Tiny tube amp

[Puggie]

Anyone tried one of these or anything similar? IMHO looks very cool.

http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html

So critique away, what do people think of the concept and design. I've been looking at old Fender champ and gibson skylark designs for something that would give me a proper crunchy valve tone without the earbleeding volume.

Maybe this should be in the musical instruments section???

[sorenj07]

what design? i didn't see any links to a schematic, so i can't really judge (as if i knew how to critique one anyway )

[RenegadeAmps]

I've actaully played through one. There's a Zvex dealer i town. It's pretty nifty. Zachary did a cool thing with the switching power supply in it. I mean it sounds cool and it's pretty trick having a stomp box sized tube head. I can think of better ways to spend $500 though.

If you like to build amps. Check out the Firefly over at ax84.com it's a small <1 watt amp using a 12at7 as a power tube in a self splitting push pull fashion. It sounds great too. If you've never done it before it's a good cheap and simple amp to build as a first build too.

[aletheian]

I have played Zvex. it is a little too vintage sounding for my taste... loose that is... but it is a very cool concept.

here is a page with some info, links and schematics:

http://amps.zugster.net/projects/subminiature

[Puggie]

I know there is no schematic I was hoping someone more knowledgable than I could look at the pics and tell something.

cool links guys, I think I need to build a tiny toob amp, since getting rid of my Marshall Jubilee I'm missing that valvey tone

[blacklight]

Not exactly "tiny" but small and definately low wattage amp would be a Firefly mentioned above. I just built one and it sounds pretty good for "AC/DC-type" rock. With a distortion pedal it delievers some rough metal tones as well. I can't say I wasted my money.

[aletheian]

Honestly, as efficient as guitar speakers are (usually 97dB - 104dB sensitivity) even 1 watt can be pretty darned loud! Especially through a 4x12". Simplest solution is to use an attenuator after the power section. It changes the tone a bit, but no more than a pre phase inverter master volume control.

You could also go to a more "wasteful" topology like single ended (Fender Champ) with a small power tube.... although i don't know what sound you want, so if you are looking for roaring Marshall tone in a SE formet... good luck. I have personally experimented with parafeed SE and parafeed PP output sections for guitar amps. Closest I got to bedroom-level marshall-esque tone was a pp RC loaded parafeed output section with an attenuator at the output.

Hope that helps. You may want to check out ax84.com, that site/forum was started for this purpose.

[blacklight]

Oh yah, I have to agree with aletheian. I had to use a simple resistive attenuator to be able to crank it at home without causing heart attacks and killing small animals. .5W can be loud. Believe me.

[aletheian]

Originally posted by blacklight
Oh yah, I have to agree with aletheian. I had to use a simple resistive attenuator to be able to crank it at home without causing heart attacks and killing small animals. .5W can be loud. Believe me.

Yes, also building a little cabinet with a less efficient speaker helps too. A Celestion 'tube 10' or 'super 8' have a 93dB rating... so they should be much quieter.

[Puggie]

Originally posted by aletheian


You could also go to a more "wasteful" topology like single ended (Fender Champ) with a small power tube.... although i don't know what sound you want, so if you are looking for roaring Marshall tone in a SE formet... good luck. I have personally experimented with parafeed SE and parafeed PP output sections for guitar amps. Closest I got to bedroom-level marshall-esque tone was a pp RC loaded parafeed output section with an attenuator at the output.

Hope that helps. You may want to check out ax84.com, that site/forum was started for this purpose.

I'm not really looking for a cranked marshall type tone any more, I'm looking for something a bit more cutting and more importantly different. My first intention was to build an early champ clone and fit a L-Pad inline with the speaker to act as a passive master volume while keeping the impedance constant for the amp.

I'm liking the look for the firefly, tiny combo with a 6" low efficiency speaker, like those suggested by aletheian sounds like the sort of thing I'm looking for, practice level valve tone that can really be cranked up without resulting in crazy volume levels, I'm quite aware how loud a watt can be, I set my upper limit to 5Watts when I started looking for something, significantly less is not a problem.