starting out

[ineedahobby]

ok, so i've been reading about these gainclones for awhile and want to give it a shot on building one. but which one? there is the basic circuit from the datasheet plus loads of others on the web. how's briangt pcbs. or should i breadboard? basic ps or snubberized? any opinions appreciated.

[markiemrboo]

Originally posted by ineedahobby
ok, so i've been reading about these gainclones for awhile and want to give it a shot on building one. but which one? there is the basic circuit from the datasheet plus loads of others on the web. how's briangt pcbs. or should i breadboard? basic ps or snubberized? any opinions appreciated.

I started off with a dual regulated supply using 4xLM338's, snubber on the PSU and on the amplifier board, both using carlosfm schematics.

After two iterations with this (my PCB designing skills have improved somewhat after this exercise) I decided to go with the basic circuit for a parallel LM3886 (there's an appnote somewhere) and a basic PSU, no snubbers or anything.

You might say I sort of worked backwards, going from something 'advanced' and 'high end' to just.... a typical application.

To me, the basic parallel circuit and PSU sounds better. I would start off with just the basic stuff and see how you like it.


When testing it after construction be sure to use the light bulb trick. A forum search for 'light bulb trick' should get you some results I imagine!

[Nuuk]

I agree, start of with something simple and you will be pleasantly surprised, and get it completed with the minimum of stress.

The basic inverted and non-inverted designs work well and you can find details of them both, with a lot of other GC information here .

Two points to keep in mind, GCs work best with an active pre amp or buffer, and much better with easy to drive speakers!

[ineedahobby]

well, as to pre-amps i had planned on using my old dynaco pat-5 bi-fet.