In fact, I was thinking about class AB push pull, Poobah 
Why not something like the monstrous Fender 400ps? 3 separate amps with 3 separate cabs... each one a 6550 PP, 150W.... that would be awesome to build (and stand near when you're playing)
Hail to Poobah Amps, the most scary amps out there
Why not something like the monstrous Fender 400ps? 3 separate amps with 3 separate cabs... each one a 6550 PP, 150W.... that would be awesome to build (and stand near when you're playing)
Hail to Poobah Amps, the most scary amps out there
Giaime said:In fact, I was thinking about class AB push pull, Poobah
Why not something like the monstrous Fender 400ps? 3 separate amps with 3 separate cabs... each one a 6550 PP, 150W.... that would be awesome to build (and stand near when you're playing)
Hail to Poobah Amps, the most scary amps out there
old Fender with just 6 toobz in PP output ?
nah-that's weak amp...
ya two thread-stealers...
Giaime,you act here almost as in Geek Zone
build a reputation first, that of selling good quality preamps at a resonable price, a price that is very hard to resist.
if you are an unknown and try to sell preamps at a high price, you may fail!
i noticed that vendors of amps hype about a certein tube, or a philosophy before they luanch their products!
may even hire an advertising expert, may even give magazine reviewers free samples for enticement to endorse your preamp.
i am not saying all these really happens, but reading those magazines sometimes give me the creeps.
if your first motivation is to make money, you may fail.
if you are an unknown and try to sell preamps at a high price, you may fail!
i noticed that vendors of amps hype about a certein tube, or a philosophy before they luanch their products!
may even hire an advertising expert, may even give magazine reviewers free samples for enticement to endorse your preamp.
i am not saying all these really happens, but reading those magazines sometimes give me the creeps.
if your first motivation is to make money, you may fail.
If you have contacts in the Ukraine you are well placed to use ex-russian military parts. You should, as a priority, look at teflon coupling caps (K72) and paper in oils (K40Y9) - value 0.1uF. there's a guy called Alex who sells them from the Ukraine on ebay. You should use these for coupling caps, for a start, and see what other ex-military parts are useful. It may help to use a Russian designer or one like Choky who knows something about Soviet production. You might contact also Nik Onoufriev Moscow, Russia http://www.klausmobile.narod.ru - he's tested a lot of the russian tubes and might make suggestions.
Tony,
I do not plan to sell the preamps at a high price or give any sort of false hype. $250 or so will likely be the price point, depending on parts prices and availability. This seems like a good price for a preamp, especially now that Bottlehead is getting more expensive.
It should be entirely possible to build the preamp for $150 once the production is streamlined. Thus, the markup would be very low by industry standards.
I do not plan to sell the preamps at a high price or give any sort of false hype. $250 or so will likely be the price point, depending on parts prices and availability. This seems like a good price for a preamp, especially now that Bottlehead is getting more expensive.
It should be entirely possible to build the preamp for $150 once the production is streamlined. Thus, the markup would be very low by industry standards.
i have to wonder if eBay is a good market for an unknown amp-builder. the chinese amps sell alright because they look snazzy and are priced to move (at least before shipping...). your amps, if they end up as no-nonsense as you are planning, will appeal more to the type of person who wants to listen before they buy. i'm not trying to dissuade you; just realize that until you can build a reputation of some type, your stuff will probably sell at a substantial discount.
I just turned my computer on and found this thread. I lot of interest for one day. Well this is a subject that I know a little bit about.
Been there, doing that already. Look at my designs, modern tech, and a sprinkling of sand only where it actually helps (PowerDrive, more coming).
My advice:
Find one project, design it (or have someone else design it). Build one, test it in every way you can think of, refine the design, build a few more. Loan them to friends. If your design really is good, and unique, you will have sales. You will find the flaws in your design when you make several. They better all behave the same, or you have a design problem.
I originally planned to sell kits through the web site and on Ebay. I have sold more amplifiers locally than I can build. I have yet to put one on Ebay. I have been so busy building amplifiers, that I haven't had the time to deal with kit sales (I also have a full time engineering job). They are comming soon though. Sales on Ebay, or the web require a full time person to answer the email.
Tubes, especially preamp tubes, are cheap. Most of the money in your design will go for transformers and your chassis. Trust me you will find that building tube amps costs more than you think it will. Go price out your enclosure.
If you remove the taboo against "sand" there are plenty of ways to design things that haven't been done yet. Approach a vacuum tube design as an engineering problem, using the best component to do the job, SS or tube. All gain stages should be tubes.
You are the one in need of a Russian tube connection. 350Kw, lets see, I think that about 6000 6550's might do the job.
Seriously, I am into big guitar amps. I have the parts for a 200 watt SE guitar amp using an 833A. The prototype is on my web site, I just haven't found the time to build it though.
Don't knock it until you have received phone calls from a block away wanting to know what that sound is. I have built guitar amps of both flavors, they both have their good points. For bass, I would use P-P.
Save the OPT, the rest is easy!
Been there, doing that already. Look at my designs, modern tech, and a sprinkling of sand only where it actually helps (PowerDrive, more coming).
My advice:
Find one project, design it (or have someone else design it). Build one, test it in every way you can think of, refine the design, build a few more. Loan them to friends. If your design really is good, and unique, you will have sales. You will find the flaws in your design when you make several. They better all behave the same, or you have a design problem.
I originally planned to sell kits through the web site and on Ebay. I have sold more amplifiers locally than I can build. I have yet to put one on Ebay. I have been so busy building amplifiers, that I haven't had the time to deal with kit sales (I also have a full time engineering job). They are comming soon though. Sales on Ebay, or the web require a full time person to answer the email.
Tubes, especially preamp tubes, are cheap. Most of the money in your design will go for transformers and your chassis. Trust me you will find that building tube amps costs more than you think it will. Go price out your enclosure.
If you remove the taboo against "sand" there are plenty of ways to design things that haven't been done yet. Approach a vacuum tube design as an engineering problem, using the best component to do the job, SS or tube. All gain stages should be tubes.
You are the one in need of a Russian tube connection. 350Kw, lets see, I think that about 6000 6550's might do the job.
Seriously, I am into big guitar amps. I have the parts for a 200 watt SE guitar amp using an 833A. The prototype is on my web site, I just haven't found the time to build it though.
Don't knock it until you have received phone calls from a block away wanting to know what that sound is. I have built guitar amps of both flavors, they both have their good points. For bass, I would use P-P.
Save the OPT, the rest is easy!
Tubelab, you give some good advice. Selling the preamps locally might be a bit of a problem since I don't know of any audio nuts in the area. Ebay, as opposed to a website, seems like a good option because I wouldn't be compelled to make any set production volume. As far as email goes I think that providing a detailed but easy-to-understand manual and autobias on the amps would eliminate most customer nagging.
Giaime, you are pardoned for the threadjacking, but if you do it again,
Just kidding.
Giaime, you are pardoned for the threadjacking, but if you do it again,
Just kidding.
dmitriy167 said:
I think you've hit the point. I've heard from many audiophiles the need for a thing like that in their amps: with modern ss tecnology it should be very easy and cheap to provide a stable bias when changing tubes, or even with the normal decay of performance of a tube.
Correct me if I'm wrong: in a class A amp (either PP or SE), could this be implemented with a CCS under the cathode of the output tube(s)? Of course a CCS at AC ground... bypassed to ground with a cap. Is this the way? You set it at the proper bias current and it does the rest... if the tube draws more current, it forces to draw less, and the opposite.
dmitriy167 said:
I see a lot of misunderstanding of intellectual property laws. If it's published, and it's not patented, it ain't proprietary. If it's copyrighted, that means you can't copy the image or reprint it verbatim, same as the written word. It doesn't mean the design is protected or that you can't build and sell the circuit described by the drawing. You may consider it someone elses intellectual property, but that's your own personal code. If there's no patent, there's no legal problem. Once you sell a product that is not patented and you don't have a trade secrets agreement with the purchaser, anyone if free to copy it from a functional point of view. The particular look and feel of a product can be protected much like a copyright, as long as it is not functional.
Sheldon
Giaime, AFAIK, a CCS like this can work as autobias. Sand can do wonderful things with tubes...
EC8010, I didn't mean to impersonate. I meant that if the threadjacking continues, I would refer the thread to the authorities, like yourself. I should have clarified that, and I hope Your Modness isn't too offended.
Sheldon, thanks for enlightening me on the copyright/patent/int. property confusion. Still, I don't feel like ripping anyone's private design off. How would I feel if I designed something, and the next day someone would be making money from it?
I'm thinking more along the lines getting it from an old manufacturer manual or university textbook. I've also began to learn SPICE, albeit very slowly. Maybe after a while, I will design something on it.
andyjevans, thanks for the links. That klausmobile guy seems to have lots of info, and his train-looking vehicle is hilarious.
EC8010, I didn't mean to impersonate. I meant that if the threadjacking continues, I would refer the thread to the authorities, like yourself. I should have clarified that, and I hope Your Modness isn't too offended.
Sheldon, thanks for enlightening me on the copyright/patent/int. property confusion. Still, I don't feel like ripping anyone's private design off. How would I feel if I designed something, and the next day someone would be making money from it?
I'm thinking more along the lines getting it from an old manufacturer manual or university textbook. I've also began to learn SPICE, albeit very slowly. Maybe after a while, I will design something on it.
andyjevans, thanks for the links. That klausmobile guy seems to have lots of info, and his train-looking vehicle is hilarious.
dmitriy167 said:
As a matter of courtesy, that's a good way to be. But designers need to understand that once a design is pubished in a forum or whatever, it's no longer private and free game. So if you are going to feel bad when someone takes your design and runs with it, don't publish it. I often see the statement, "all rights reserved". Well you can reserve all your rights, but in the case of a published non-patented design, there essentially aren't any rights to reserve.
Sheldon
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