SimpleSE PCB out of stock

[korneluk]

Originally posted by reenberg
My vote goes for the octal ;-). The tube community could use a good proven high power amp for the newbees.

George,

I vote for the octal as well. You know my favorite octal output tube - the Tung Sol 6550!

-- josé k.

[lousymusician]

Having a couple of ST70's around already, I'd vote for the little guy. Though if the octal version could accomodate 6B4G's that might be interesting!

[SigloOne]

As a newbie who is looking to build a PP amp I would like to see something with 25-50 WPC rather than the smaller 15 WPC design.

My reasoning is that if I wanted to build something with the lower power there are many designs and kits to choose from, however there few, if any, in the 25-50 WPC range (kits anyhow).

I want to build something I can be happy with for a fair amount of time. Rather than build something small and then soon after have to build a new amp. Mainly I say this because of my poor cash flow situation.

--Steve

[wicked1]

I need to throw in there..........
Ive got a 6v6 PP amp, and had my first party this past weekend w/ this amp and my new speakers (fostex full range) and this amp can get LOUD!!! it's got a max of about 10 watts, but I probably didn't have to turn it up past 1/2 way the entire night w/ a bunch of drunk people being very loud.
besides that, I've got a supposed 500 watt powered subwoofer, and it needs to be turned up to its max to blend in w/ my puny 10 watt tube amps. I'm talking wall shaking, 40 drunk people shouting loud w/ only 10 watts.

I'm quite surprised w/ the power my amps and speakers can deliver.



on the other had..... you're right... there are a lot of lowish powered kits and simple schematics out there for people to build.

I for one, however, would NOT drive more power into these speakers... I'd probably bust my aquarium and windows w/ the sound pressure!

[weinstro]

If voting is still open, I'd like something that can handle 2 6550's, for 40-50 watts.

Additional nice to haves:
- Cathode or fixed bias options
- Triode, UL, tetrode connection, or fixed screen voltage
- Cathode follower driver
- Flexible splitter choices
- Balance adjustments
- Cathode feedback in output stage - option
- Option of CCS in cathodes of splitter

[chrish]

G'Day George,

Not sure what you are considering for the octal based boards, but perhaps you might consider an option that allows for either monoblocks or a stereo amp. As the transformer requirements for a stereo amp are reasonably high, and the resulting amp would be rather heavy, some might prefer monoblock. Perhaps the boards could be for single channel, use two for a stereo amp and one for a monoblock.

Just my 2 cents worth, I am sure whatever you decide to do it will be a great project!

Cheers,

Chris

[agent.5]

I will buy a PP 6AQ5 board.

[tubelab.com]

OK the UPS man brought me a large stack of SimpleSE's (left) and the Fedex man brought me some TubelabSE's (right). Both came earlier than the promised dates. This put a $2800 dollar dent in the Tubelab credit card.

[John L]

Two things.

First, I agree with SigloOne that a P-P would be nice to go with the 25-50 wpc field, since there are so many smaller ones out there. However, I still need to cut my teeth on your SimpleSE first before going another route.

And second, George I have been looking on your site for the pics of your Zenith radios you are using in your living room. I found the one on your Industrial Strength SimpleSE, but you also have one of both radios.

I love the idea of using these wonderful units as speaker enclosures for one's tube amp. But I am a bit interested in knowing why you went with Zenith. Does Zenith have speakers that outperform, let's say Philco, other brands? The reason why I am asking is that I am enthralled with the shape of the Philco 180-280 class radios. They remind me of the juke-box of the 50-60s, and will never lose their good looks.

Philco 41-280


Philco 40-180


Anyway, this is what I have my eyes set on, as the perfect pair to use. Do you know anything about these beauties?

I am just appalled at the wanton destruction of such classics, simply to obtain the electronics, while trashing a part of our history. As I have stated at another forum, it's akin to destroying a beautiful old girl, just to save the "t!ts" alone.

Oh, one other thing George. I know that some old units are single-ended, but not sure how common. Are any of these radios using S-E amps? Thanks up front.

[tubelab.com]

But I am a bit interested in knowing why you went with Zenith.

I had one Zenith radio that I bought at an antique flea market. It looked nice, and my wife said that it matched the other antique "stuff" in the living room, it was cheap ($50) so it followed me home. The original field coil speaker was shot, but I got the electronics working.

I don't claim to be an expert on old radios. I have about 30 old radios, mostly table top sets. Not all of them are working. They are all single ended. I have an old German console radio that is single ended. The other console radios that I have are P-P output. Many of the smaller consoles from the dawn of the stereo era are single ended using 6BQ5's or 6V6's. The old Magnavoxes sound pretty good.

My wife and I had been discussing speakers for the living room for years, but we never came to an agreement, so there weren't any. I had another old radio console (a Magnavox maybe) and Sherri asked if they could be used as speakers. The idea was hatched.

I saw an identical Zenith radio on Ebay which had gone without bids. The seller was a few miles away, so I went over and bought the radio. The fact that I had two identical Zenith radios was the reason for using Zenith.

The original speakers and Wavemagnets (rotating antennas) were removed and stored in a safe place in case I ever decide to return the radios to normal operation. I replaced the speakers with some HiFi speakers from Hawthorne Audio that were designed for open baffle operation.

The pictures are here:

http://www.tubelab.com/MySystem.htm