well, my budget for my 2 alephs2 monos will be around $1000 all said and done. i am (at this point) on budget, and will maybe finish a little lower than expected. they can be seen in my avatar, or here:
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5650&highlight=
so, you could certainly build them for less.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5650&highlight=
so, you could certainly build them for less.
Is your friend intending to take this amplifier gigging? Most of the weight in an solid state amplifier is the power supply and heatsinks, and a class-A amp like the Aleph needs about three times as much of these as a class-AB one of equivalent power.
It will also get very hot - in my experience gear you take out gigging has to put up with much more thermal abuse than home hi-fi. There is nothing more dispiriting than one of your babies being returned to you for repair with the insides full of escaped magic smoke.
Cheers
IH
It will also get very hot - in my experience gear you take out gigging has to put up with much more thermal abuse than home hi-fi. There is nothing more dispiriting than one of your babies being returned to you for repair with the insides full of escaped magic smoke.
Cheers
IH
Just seen this thread and thought I would chip in my experience of building my own bass amps over the years.
I started with ss amps. Bipolar first up to full Class A amps - these where big and hot but very very good. Then tried Mosfets and for a Bass amp. they were not as good as Bipolars with lots of current (AB1).
Then built a valve head with KT88 - nice ! better than bipolars. My latest head uses 845 DHTs! It is by far the best yet. The tone and dynamics are superb. BUT DHTs are fragile and when they are hot they are very fragile - so not recommended if you don't know what you are doing.
But a good valve head just creams a good ss head. Try a double bass through the amp and cab to really get a feel for how good the amp and/or cab is!
so I say build a good valve head and be done with it.
ciao
James
I started with ss amps. Bipolar first up to full Class A amps - these where big and hot but very very good. Then tried Mosfets and for a Bass amp. they were not as good as Bipolars with lots of current (AB1).
Then built a valve head with KT88 - nice ! better than bipolars. My latest head uses 845 DHTs! It is by far the best yet. The tone and dynamics are superb. BUT DHTs are fragile and when they are hot they are very fragile - so not recommended if you don't know what you are doing.
But a good valve head just creams a good ss head. Try a double bass through the amp and cab to really get a feel for how good the amp and/or cab is!
so I say build a good valve head and be done with it.
ciao
James
I'm new here. Great forum.
I too am on a quest to build a high power tube head. I'm a bass player and yes we have tweeters in our modern bass cabinets. I used an Ampeg VT4 head for years and loved it's 100 watts of tube tone. The problem is that 100 watts is not nearly enough for live music in most venues. You need to at least 200 watts and really 400 watts is more like it if you want to have enough headroom. I have what many consider to be the ultimate bass amp - a 1965 Ampeg Portaflex. It's only 30 watts, but is great for recording and low volume gigs. And yes I know about tube pre/ss amps. I have an Alembic F-1X pre which is based on the Fender Dual Showman circuit. I run this into a 1680 watt Crown ss amp. It's light, loud, and sounds great. BUT, it's not what I want to hear. I would love to build a 300-400 watt all tube amp, either with a preamp in it, or just a power amp to use with my Alembic. I am leaning towards either EL34s or KT88s in parallel. Has anyone built such an amp? Any help would be appreciated.
I too am on a quest to build a high power tube head. I'm a bass player and yes we have tweeters in our modern bass cabinets. I used an Ampeg VT4 head for years and loved it's 100 watts of tube tone. The problem is that 100 watts is not nearly enough for live music in most venues. You need to at least 200 watts and really 400 watts is more like it if you want to have enough headroom. I have what many consider to be the ultimate bass amp - a 1965 Ampeg Portaflex. It's only 30 watts, but is great for recording and low volume gigs. And yes I know about tube pre/ss amps. I have an Alembic F-1X pre which is based on the Fender Dual Showman circuit. I run this into a 1680 watt Crown ss amp. It's light, loud, and sounds great. BUT, it's not what I want to hear. I would love to build a 300-400 watt all tube amp, either with a preamp in it, or just a power amp to use with my Alembic. I am leaning towards either EL34s or KT88s in parallel. Has anyone built such an amp? Any help would be appreciated.
Of all the bass amps I've owned, the best sounding by far was the 70's Ampeg SVT. 300 RMS all tube amp. Problem was it weighed a ton, was very expensive to repair and was too loud for many rooms. I had an Ampeg V4B also that was 100 RMS that sounded pretty good too but didn't have near the bottom that the SVT had. I guess it just depends on what style you play. If you need really deep lows you are going to need power to get them. Tube amps sound louder than SS for the same watts, but I think SS has better low end than tubes unless you get up there in the wattage.
Blessings, Terry
Blessings, Terry
noahvale said:
Yeah, I hear ya.
I can't say I would feel the same about that SVT today. When I owned it, I played in a power trio and it was perfect for that. Teh guy I sold it to had one already and planned to run two, but mine was better than his and he ended up just using mine. I played mine through two folded horns with JBL's in them. He had the 8x10" cabinet and he did more slap style than I did. It's been a long time since I played through one but I still remember the first time I cranked that baby up. WOW! Tons of headroom and bottom end. I was through worrying about keeping up with the guitar players Marshall.
If you can build something with as much oomph as an SVT tuber you will be a happy man.
I saw Robin Trower back then when his singer was still playing bass. He was using two SVT's. One running two 4X12 ampeg cabinets with Altecs in them, and two of the V4B folded horns with two 15" Altecs in each. I have never heard another bass with that much authority. Absolutely awesome.
Blessings, Terry
why not start with http://www.behringer.com/EP2500/index.cfm?lang=ENG
at $380 w/shipping I couldn't buy the iron, blank chassis and all the power/signal i/o connectors much less allow for any time to order, drill and assemble - consider the amplifier free
at $380 w/shipping I couldn't buy the iron, blank chassis and all the power/signal i/o connectors much less allow for any time to order, drill and assemble - consider the amplifier free
Hello.
May I be so bold as to suggest that you build this amp. I can supply you with all information you need. This is a patented cirquit that works in class A. I have built and chocked a few by it. It sounds soft as a tube amp, and accurate wtih every detail plain to hear. I have a lot of musicians as friends and they are amazed that they hear a lot of details in recirdings that they have never heard before.
My basic strategy is this.
My background is sound technician for a lot of different bands. the list is a mile long. One night in the 80's I swapped teh power amp to the PA from a transistor power amp to a pair of Dynaco mark IV, each of them is a half Stereo 70. Suddenly I could turn all EQ knobs of my desk, a Soundcraft series 2 to the neutral position. the drummer that really hit the cymbals hard, he was a miltiary trained musician, with the transitor poweramp it waas a pain, with the tube amp it was pleasure. Same thing was with the singer whose voice was harsh and not pleasant. This was in the days when music was about to please an audience. Years went by and I found myself a new job, boring as it was at least I was able to to listen to music whiile working. Quite a step down from the prior work that waas music and beer all along. Also here i listened to the good old dynaco Stereo 70 with poor bass and top, but with it's tremendous midrange. My speakers where Altec 604's, accurate and so. Well no roses without thorns, I forgot to unplug the amp one friday, when I got back on monday the power transformer was fried due to a shorted capacitor or rectifier tube. I had earlier thought of a cirquit of an improved class A amplifier. My boss, the sucker, was in an other part of the countrý so I designed a PCB and went on with business. I tested it for instability, my primary concern in life. No problems, after a few adjustments. Latter I thought, no wonder, since an ordinary amp in class AB or whatever, always has a point where current starts or stops to flow, creating fast derivatives that in them selves create new stability problems. Since no current EVER stops or starts to flow during a normal period or zero crossing, no fast derivatives are created or needed anywhere in the amp.
At the first listening tests I didn't notice naything in particular comared to the Stereo 70, except that the there was treble and that the bass was stable and stiff. I invited a couple of friends, trained musicians, and they where amazed to hear details and softness even a loud levels that they had never experienecd before.
Check the schematic and find that this might seem as a conventional amp, it is, but with a major difference. And believe me, it works. I have built four versions of this, this is the second version. It is the simplest, and gives the most bang for the buck. I have made a giant version, 600W at 4 ohm, in case you are interested to get evicted from your home site. I give away schematics to anybody interested to build something for themselves.
Andreas
May I be so bold as to suggest that you build this amp. I can supply you with all information you need. This is a patented cirquit that works in class A. I have built and chocked a few by it. It sounds soft as a tube amp, and accurate wtih every detail plain to hear. I have a lot of musicians as friends and they are amazed that they hear a lot of details in recirdings that they have never heard before.
My basic strategy is this.
My background is sound technician for a lot of different bands. the list is a mile long. One night in the 80's I swapped teh power amp to the PA from a transistor power amp to a pair of Dynaco mark IV, each of them is a half Stereo 70. Suddenly I could turn all EQ knobs of my desk, a Soundcraft series 2 to the neutral position. the drummer that really hit the cymbals hard, he was a miltiary trained musician, with the transitor poweramp it waas a pain, with the tube amp it was pleasure. Same thing was with the singer whose voice was harsh and not pleasant. This was in the days when music was about to please an audience. Years went by and I found myself a new job, boring as it was at least I was able to to listen to music whiile working. Quite a step down from the prior work that waas music and beer all along. Also here i listened to the good old dynaco Stereo 70 with poor bass and top, but with it's tremendous midrange. My speakers where Altec 604's, accurate and so. Well no roses without thorns, I forgot to unplug the amp one friday, when I got back on monday the power transformer was fried due to a shorted capacitor or rectifier tube. I had earlier thought of a cirquit of an improved class A amplifier. My boss, the sucker, was in an other part of the countrý so I designed a PCB and went on with business. I tested it for instability, my primary concern in life. No problems, after a few adjustments. Latter I thought, no wonder, since an ordinary amp in class AB or whatever, always has a point where current starts or stops to flow, creating fast derivatives that in them selves create new stability problems. Since no current EVER stops or starts to flow during a normal period or zero crossing, no fast derivatives are created or needed anywhere in the amp.
At the first listening tests I didn't notice naything in particular comared to the Stereo 70, except that the there was treble and that the bass was stable and stiff. I invited a couple of friends, trained musicians, and they where amazed to hear details and softness even a loud levels that they had never experienecd before.
Check the schematic and find that this might seem as a conventional amp, it is, but with a major difference. And believe me, it works. I have built four versions of this, this is the second version. It is the simplest, and gives the most bang for the buck. I have made a giant version, 600W at 4 ohm, in case you are interested to get evicted from your home site. I give away schematics to anybody interested to build something for themselves.
Andreas
Hi
Please i`m looking for an audio schematic 150watts/8ohms can any body help me with it
dnkwenti@gmail.com
Please i`m looking for an audio schematic 150watts/8ohms can any body help me with it
dnkwenti@gmail.com
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