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Pictures of your Tubelab amp

Yea, it is a 12b4, p2p construction. Built it off of the threads here at diyaudio. Well worth it.

Thanks,
The art of woodworking is to capture the beauty of the wood which you do EXTREMELY well.
I used a brute force method since I had a new toy to play with. The result is kind of guady(sp) and over the top. For what it is worth, Wenge wood is horrible to work with. Splinters from the stuff bite instantly.
 
I'm brand new here. I'm a moderator over at Audiocircle, but found out through the grape vine about Tubelabs. I have to say I'm very impressed with the builds here. I really like what I'm seeing.

Here is the Simple SE I built:

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Jensen Copper oil caps, edcor OPT and Allied PTs. Used excellent stuff. My buddy Cal built the box for me.
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Here it is in my system I have it set up with very nice tubes, Mullard smooth plate 5AR4, Mullard 12AT7 and Shuguang Treasure tubes which are pretty much the best KT88 I have ever heard.
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.


I originally built it as a tweeter amp for my VMPS RM40s which are triamped, I have come to the realization that it's just to good for that and have been using for both my mids and tweeter with a passive crossover with amazing results. I am currently my Bella Extreme now as my tweeter amp and the Simple as my midrange amp, but plan on ditching the Bella and building a second Simple SE as my tweeter amp. Thanks for looking. :)
 
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
This was the 2nd amp I built, it sounds amazing. You learn a few things after the first build, I was also given some pointers from a friend who repairs radios.
The main chip amp that used to be used is now resting in the basement.

For those of you who are wondering about the 807's, I got adapters off of e-bay to run them in the amp. Just search 807 tube on e-bay.
I liked the sound of the 807's so I kept them in and they do look cool!
The signal caps are Russian Military paper in oil. I used the big Edcor OPT's. The power transformer is 6K7VG, the B+ was a little high so I used a 5U3C rectifier tube, this brought it down to 420v. I found this tube on e-bay as well, I got 2 for something like $15.
For the high voltage DC supply I used one paper in oil 47uf 500v cap and a 500uf 500v electrolytic. I also used two 10H 90ma chokes in parallel, this worked very well the amp is dead quiet. The chokes don't get hot even when running all day.

I am planning on building another one, but it will be point to point from the schematic on the Tubelab website.
P1010034
 
My Tubelab SE.

I don't use this much - it resides at our secondary (lake) house, and I don't get to spend much time there :(. It was built on a 10x12 Hammond chassis. The clear paint had some kind of reaction with something on the chassis in places. I am not much of a metal or wood worker and have no real desire to get better at it.

The meter is a 0-1ma device scaled to read 0-100ma and can be switched to read plate current at the right tube, left tube, or off. It is pictured with 5930 (2A3W) tubes, but I usually run 45 or 46 in it (46 and 47 are not drop in - they require an adapter). A lot of the parts are hamfest scrounges. The OPT's are 5K Transcendars.

The little phone jack on the front is parelled with the RCA's on the rear to conveniently plug in ipod and mp3 devices. The on/off switch lights blue when the amp is energized (my wife likes that!)

I have some vague plans to drop a Simple SE board into this chassis optimized for just the little tubes, and build the Tubelab SE onto a larger chassis with a cage. Since this picture was taken, I did install a small fan on the regulator heatsink.

Win W5JAG
 

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My Simple SE.

This is the workhorse at our primary home and the board has at least 10K hours on it at this point - it is on whenever someone is home as the home audio/video plays through it. It's seen a few trips through the dishwasher and its share of kerblamo'd components.

The chassis is an LMB 11x13x1.5 piece that started life as a homebrew 75 meter SSB/CW transceiver I built about fifteen years ago. All the holes, slots, cutouts, etc., were epoxy filled and sanded flush and then the chassis was painted a light Collins grey. A lot of the parts are hamfest scrounges or recycled from other projects. I recycle my parts whenever possible.

The meter reads total current from the power supply. The volume control on the rear was an afterthought. This is setup for tinkering - I can change the B+ taps, plate load, degree of cathode feedback, and cathode resistors with a screwdriver. The anode connectors are just ordinary banana jacks and plugs to make for easy disconnect. The on/off switch is red when the amp is off but connected to power, and green when energized.

I have used ( with suitable adapters ) tubes from 6AQ5 up to 6889 in this amp. The picture shows 6DQ6B.

I tend to wire amps like I am wiring a radio, which may not be optimal, but is just the way I do it.

I really like this amp. I have a couple more Simple SE boards and plan on building some amps that are better optimized with better components at some point in the future.

Win W5JAG
 

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Yes w5jag, I'm still trying to figure this replay thing out, new at this. I tried out some WSE15's that I had kicking around and was quite impressed with the way the picked up the bass. The WSE15's are Hammond clones rated at 15w. They look the same as yours. The big Edcors do sound better to my ears but these WSE15's are very nice sounding and about 1/2 the price.
 
Hi all,
Loving the pictures, I just need to get mine is an enclosure. Problem is, now I have the 6P3S-E & 5U3C up and running my SSE has been on full time duty in my system. These Russian valves are very holographic and make everything sound very live.
W5JAG, how do the 6DQ6B's compare, they look fantastic. Did you just run a wire from pin 3 of the valve base to the plate,did you have to change anything else?
Cheers
Ian
 
I used the pad at the edge of the board that connects to pin 3 because it allowed for the shortest lead, although you could just connect direct to the pin 3 pad.

6DQ6GA and GB, and the varieties of 6BQ6 sound OK. They bias up quite a bit differently and have lower gain than the usual audio tubes. You can abuse them with impunity because people will just about give them to you at hamfests to be shed of them. George has punished a lot of them and posted up on it; I doubt those threads made it here, but a search in the main tube forum will produce some useful information.

If you want to use a tube with a plate cap, my suggestion would be the simple 807 or 5932. They bias like a 6L6 (because they are a 6L6), sound like a 6L6, look cool, and around here are dirt cheap and about as common as dirt - I bought a dozen unused RCA 807's last summer for a buck apiece. Good quality adapters are available on Ebay for a fair price.

Being in the UK, you might even want to look for TT21 or TT22's. They are somewhat scarce over here.
 
Did you just run a wire from pin 3 of the valve base to the plate,did you have to change anything else?

YES, I changed the cathode bypass capacitor after it EXPLODED. Then I changed the cathode resistor after it fried.

The 6DQ6 and 6BQ6 are TV sweep (line output) tubes. They are designed to operate in pentode mode with the screen grid at a much lower voltage than the plate. When operated in triode or UL mode the screen grid is operated at or above its maximum rating. This will cause the cathode current to go up quickly. At the plate voltages typically found in the Simple SE the cathode voltage can rise to 80 volts or more. This will require a 160 volt cathode bypass cap and at least a 10 watt resistor with a 6DQ6. A 6BQ6 will do better at these high voltages.

If your Simple SE runs at a lower B+ voltage then things aren't so extreme, but don't expect to plug them in place of a 6L6GC and go. As I have said before, any time you venture away from the mainstream you must be prepared to experiment. Blown parts are often part of this experiment. I have a Simple SE that I have blown up too many times to count, and W5JAG has blown his up a time or two.

The wire is the easy part. One end goes to the plate cap, and the other end goes into the same terminal as the plate lead from the OPT.

George has punished a lot of them and posted up on it; I doubt those threads made it here, but a search in the main tube forum will produce some useful information.

Yes I have "tested" these tubes a bit, and there will be more. It is my belief that most sweep tubes seem to work best in pentode mode, but they may be useful in triode or UL. I have found a few threads that deal with these tubes in a Simple SE.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubelab/124527-photos-death-simple-se-6v6s.html

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/128533-tube-sale-aes.html