As a sloppy greedy boy myself (also) probably the best advice I could give is, unless you are on the level of Papa, Zenmod, and many other fine experts here, is simply dont be a free thinker...YET.
I have had my share of foul ups and hard lessons, but each one of my Pass clones works exactly as it should electrically and sonically. I accomplished this through no free thinking of my own, but merely stood on the shoulders of "giants" I previously referred to. So fortunate are we to have these dear members! Otherwise who knows what drek I might be listening to.
Free thinking is great for passing time, but when putting one of these together, follow the path and do not deviate. Once done, then ask, learn and free think, try changes.
As to changes, again I stand on those same shoulders....who the hell am I to "change" one of these masterpieces? Many here can, I can not. Zenmod's Babble versions, there's examples of genius freethinking. All Papa's pieces as well....sorry we can't compete,( that is, us sloppy greedy boys) thankfully it's all brought to us here...all we have to do is use it.
Andynor, no one was more paranoid of dc on the 2018 BA pre than I. Everyone assured me, "it will be fine"......and it is. 2018 BA pre works fabulously with BA3. Quiet as the grave, transparent, huge soundstage...very nice.
Free wondering and asking is fine, but without the "expert" knowledge I stay on the path at least until finished and working correctly. Otherwise, tortured boards, tortured parts result in circuits that sort of work something like they should, but not quite, with reliability problems down the road.
I see building these amps as sort of like working a puzzle. If you do it right, you get the intended picture...if not, you don't. You might get something close, but not quite what was intended by the artist.
Go WAY back in the F5 thread to where I was building my first clone, F5. I bumped into every frustration my simple mind could lay on me. But in the end, it worked perfectly.
ONLY because I stayed on the path and listened to the giants...Had I engaged "free thinking" on my own, the darn thing probably still wouldnt work right and would have failed by now.
1. be patient, don't jump ahead if you know no more than I do. ( not a lot, but I can ID parts and solder well.)
2. Stay on the path. I don't have a "better" idea.
3. listen and follow what the giants tell you. (no matter how much I learn, they know FAR more.)
This will result in far more pleasant listening sessions and far less desire to take your amp for a flying lesson out the window.
Russellc
I have had my share of foul ups and hard lessons, but each one of my Pass clones works exactly as it should electrically and sonically. I accomplished this through no free thinking of my own, but merely stood on the shoulders of "giants" I previously referred to. So fortunate are we to have these dear members! Otherwise who knows what drek I might be listening to.
Free thinking is great for passing time, but when putting one of these together, follow the path and do not deviate. Once done, then ask, learn and free think, try changes.
As to changes, again I stand on those same shoulders....who the hell am I to "change" one of these masterpieces? Many here can, I can not. Zenmod's Babble versions, there's examples of genius freethinking. All Papa's pieces as well....sorry we can't compete,( that is, us sloppy greedy boys) thankfully it's all brought to us here...all we have to do is use it.
Andynor, no one was more paranoid of dc on the 2018 BA pre than I. Everyone assured me, "it will be fine"......and it is. 2018 BA pre works fabulously with BA3. Quiet as the grave, transparent, huge soundstage...very nice.
Free wondering and asking is fine, but without the "expert" knowledge I stay on the path at least until finished and working correctly. Otherwise, tortured boards, tortured parts result in circuits that sort of work something like they should, but not quite, with reliability problems down the road.
I see building these amps as sort of like working a puzzle. If you do it right, you get the intended picture...if not, you don't. You might get something close, but not quite what was intended by the artist.
Go WAY back in the F5 thread to where I was building my first clone, F5. I bumped into every frustration my simple mind could lay on me. But in the end, it worked perfectly.
ONLY because I stayed on the path and listened to the giants...Had I engaged "free thinking" on my own, the darn thing probably still wouldnt work right and would have failed by now.
1. be patient, don't jump ahead if you know no more than I do. ( not a lot, but I can ID parts and solder well.)
2. Stay on the path. I don't have a "better" idea.
3. listen and follow what the giants tell you. (no matter how much I learn, they know FAR more.)
This will result in far more pleasant listening sessions and far less desire to take your amp for a flying lesson out the window.
Russellc
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Good for you, Russel! I’ll be sure to remember your road to success when I think too much.
Your brain is so big that it consummes the energy of one beer per problem you solve. I would love to have that problem! 
Unfortunately my main «problem» is overthinking things, meaning i try to understand what I am doing making these designs. I have made no changes to spec so far, except for the Zen Mod Old School Mighty supervised PSU I am building, but that PSU will be more to Nelsons spec than the stores PSU, imho. But Russel does have a point wrt my way of doing things. Thing is, trying to understand maybe 3% of it, and asking questions to try and understand more, is really half the hobby / fun for me.
Wrt mistakes made, they are mostly caused by the fact I never have time to actually build things, other than late in the evening after taking care of the family / work for 15 hours. And so in such a state, I sometimes makes mistakes. But from that, I have learned to correct them, which is also satisfying. But no alternative really, other than maybe a divorce, which is something I really do not consider.
Not that I nescessarily get more than 1% of it. But there we are, I like it.
Unfortunately my main «problem» is overthinking things, meaning i try to understand what I am doing making these designs. I have made no changes to spec so far, except for the Zen Mod Old School Mighty supervised PSU I am building, but that PSU will be more to Nelsons spec than the stores PSU, imho. But Russel does have a point wrt my way of doing things. Thing is, trying to understand maybe 3% of it, and asking questions to try and understand more, is really half the hobby / fun for me.
Wrt mistakes made, they are mostly caused by the fact I never have time to actually build things, other than late in the evening after taking care of the family / work for 15 hours. And so in such a state, I sometimes makes mistakes. But from that, I have learned to correct them, which is also satisfying. But no alternative really, other than maybe a divorce, which is something I really do not consider.
Not that I nescessarily get more than 1% of it. But there we are, I like it.
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Just finished all that could be soldered without Myleftears bipolar contribution soon on it’s way by mail. 6L6 encoraged me to post lot’s of pics, so here we are.
Quite happy with the result so far. Please disregard the mess, ran out of isoprop (yes, I sometimes cheat with a bit of greasy flux
Quite happy with the result so far. Please disregard the mess, ran out of isoprop (yes, I sometimes cheat with a bit of greasy flux
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Thanks, man!
I am pretty sure (hope) the dullness is caused by excess flux, but I’ll give it a final touch over after I finish cleaning it all up. Using flux I had flow I am not used to, so a bit excess solder on some of the joints. None touch each other, but will consider removing some of it, mostly for looks though.
How do you like your linestage?
I am pretty sure (hope) the dullness is caused by excess flux, but I’ll give it a final touch over after I finish cleaning it all up. Using flux I had flow I am not used to, so a bit excess solder on some of the joints. None touch each other, but will consider removing some of it, mostly for looks though.
How do you like your linestage?
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Looks good!
Make sure the solder-blobs don't touch each other, and maybe a touch-up @Q11 (solder looks a bit dull...), while you're at it, remove the blob under the resistor under the front-most resistor on the left...
You were right, double checked now. The top blobs on that Q are dull, nice flow under though. Great, man! Will reflow and make it ready for inspection once I get some isoprop
I like it A LOT! Although I couldn't listen to since, what, 3 weeks (THREE WEEKS!) now, it's just plain great. I have it in my super-workshop and drive my F4 with it, plenty power even if the F4 could sustain double the power. It's black-silent and very nice to listen music with (I remember I played a Ornette Coleman/Don Cherry record, and thought "how nice, warm and pleasant" these 2 were making music, while, when I listened to the same record at home (audiolab 8000A/ATC7), I didn't quite liked it, the very same music just made me nervous...
Biggest problem is that I have to finish the front (more or less according to the attachment), but need a cool output-selector (or balance-pot of sort,or something to use that 4th knob, hahaha)
and drive my F4 with it, plenty power even if the F4 could sustain double the power. It's black-silent and very nice to listen music with (I remember I played a Ornette Coleman/Don Cherry record, and thought "how nice, warm and pleasant" these 2 were making music, while, when I listened to the same record at home (audiolab 8000A/ATC7), I didn't quite liked it, the very same music just made me nervous...Biggest problem is that I have to finish the front (more or less according to the attachment), but need a cool output-selector (or balance-pot of sort,or something to use that 4th knob, hahaha)
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