...

Are we taking class A PP and will it be cathode , or fixed bias? Does the future owner want real good dynamic range and large peak power, or us a amp a bit on the soft side more towards his / her needs? If the amp will use just two or three preamp tubes than the Hammond 270fx with its 173 ma of cur...

Hey, are you sure when you use the buffer that your input's grid still has a ground reference, ie. a resistor to ground? Maybe a bad solder joint on the 1M input grid leak or no resistor at all? It would work with just the guitar but not with a buffer that has an output cap and no resistor to groun...

I may need to build a custom amp for someone and this has to have the very best of transformers, components, etc. What do you consider to be the best 15-18 W power transformer, also, what is considered to be the best output transformer? The amp I'm building is not a typical 15 or 18 watt design, but...

Those seaside chassis are incredibly inexpensive. Who can work for at least an hour for cutting/bending/drilling/bolting or screwing plus aluminum sheet cost plus tool amortization for $41? That guy risks more and earns less than working at local Mc D :shock: Only way to be justified is that he mak...

IMO, it's a cut throat business. You have to compete on price and materials, shipping, too. Do tell, what have you got in mind for your wares? Curious minds want to know. We all need a good quality, cost effective choice. I think you're right. With shipping, tooling, and materials going up in price...

I'm wondering if there is someone making custom blank chassis. Thanks for any info,

Rick

The video was showing no guitar plugged in the the input. does it change if a guitar is plugged in,with guitar volume down. If the jack is a switching type, and is not making contact on the close part, or with no guitar plugged in, it could be causing a noise problem. Sometimes the switch contact g...

I've had a case or two where the fil V was a tad too high. Preamp filaments were opening up prematurely. Keep it as close to 6.3V as is feasible. I may have even paralleled some ceramic 1 ohm resistors and put a pair on each leg. It's been a while, memory ain't what it used to be. Another trick to l...

Have a qualified tech check out the filter section to see if any of the caps have gone bad.