What do you think about a SSamp that looks like a tube amp ?
Maybe with a shielded transformer and illuminating regulators on top ?
Cheap psu, distorting interstage and high impedance output (10ohm series resistor?)
could be used to reach an impressive sound. Case could be metallic painted plastic.
A dose opener...
Maybe with a shielded transformer and illuminating regulators on top ?
Cheap psu, distorting interstage and high impedance output (10ohm series resistor?)
could be used to reach an impressive sound. Case could be metallic painted plastic.
A dose opener...
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I had a visit with the dean of my school one time. Don't ask why. On his desk sat an antique three tube radio. The kind on a board with exposed tubes and brass knobs for the wires. It was working! Closer inspection identified neon bulbs where the heaters should have been and a FET soldered underside.
Another friend put a $6 Radio Shack RIAA amp in a fancy box and called it a new prototype from a secret but high-end company. He invited comments from his patrons comparing it to a well known and respected preamp. With some discussion, about half selected the fake and wanted to get the production version. I am proud to say I was not one of them. I actually waited for another customer to leave to tell him what I thought it sounded like.
So, go for it. Who knows, maybe a selected components list rave review is in the offering!
Another friend put a $6 Radio Shack RIAA amp in a fancy box and called it a new prototype from a secret but high-end company. He invited comments from his patrons comparing it to a well known and respected preamp. With some discussion, about half selected the fake and wanted to get the production version. I am proud to say I was not one of them. I actually waited for another customer to leave to tell him what I thought it sounded like.
So, go for it. Who knows, maybe a selected components list rave review is in the offering!
Great experience!
I thought, the FaT1 can be adressed in this direction
Opinions count, especially without experience.
These days i saw a schoolboy wearing 'his' fullsize headphone in the city.
He painted the outer core of the plastic cups with a textmarker to make it somehow individual.
Nice price products with plastic cases can have advantages when you're young.
Created through/with cheap crappyness 'improvements'
could be charming...
why not? maybe a tube rectified dc supply cum tube shunt reg feeding an ss amp.......
the Sakura AV200 uses such arrangement but without the shunt reg, 2 x 5Z4 recitifers feeding +/-6volts to a 4558 op amp.....
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Had to look, what 'obfuscation' means (my english is not 'the wellest'):
Obfuscation may be used for many purposes. Doctors have been accused of using jargon to conceal unpleasant facts from a patient; American author Michael Crichton claimed that medical writing is a "highly skilled, calculated attempt to confuse the reader".[1] B. F. Skinner, noted psychologist, commented on medical notation as a form of multiple audience control, which allows the doctor to communicate to the pharmacist things which might be opposed by the patient if they could understand it.[2] Similarly text-based language, like some forms of leet, are obfuscated to make them incomprehensible to outsiders.
"Eschew obfuscation", also stated as "eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation", is a humorous fumblerule used by English teachers and professors when lecturing about proper writing techniques.
Literally, the phrase means "avoid being unclear" or "avoid being unclear, support being clear", but the use of relatively uncommon words causes confusion, making the phrase an example of irony, and more precisely a heterological or hypocritical phrase (it does not embody its own advice).
( Obfuscation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )
Here are some FaT1 designing updates (in the order of their importance):
1) Changing the name to FT1 (sounds more sportive and powerful).
2) Rough white plastic case (can be painted with textmarker). Metallic painting just for the luxury version.
3) Headphone output (cheaply connected parallel to the output) with fixed volume (via voltage divider, saves a poti and protects from hearing damage). Of course, headphone out just for extra costs (or for the luxury version).
Decades ago I build some tube amps (forgot),
but yes, there are 10ohm/5w resistors.
Seems, the 4558 has strong inputs,
nice...
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The development of the FT1 goes into the next stages:
A) The power supply:
Of course external psu (others should do the job).
12 Volt seems to be the most popular (=cheapest), and (of course)
the external power supply has to be ordered separate (costs extra).
To ensure, dandys could use an unregulated 12V supply,
the power input is proteted by a diode (say 5A), thereby the amp
has to be calculated with up to 20V (peak) supply voltage.
B) The illuminating (tubefake):
Cheapest to be reached with a LED (orange or red LED's costs less than blue). A luxury version could have blue illumination and/or a
multicolour LED (very important feature: color must be switchable).
C) The tubeamp outlook:
The cheapest and least neccesary outlook consists
of an illuminated acrylic tube (standing in the middle)
and two big electrolytic capacitors outstanding on top of the amp.
Volume poti/knob can be (egonomically) at the upper end of the acrylic tube.
A) The power supply:
Of course external psu (others should do the job).
12 Volt seems to be the most popular (=cheapest), and (of course)
the external power supply has to be ordered separate (costs extra).
To ensure, dandys could use an unregulated 12V supply,
the power input is proteted by a diode (say 5A), thereby the amp
has to be calculated with up to 20V (peak) supply voltage.
B) The illuminating (tubefake):
Cheapest to be reached with a LED (orange or red LED's costs less than blue). A luxury version could have blue illumination and/or a
multicolour LED (very important feature: color must be switchable).
C) The tubeamp outlook:
The cheapest and least neccesary outlook consists
of an illuminated acrylic tube (standing in the middle)
and two big electrolytic capacitors outstanding on top of the amp.
Volume poti/knob can be (egonomically) at the upper end of the acrylic tube.
Laptop 15vdc 90w SMPS is normally less than $9. This is maybe barely enough for a stereo bridge amp. Bridged TDA2040 might come close to the imitation you're looking for, albeit not on the datasheet sample application--make your own support circuit. Chinsan "Elite" capacitors, which don't really like heat, do happen to have an extremely small price and some of the best audio quality on earth. That and the regulated supply might push the TDA2040 almost up to hi-fi. Why not make something pretty even if its cheap? Good luck!
@danielwritesbac: Thanks for your recommends, Daniel!
'God is judge, God is mighty' (is what your name means).
With switches around, I'll switch too.
Build a bridged TDA2030(A-Version for 22Vmax. instead of just 18Vmax.) at college times as a monosub-amp. Sounds nicely dull, right.
Yes, maybe the general standards are usuable with lots of uFs.
Man, the guys from elsewhere shurely working on it.
I'll try a more obscure approach (measurements later
).
Best regards,
'God is judge, God is mighty' (is what your name means).
With switches around, I'll switch too.
Build a bridged TDA2030(A-Version for 22Vmax. instead of just 18Vmax.) at college times as a monosub-amp. Sounds nicely dull, right.
Yes, maybe the general standards are usuable with lots of uFs.
Man, the guys from elsewhere shurely working on it.
I'll try a more obscure approach (measurements later
).Best regards,
Why not up the ante and make an SS design like a tube amp?
Paint the body of a chipamp with gold paint and light it up with some LED's, then stand it up outside of the housing along with its grand heatsink (use a ribbed C-shaped one anodized gold)
With a small roof we can call it 'The Shrine of Gainclone'.
Paint the body of a chipamp with gold paint and light it up with some LED's, then stand it up outside of the housing along with its grand heatsink (use a ribbed C-shaped one anodized gold)
With a small roof we can call it 'The Shrine of Gainclone'.
danielwritesbac and mt490 optimized the FT1 concept in a pricewise unbeatable manner:
a) by using a laptop psu (not just the most value for money, but laptops probably die faster than their psu's, so everyone shuld
have on psu lying around)
b) by using a hybrid amplidier ic (least parts for a given quality (functionality wise))
c) by supporting the 'tubeamp cult' with a shrine outlook
A shrine could not just be a prober housing for the hybric-ic,
a metallic shrine could also saves an expensive heatsink.
And...whose of the foolish girlies knows the difference
between a golden coloured, illuminated hybrid and a tube ?
a) by using a laptop psu (not just the most value for money, but laptops probably die faster than their psu's, so everyone shuld
have on psu lying around)
b) by using a hybrid amplidier ic (least parts for a given quality (functionality wise))
c) by supporting the 'tubeamp cult' with a shrine outlook
A shrine could not just be a prober housing for the hybric-ic,
a metallic shrine could also saves an expensive heatsink.
And...whose of the foolish girlies knows the difference
between a golden coloured, illuminated hybrid and a tube ?
I was assuming that you're doing a production exercise where cost is very, very important.
Please do bear in mind that the circuit is a tiny fraction of the total expense. The enclosure and fittings will cost more.
As for fittings at the speaker jack, I absolutely love the oversize "monstersize" spring clips. Those are huge. 12ga wire fits, but so does 18ga wire. They're also foolproof because of strong nonstop clamping pressure makes the most excellent connection, at first, a week later, 3 weeks later. . . 3 years later and no static ever because those don't loosen like binding posts. At about 48 cents apiece, that's fairly a rock bottom price for excellence. I replace binding posts with the oversize clips just because slightly loose binding posts (guaranteed to happen sooner or later) are no good for bass. But the clips are strong enough to lift up the amplifier by the speaker cables. Anyway, you surely shouldn't spend more than 48 cents for speaker connectors.
Other dull might come from random power cap as NFB cap, but if you want a hasty choice to actually work, specify a very tiny value, (range is 0.47nF to 22nF) cheap high-esr polyester dip cap set parallel with the electrolytic NFB cap. Maybe that adds 4 cents. Results can be amazing. . . well, amazingly better than a careless choice of NFB cap.
The same prospect works with electrolytic input cap. Although you could find some cheap winners such as 3.3uF Nichicon VX, Elite 2.2uF, etc. . . anything larger sized will need assistance, such as 10nF (exact size depends on your design) polyester dip cap for bypass cap. This will mitigate the harm and ringing of throwing random electrolytic into the signal path. Four cents doesn't buy perfection, but it does buy quality control.
Treble will fail at the cheap electro and follow the polyester bypass into the amplifier for tube like treble that isn't tube related at all--for both solid state and tube, that classic treble sound is a polyester cap. I'm just saying how to do the extremely low cost version.
If using surface mount components, decrease the audio bypass cap sizes a bit, since ceramic is "abrupt" not lossy like gentle bottom priced polyester dip caps. The audio bypass cap value will be much smaller for efficient ceramic SMD caps//electro caps. It can still work but I don't have example values for that.
So, after you get a nicely clear amp, you could try some of the mosfet/jfet tube fake input projects. The 15vdc is probably workable and conducive to this since triode like imitation distortion does require voltage underrun for some of the projects.
If tube like distortion is insufficient, decrease current of the feedback loop in the non-inverting TDA2040, but leave the input load at 10k. The amplifier can easily correct that difference. Sources cannot.
If you should happen to decide on gain-comp (using ALMOST all of the bandwidth for gain), then a 1/2w carbon resistor as feedback shunt (the "partner" of the feedback resistor, not the feedback resistor itself), for all splitter duties, stopper duties and for all ground-lift duties, will be very noticeable. . . conditionally and only in conditions that apply gain to it.
However, the feedback resistors might be very, very good as 1/4w metal film of values so extremely odd that you're guaranteed to get 1% tolerance simply because they don't make it as 5%. Likewise if you buy modern budget 5% resistors, the resulting inductive crap isn't any good for feedback.
You might want to consider double-insulated, especially as for heatsink NOT conducting to fingers. If your 15v laptop power pack (that runs the amplifier) has a 3 conductor cord, the amplifier will NOT work with a computer sound card. Don't modify the computer, but you could make double-insulated amplifier and specify a double-insulated 90w 15vdc SMPS with a 2 conductor cord for amplifier. That will work with any source although double-insulated regulations may be a bit more difficult in some countries. Watch that grounding and especially be cautious of the incoming ground from the computer making useless combinations.
The decoratively touchable heatsink is not compatible.
If necessary to satisfy regulations, a 3rd conductor for ground can be added via standard ground loop breaker circuit, and in this case the amplifier can have metal parts.
At the DC power input jack (not right at the amplifier board), you'll need 2200uF cap, and with this in addition to the cable of your laptop power pack, you have formed a PI filter. yay!! cheap filter!
For the 2200uF, closer to the amp = duller tone, farther from the amp = brighter tone. Don't put it too far away, else shouty amp. Likewise don't put it too close, except for subwoofer amp.
It may also be necessary to add a 1uF at the exact point where the power cable joins the amplifier board.
Tone Functions:
"Laid back" output device on regulated power = somewhat replicate output transformer tone.
Fake triode distortion at input = replicate tube amp input section (the most important part).
Important parts of the tube amplifier:
Output transformer (laid back sound)
Triode input (distortion spectra blocks droning type sounds from source)
The triode input, most important, can't really be faked. No. But we can do half the job with a fet, and that "may" be enough. If the cost of the fet input is too much, you could look up my passive "impedancething" circuit dial it in to make/break and replace the dial with 2 resistors. That thing is slightly effective at "faking" a big open sound effect and probably the cheapest way to do it, but its only useful on a very clear amplifier.
So, there you have the sound of a bargain priced tube amp. The prospect is much, much clearer than a car chip. Considering your target price point, you'll probably have the best product in its price category--a very serious competitor to the T-amp, except with an almost tube sound, far more durable, probably clearer than most, and a bit more power as a bonus.
Just remember that most of the tone effect is at power circuit and you'll have to prototype to get it right. Moody and high resolution is more like a tube amp.
No dull!
Cheap is fine, but please do it carefully.
Please do bear in mind that the circuit is a tiny fraction of the total expense. The enclosure and fittings will cost more.
As for fittings at the speaker jack, I absolutely love the oversize "monstersize" spring clips. Those are huge. 12ga wire fits, but so does 18ga wire. They're also foolproof because of strong nonstop clamping pressure makes the most excellent connection, at first, a week later, 3 weeks later. . . 3 years later and no static ever because those don't loosen like binding posts. At about 48 cents apiece, that's fairly a rock bottom price for excellence. I replace binding posts with the oversize clips just because slightly loose binding posts (guaranteed to happen sooner or later) are no good for bass. But the clips are strong enough to lift up the amplifier by the speaker cables. Anyway, you surely shouldn't spend more than 48 cents for speaker connectors.
Dull? Oh well, those have most sensitive input = power pins. For single rail power, stick a 100uF right on the power pins. That'll brighten it up slightly. Don't put huge caps right next to it--cable out a little ways first. No more dull. Every ST has their "house brand" sound and while dull is easy, however, laid back, clear and pretty isn't hard to do either. Prototype till you get it right.
Other dull might come from random power cap as NFB cap, but if you want a hasty choice to actually work, specify a very tiny value, (range is 0.47nF to 22nF) cheap high-esr polyester dip cap set parallel with the electrolytic NFB cap. Maybe that adds 4 cents. Results can be amazing. . . well, amazingly better than a careless choice of NFB cap.
The same prospect works with electrolytic input cap. Although you could find some cheap winners such as 3.3uF Nichicon VX, Elite 2.2uF, etc. . . anything larger sized will need assistance, such as 10nF (exact size depends on your design) polyester dip cap for bypass cap. This will mitigate the harm and ringing of throwing random electrolytic into the signal path. Four cents doesn't buy perfection, but it does buy quality control.
Treble will fail at the cheap electro and follow the polyester bypass into the amplifier for tube like treble that isn't tube related at all--for both solid state and tube, that classic treble sound is a polyester cap. I'm just saying how to do the extremely low cost version.
If using surface mount components, decrease the audio bypass cap sizes a bit, since ceramic is "abrupt" not lossy like gentle bottom priced polyester dip caps. The audio bypass cap value will be much smaller for efficient ceramic SMD caps//electro caps. It can still work but I don't have example values for that.
So, after you get a nicely clear amp, you could try some of the mosfet/jfet tube fake input projects. The 15vdc is probably workable and conducive to this since triode like imitation distortion does require voltage underrun for some of the projects.
If tube like distortion is insufficient, decrease current of the feedback loop in the non-inverting TDA2040, but leave the input load at 10k. The amplifier can easily correct that difference. Sources cannot.
If you should happen to decide on gain-comp (using ALMOST all of the bandwidth for gain), then a 1/2w carbon resistor as feedback shunt (the "partner" of the feedback resistor, not the feedback resistor itself), for all splitter duties, stopper duties and for all ground-lift duties, will be very noticeable. . . conditionally and only in conditions that apply gain to it.
However, the feedback resistors might be very, very good as 1/4w metal film of values so extremely odd that you're guaranteed to get 1% tolerance simply because they don't make it as 5%. Likewise if you buy modern budget 5% resistors, the resulting inductive crap isn't any good for feedback.
You might want to consider double-insulated, especially as for heatsink NOT conducting to fingers. If your 15v laptop power pack (that runs the amplifier) has a 3 conductor cord, the amplifier will NOT work with a computer sound card. Don't modify the computer, but you could make double-insulated amplifier and specify a double-insulated 90w 15vdc SMPS with a 2 conductor cord for amplifier. That will work with any source although double-insulated regulations may be a bit more difficult in some countries. Watch that grounding and especially be cautious of the incoming ground from the computer making useless combinations.
The decoratively touchable heatsink is not compatible.
If necessary to satisfy regulations, a 3rd conductor for ground can be added via standard ground loop breaker circuit, and in this case the amplifier can have metal parts.
At the DC power input jack (not right at the amplifier board), you'll need 2200uF cap, and with this in addition to the cable of your laptop power pack, you have formed a PI filter. yay!! cheap filter!
For the 2200uF, closer to the amp = duller tone, farther from the amp = brighter tone. Don't put it too far away, else shouty amp. Likewise don't put it too close, except for subwoofer amp. It may also be necessary to add a 1uF at the exact point where the power cable joins the amplifier board.
Tone Functions:
"Laid back" output device on regulated power = somewhat replicate output transformer tone.
Fake triode distortion at input = replicate tube amp input section (the most important part).
Important parts of the tube amplifier:
Output transformer (laid back sound)
Triode input (distortion spectra blocks droning type sounds from source)
The triode input, most important, can't really be faked. No. But we can do half the job with a fet, and that "may" be enough. If the cost of the fet input is too much, you could look up my passive "impedancething" circuit dial it in to make/break and replace the dial with 2 resistors. That thing is slightly effective at "faking" a big open sound effect and probably the cheapest way to do it, but its only useful on a very clear amplifier.
So, there you have the sound of a bargain priced tube amp. The prospect is much, much clearer than a car chip. Considering your target price point, you'll probably have the best product in its price category--a very serious competitor to the T-amp, except with an almost tube sound, far more durable, probably clearer than most, and a bit more power as a bonus.
Just remember that most of the tone effect is at power circuit and you'll have to prototype to get it right. Moody and high resolution is more like a tube amp.
No dull!
Cheap is fine, but please do it carefully.
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Tons of reasons, Daniel!
For ex., I like to imitate people
(played the role of a business man).
Luxury, affordable for everyone (US$49,99).
Ok, so the circuit should be handwired to save the costs of a pcb.
Thanks, don't know these monstersize spring clips. Could make a hurricane outlook for this price.
I saw golden metallized plastic banana jacks at ebay.
Man, you work properly!
Highly recommended.
Is metal grounding needed by common laws when using an external low voltage psu ?
At the DC power input jack (not right at the amplifier board), you'll need 2200uF cap, and with this in addition to the cable of your laptop power pack, you have formed a PI filter. yay!! cheap filter!
It may also be necessary to add a 1uF at the exact point where the power cable joins the amplifier board.
Tone Functions:
"Laid back" output device on regulated power = somewhat replicate output transformer tone.
Fake triode distortion at input = replicate tube amp input section (the most important part).
Important parts of the tube amplifier:
Output transformer (laid back sound)
Triode input (distortion spectra blocks droning type sounds from source)
The triode input, most important, can't really be faked. No. But we can do half the job with a fet, and that "may" be enough. If the cost of the fet input is too much, you could look up my passive "impedancething" circuit dial it in to make/break and replace the dial with 2 resistors. That thing is slightly effective at "faking" a big open sound effect and probably the cheapest way to do it, but its only useful on a very clear amplifier.
So, there you have the sound of a bargain priced tube amp. The prospect is much, much clearer than a car chip. Considering your target price point, you'll probably have the best product in its price category--a very serious competitor to the T-amp, except with an almost tube sound, far more durable, probably clearer than most, and a bit more power as a bonus.
Just remember that most of the tone effect is at power circuit and you'll have to prototype to get it right. Moody and high resolution is more like a tube amp.
No dull!
Cheap is fine, but please do it carefully.
Like above.
Thanks and regards,
Funky idea!
Maybe a little lava bulb will also work ?
Do you think, foolish girlies will be aware of it?
Funky idea!
Maybe a little lava bulb will also work ?
Do you think, foolish girlies will be aware of it?
maybe if you used class A outputs, you could use a lava lamp as part of the cooling system....
i was interested a few years ago that somebody came up with SiGe process transistors, but i doubt they're available as discrete devices. their main use is in RF and microwave SoCs. but they are supposed to have much better noise characteristics.
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