Hello All

[Johnny Kool]

Hi, I'm new to diyAudio, I am from Montreal, I am nuts about sound and tone, i play guitar in a 50's rock 'n roll band and i love vintage sound. I am here to learn

[c2cthomas]

Hi JK and Welcome to diyAudio!

My general advice to those not totally infected with the do it yourself audio bug is to get out quick while the getting out is still possible! Once fully under the spell of hearing quality audio there will be little hope and you will find yourself spending way to much time reading stuff and trying to understand it all. That will be followed by starting out on some simple projects - soon to be followed by projects of ever increasing complexity and expense. You risk spending your savings, filling your house up with more speakers and electronic gear than 10 sane people could ever use, and losing your friends and family because you can no longer hear the phone over the sweet sounds your system is making!

Also - don't believe half the stuff people here will tell you - and seldom believe me!

[Johnny Kool]

Thank you very much for welcoming me in the DIYaUdIo Network, i am honored, humbled and greatfull. I understand DIYaudio as being of the absolute knowledge of the common wealth of resources put together by world sound hobbyist for the common goal of finding the ever elusive holly grail of sonic bliss.
Yes, I am a novice in eletronics and the works, but i understand the never ending quest for tonal differences and the relative recongition of such in processing sonic data in relation with personal (taste) likes and likeless (grin).

Need not i say more but, Many thanks for the Welcome and acceptance from you Thomas and other members yet not voiced readers.
Just can't help myself from feeling at home and understood
Johnny Kool.

[c2cthomas]

Hi JK -

Seeing that you seem determined to make a go of all this I'll give you a couple of places to start out:

1) http://www.bcae1.com/ I know that it says car electronics - fortunately most of the electronics theory that applies to cars also works quite well when used in the home (assuming that you are not living in your car ). This is a good site to learn some basics.

2) http://www.lalena.com/Audio/ another good site to visit.

3) http://www.epemag.wimborne.co.uk/solderfaq.htm#howto Info about soldering - but read the stuff about electronics 1st so you don't wind up making yourself part of the circuit.

4) http://www.lampizator.eu/ A visit to Lukasz Fikus web site will result in warping time and skipping about 20 years of fooling around before you build a good system. Great information.

That should keep you busy for the next couple of years - see Ya around!

[Johnny Kool]

Hi Thomas, Thanks for the links, I bookmarked them all and started to browse CarElectronics, Great site, I will be learning starting by the basics on up
Always loved electronics and maths too, but never fully understood the how. now i willlll.. no matter how much time it takes
Thanks for your help
J.

[c2cthomas]

UR welcome JK -

I don't know where the others that like to welcome newbies have wondered off to - but it is the weekend and vacation time - so they are probably up to some sort of nonsense. Most likely the Warden gave them a weekend pass and they caught the bus to town.

Do you have any ideas of where you want to start out at in terms of building something? Seems that most start out with a simple amp or speakers. Plenty of ideas to play with out there -

[Cal Weldon]

Here I am.

Hi ya Johnny. Welcome to the forums. I think what Thomas said pretty much sums it up. I know very little about electronics but seem to have accumulated a couple of rooms worth of stuff. Good thing there's no WAF here.

Cheers.

[Johnny Kool]

Hey Cal, Thks for the WC 2

Thomas, I want to be able to do repairs on vintage amplifier circuits and also be able to do tweaks, and
i would later, like to be able to design my own boutique guitar all tube amplifiers with a distinct new-vintage tone

Edit:
So, i proly start with a small amp (pre)designed unit for straters, i need to understand tube circuitry too.. got ways to go leaning theories first

[c2cthomas]

JK - I do not want to sound discouraging - simply a word of caution about tube circuits as they involve high voltages. Properly handled these voltages (> 100) are not a problem - but a lapse in concentration or a mistake in wiring can cause serious injury and even death. No BS there mate! When you get through the basics - which will take a bit of time to do properly - see if you can find a buddy that fixes tube amps (audio - HAM radio - guitar, etc.), to show you the ropes. You might be able to find someone that works in a local repair shop. If they happen to charge up a capacitor (a device that will hold an electrical charge for quite some time) and tosses it to you - don't reach out and catch it!

Lukasz Fikus uses some fairly simple tube circuits in conjunction with a nice DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) that might serve as a good place to begin for you - see his intro to DIY link on his homepage.

Cheers!

[£§«û‰]

I zapped myself inside a Pultec once.

Never making that mistake again!

Following the "one hand behind your back" rule is the best advice I ever got, when dealing with tube, or any high voltage circuitry that can cause injury or death. I remember "you don't have to do it this way, but I'm a careless clod - so I do." I am too! and it's probably one of the reasons my heart still beats.