SimpleSE PCB out of stock

[tubelab.com]

I am posting this here because this is where many SimpleSE builders get their information. My supply of SimpleSE boards was running low, so I reordered a new (large) supply early last week. This week 3 larger than expected orders wiped out my supply. One guy bought 10 boards! Another bought 4. Those have been shipped. The expected ship date for the new boards is 3-25-2008. I should have them in early April. They are from the same quality US vendor as the current batch.

The unexpected sales revenue will be used to accelerate the SimpleP-P development.

[chrish]

Damn you TubeLab!

After building your SimpleSE I caught the bug! I have built a simple 6P15P SE point to point for my girlfriend (she thinks I am a bit of a geek, but she loves her amp and shows it to everyone!) and a 6BM8 PP point to point for my computer. I am just about to start building a point to point "Baby Huey" EL84 PP. My 12 year old son is now interested, and I have collected the parts (less output transformers) to build a 6BM8 spud amp as a father/son project for his computer and iPod. Now you are going to design a "SimplePP". I will have to build one, of course!

It was your SimpleSE that gave me the encouragement to experiment with valve amps. Thanks for your input to this (highly addictive!) hobby.

Cheers,

Chris

[tubelab.com]

Now you are going to design a "SimplePP". I will have to build one, of course!

I have had two different designs in development for a while. My current work schedule and several outside factors have severely slowed development. It will be a while.

Any votes on which board gets done first, and which tubes to use?

The first is a little guy. 10 to 15 WPC, all miniature tubes. Output tubes will either be the usual 6BQ5 / EL84 (common) or the 6AQ5 / EL90 (not as common, slightly lower power, but tends to sound better). The PC board is about the same size as the SimpleSE, and the cost would be similar.

The second design is a bigger amp more like a P-P version of the SimpleSE. Octal output tubes, all the usual players 6L6GC, EL34, KT88 or 6V6, triode, UL, or pentode, class A or AB1, power output from 5 WPC to 50 WPC depending on output tube choice and class of operation. Driver tubes could be miniature or octal. The PC board would be larger than the SimpleSE and therefore would cost a bit more. Octal driver tubes would make the board larger also slightly raising the cost.

[wicked1]

I vote for the smaller, simply because I have more use for it .
I'd love to be able to build a few somewhat inexpensive small amps to give as gifts for people. It would be really cool if the entire amp, iron and all could fit into a footprint the size of the tubelabSE board.

Larger might make sense for you, though, because then you'd be offering a full range of products. Low power to high power.

Let me know if you need any beta testers

[tubelab.com]

It would be really cool if the entire amp, iron and all could fit into a footprint the size of the tubelabSE board.

I have built several mini and micro sized amps. The small sized iron tends to limit the bass too much, to the point that the amp sounds bad. Stuffing too much circuitry into a small space leads to heat related reliability issues as well.

I am still working on perfecting the technology that could enable a micro sized tube amp, but for somewhat different reasons. I want to make a reasonable sized mid powered amp. This one is a bit further off in the future.

[whitelabrat]

I like the 6BQ5/6AQ5 idea! Sign me up!

[chrish]

As I have already built a 6BM8 PP and I am starting an EL84 PP, I would be much more interested in an all octal amp. In fact if you had not mentioned your SimplePP project I was thinking of a 6L6 PP amp as my next project (after the current two). I am, however, happy to wait if the miniature version attracts more interest.

I have not ordered the output transformers yet for my father/son 6BM8 spud amp. They will be the standard Edcor XSE15-8-5, but as shipping is a killer here to Australia, I was thinking of ordering some Iron for the next PP project at the same time to amortise some of the shipping costs. Have you got any idea of the output iron requirements for your octal version (Edcor CXPP25-8-7.6K or CXPP50-MS-7.6K)? Another option is my "tube guy" in Singapore is trying to get me to try a set of Tamura output transformers (I think the F-684 30Watt 6.6K for about $425 US). I am in no rush to build, but hate double spending on shipping if I can help it.

Thanks again for all your efforts and input

Chris

[w5jag]

I like the idea of a quality PP 6AQ5 amp (there are already 6BQ5 kits out there), but you can count me in for one of each board, in whatever configuration they wind up as.

Started building my TubeLab SE board a few weekends ago, and hope to have it working with 45's on the bench soon.

Win W5JAG

[77seriesIII]

hmmm I'm throwing my hat into the ring for the 6L6 version I've four 6L6s and a PP design is what I've been hunting for.

/e

[reenberg]

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