Curious about this as well. I have slowly (yes very slowly) been planning on building a poweramp. First i was thinking of building a Leach amp, but then i came across the honey badger which looked very interesting en easier to get parts. But i see now the wolverine is kind of the improved honey badger.
What should i go for? Honey badger is far more documented and discussed on this forum, but improved version also sounds very interesting.
The wolverine amplifier is far superior, but a more costly and complex build.
Saying that the build guide and support is the best I've ever seen with the wolverine amplifier.
I highly recommend it.
I built myself a monster version and achieved 500wrms into 4 ohms per channel myself.
The noise floor/THD levels of this amp beats basically all other DIY amps and most commercial ones in production also.
If you want a more simple build, the honey badger is still a good amplifier to do.
The Wolverine is far better documented than the Honey badger.
Documentation includes.
1. a comprehensive Bill of materials.
a. Sheet 1 contains the Wolverine Project BOM (IPS board and EF3-X boards)
b. Sheet 2 contains help with output transistor, power supply & fuse selection depending on your speaker load requirements.
2. The Full Wolverine Project Schematic.
a. There is a colour 57 V and 64 V version of the schematic which show the DC
operating voltage and currents of the Wolverine circuit
Recommended rail voltages are from 35 to 50 VAC.
3. The detailed Build Guide.
a. A 42 page document to help builder of all levels.
The Build thread is also actively updated by the wolverine development team.
Last but not least, how they sound. I built first the Honey Badger, then a year later the Wolverine. I have to say that despite the HB is a good sounding amp, the Wolverine is fairly a step beyond that. For all the aspects. Power, control, sound stage, detail. I highly recommend it, too. All you have to add is buying more components and do more soldering. Required skills are almost the same.
Gaetano.
Gaetano.
Thanks for all the replies! Im kinda new to this forum (introduced myself in 2019, then came some busy times with hospital, wedding, newborn child, etc, but thing are kinda settled again now). But im reading a lot on here and its an amazing place of knowlidge.
So im trying to get back to my first solid state amp project again. Still will be slow, cause i still dont have a lot of hobby time. But judging on your replies, the descision is made i guess, im gonna look into the wolverine. Start preparing and analizing all documents.
So im trying to get back to my first solid state amp project again. Still will be slow, cause i still dont have a lot of hobby time. But judging on your replies, the descision is made i guess, im gonna look into the wolverine. Start preparing and analizing all documents.
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Some little suggestion to the administrators: Would you please merge all threads, build instructions etc. on the Honeybadger and OTOH on the Wolverine that apparently are scattered all over the forum in two dedicated threads and make them sticky on top of the Solid State branch? Thanks in advance!
Best regards!
Best regards!
Just a heads up for other interested builders... The Badger is still a pretty slick amplifier! No disrespect to the newer designs!
I've got a very soon to be completed version 2.4 Badger on my bench, with a VZDA protection system, and OLED Screen with Touch function.
I'm pretty excited about it.
I've got a very soon to be completed version 2.4 Badger on my bench, with a VZDA protection system, and OLED Screen with Touch function.
I'm pretty excited about it.
That would be a complicated and controversial job, Wolverine can look back on a long history. Ostripper posted Wolverine V1.2 on 2014-02-26 in message #599 of the Slewmaster - CFA vs. VFA "Rumble" thread, it was intended as IPS for the Slewmaster OPS.
IMHO you can't go wrong with either amp. I helped build and test the Wolve and it is a dead quite hard punching beast as black as night. It's also a more $$ and more work. Basically, this amp is as good or better than most anything in the five figure range.
All that said, I have two Badgers, one in one box and a mono version. They are very very good amps. The monos sit in my dedicated room and are switched into the chain on and off. I am never displeased by what I hear. If this was my first build, I would do the Badger first, and then after I listened for some time, I would build the Wolve and have a solid understanding of both... I would bet you keep both.
All that said, I have two Badgers, one in one box and a mono version. They are very very good amps. The monos sit in my dedicated room and are switched into the chain on and off. I am never displeased by what I hear. If this was my first build, I would do the Badger first, and then after I listened for some time, I would build the Wolve and have a solid understanding of both... I would bet you keep both.