Beginner's luck -- Tubelab Simple SE on first try!

[dogfish]

I powered up my first build ever, a Tubelab Simple SE, just now -- beautiful music on the very first try!

No motorboating, no hum, and definitely no magic grey smoke, just sweet Thelonious Monk.

George, thanks for making it so easy and fun!



Details:

Tung-Sol EL34B, Electro-Harmonix 12AT7, JJ GZ34 (all new stock)
Vacuum-state rectification only, no FREDs.
Allied Electronics 6K7VG power transformer
Edcor CXSE25-8-5K output transformers
Triad C-14X choke
560 ohm R17 (cathode bias resistor)
Alpha 24mm pot
Radio Shack switches
eBay RCA connectors and binding posts
Mojo courtesy of George of tubelab.com

It's currently hard-wired for ultra-linear and cathode feedback; when put in the chassis those will be switchable.

It took, all in all:

- 2-3 months of planning and ordering.
- Three hours of soldering the board yesterday.
- Two hours of soldering together all of the connectors today.
- One scary moment installing the 12AT7 (it took a lot of force)

[ChrisR1983]

Looking great so far and that's quite impressive to get it working on your first try!

What are you going to do in the way of a chassis?

I just ordered my Simple SE board last weekend; really hoping it will arrive this week.

Enjoy.

[Brit01]

congrats! I remember that moment very well, when you first throw the B+ switch after warming the tubes up and sweet music comes out of the speakers.

My first board was an Aikido.

The tubes can be very tight sometimes. I was a little cautious of breaking the glass!!

Now you will start looking for new projects and experimenting with different designs i imagine.

[Pyre]

Nice job!

Its always satisfying to hear music on the first try. That first plug in is always a heart thumper no matter how many amps you build.

Cheers

[dogfish]

Originally posted by ChrisR1983
Looking great so far and that's quite impressive to get it working on your first try!

What are you going to do in the way of a chassis?

I just ordered my Simple SE board last weekend; really hoping it will arrive this week.

Enjoy.

It was intended to be a 12x12 sheet of aluminum on top of a square wooden frame, then I measured the edcor CXSE transformers and realized it was just too tight for comfort, so it's a 6x12 plate on the left, for input power, power transformer, power switch, then a 12x12 plate on the right for the PCB, output transformers, audio in, and volume.

The frame is built, the aluminum plates have been drilled, I need to do a little clean-up on the plates, then I'll install it. Will post a follow-up picture.

(Although it's going to be bloody huge -- 19x13! -- I'm tempted to get the 17x10x3 Hammond chassis because I think it'll all fit on that and it'll feel a lot smaller.)

[Michael Koster]

Congratulations!

Mr. Safety here...

One suggestion; I would keep the loose conductive objects further
away from the "high" voltage. The Stanley tape measure and scissors
look to me like an accident waiting to happen.

Personally, on my own breadboards, anything not meant to be in the
circuit is removed from the surface before power is applied.

Cheers and stay alive,

Michael

PS at 1100 volts to ground, i worry a lot about safety. At lower
voltages it's just as important, but more often overlooked

[oldmanStrat]

I was able to get everything to fit on my SSE on a 10x12 top plate. It's so heavy though I need to be careful moving it... If you go with a wood base - be careful with the joints. If they aren't mitered, you will have to secure the box with screws... found that out the hard way - glue just won't hold all that iron!

On my TSE I went with a big hammond aluminum box. Much easier to work with (if you are into metal shavings)...

Happy listening!

[Ty_Bower]

If my memory is correct, mine fits on a 14" x 9" aluminum plate. I reserved 1/2" around the perimeter for it to rest on the box. I didn't feel like there was any extra space leftover. Next time I'm going to use a bigger plate.

[dogfish]

I learned last night that when spraying polyurethane onto aluminum plate, use very thin coats. I sprayed on too thick a second coat and it pulled up the first coat, made it all wrinkly.

Time to sand it down and start over.

Had I done research, I would have found http://www.woodanswers.com/expertadv...3209&part=full which warns me against doing what I did.

[rknize]

Congrats on your success! Yeah...I hate painting. So much prep and so much to go wrong. Some paints will do that if you don't wait long enough between coats. Others do it if you wait too long. Other have both problems and you either have to recoat lightly within a few minutes or you have to wait several hours or more before you can recoat. Polyurethane often has a catalytic effect that you have to either wait for it to finish or get it down before it starts. I've also had the same problem with certain "epoxy" paints.

Good luck!