Douk Audio Hifi Valve Stereo 6J4 6P6P Class A Tube Preamplifier DIY KIT Full SET | eBay
Looks really interesting, and it's quite inexpensive. It'd be neat to drive my Phase Linear 200 with this... although I'd want to add tone controls.
Charles.
Looks really interesting, and it's quite inexpensive. It'd be neat to drive my Phase Linear 200 with this... although I'd want to add tone controls.
Charles.
No experience with that particular kit. Just be aware that many of the Chinese "kits" often don't come with documentation, or any kind of build instructions. Also, the stainless steel chassis holes and cutouts may not be deburred, which can be an issue for novices. Oh, and the parts are cheap.🙂
I don't see a schem. either.
jeff
I don't see a schem. either.
jeff
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Douk's got a huge shop reselling out of Shenzhen onto Ebay.
PRC consists of "dumping" on the world market, because those prices are not available there.
I prefer to go to the dump source,(have been to PRC!) and buy direct from there.
At least you will get a straight answer from Boyuu or whoever else then, rather than the reseller.
PRC consists of "dumping" on the world market, because those prices are not available there.
I prefer to go to the dump source,(have been to PRC!) and buy direct from there.
At least you will get a straight answer from Boyuu or whoever else then, rather than the reseller.
I would rather DIY (myself) based on a design and engineer I know. Otherwise, I might as well get a used unit that is in good condition or recondition it myself.
I have just chosen the "rebuild yourself" route again last week.
This was my solution:-
I got a price on a chassis and power transformer from PRC.
They came up with an interesting offer, (cos I have to change the PT to 230V anyhow).
Their PT is designed for their hopeless class A power munching, triode strapped pentode/tetrode junk, anyhow, so plenty of reserve in there for a proper efficient class P-P AB1-2 set up.
I rechassis the 2 ancient monoblocs this way onto a single new (originally PRC crap stereo EL34 SE) chassis...
but with a difference;-
My old 1955 OPT & valves push pull are there instead, while at the same time dropping one of my spare S11E12
(as a nice HT regulator) into their useless 5U4 socket (using S-S diodes instead underneath).
S11E12 have no problem at all handling 200m/a or more of HT making it billiard table smooth.
The end result is a "looks brand new" thoroughly modernised unit but with all the kinks and original US "budget"quirky rubbish, knocked out of it, running on dual stereo 6V6 power.
The octal sockets which were gonna have 6SN7 stuff have 6V6 instead in them, and the drivers are underneath as sub min 6111, hidden into a tiny little board space.
Try to find anything that works like that today. I bet you can't!
It makes any chinese SET set up look rubbish (which they are), and costs not a great deal more.
This was my solution:-
I got a price on a chassis and power transformer from PRC.
They came up with an interesting offer, (cos I have to change the PT to 230V anyhow).
Their PT is designed for their hopeless class A power munching, triode strapped pentode/tetrode junk, anyhow, so plenty of reserve in there for a proper efficient class P-P AB1-2 set up.
I rechassis the 2 ancient monoblocs this way onto a single new (originally PRC crap stereo EL34 SE) chassis...
but with a difference;-
My old 1955 OPT & valves push pull are there instead, while at the same time dropping one of my spare S11E12
(as a nice HT regulator) into their useless 5U4 socket (using S-S diodes instead underneath).
S11E12 have no problem at all handling 200m/a or more of HT making it billiard table smooth.
The end result is a "looks brand new" thoroughly modernised unit but with all the kinks and original US "budget"quirky rubbish, knocked out of it, running on dual stereo 6V6 power.
The octal sockets which were gonna have 6SN7 stuff have 6V6 instead in them, and the drivers are underneath as sub min 6111, hidden into a tiny little board space.
Try to find anything that works like that today. I bet you can't!
It makes any chinese SET set up look rubbish (which they are), and costs not a great deal more.
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I don't have the technical expertise to build an amp, chassis, and everything from scratch or schematic. I do have the ability to buy the amp, and solder it myself, or even pay $40 extra to not have to deal with it. (So many projects already). I just wanted to know if it was any good, because it looks rather nice and is pleasantly inexpensive.
Charles.
Charles.
If you want to build an easy to build very nice sounding proven SE amp then go with a tubelab simple SE...or the SSE as he has been advised to call it.
The circuit board is easy to populate.
You can get budget iron from Edcor or somewhere that sells Hammond
Lots of support on this site to build it
Easy to get inexpensive tubes
Chassis can be super easy to build with one top plate from a Hammond chassis and some 1x4 boards.
This is still one of my favorite amps...mine puts out about 8wpc which is plenty loud for any speakers with decent efficiency.
The amp you linked to does not have output transformers and only does 0.8wpc...you would be no doubt disappointed with your efforts IMO
Tubelab SSE Board | Tubelab
The circuit board is easy to populate.
You can get budget iron from Edcor or somewhere that sells Hammond
Lots of support on this site to build it
Easy to get inexpensive tubes
Chassis can be super easy to build with one top plate from a Hammond chassis and some 1x4 boards.
This is still one of my favorite amps...mine puts out about 8wpc which is plenty loud for any speakers with decent efficiency.
The amp you linked to does not have output transformers and only does 0.8wpc...you would be no doubt disappointed with your efforts IMO
Tubelab SSE Board | Tubelab
Like most things you get what you pay for.
If something appears "too good to be true", that's probably what it is.
If something appears "too good to be true", that's probably what it is.
Tubelab SSE Board | Tubelab
You'll get complete documentation from the Tubelab website, and help is available through the Tubelab forum here on diyAudio.com.
I would replace the 6P6P with 6V6.
I have built a couple of these cheap Chinese knock off kits and yea, no instructions. They always use Chinese (P) tubes like the 6P6P in your kit. They suck. Mine had two 6P3P and I used KT66 Golden Dragons instead. Sounded a lot better.
I have built a couple of these cheap Chinese knock off kits and yea, no instructions. They always use Chinese (P) tubes like the 6P6P in your kit. They suck. Mine had two 6P3P and I used KT66 Golden Dragons instead. Sounded a lot better.
I can recommend Oddwatt. Their kits are complete with very good documentation so your chance of success is quite high. Also Bruce and Rodney at Oddwatt are quick to respond to emails and help out if you get stuck. Three years ago, I built the Alpha and use it on a regular basis. A search of the forum will reveal other possibilities as well.
I had someone bring one of those by. What a pile of junk! The kit didn't include any terminal strips, and they were badly needed. The circuit design was a joke, safety wasn't factored in, etc.
I've attached a photo of one of the power supply caps that came with it. If you believe this is a genuine NCC capacitor, I have a bridge to sell you!
I've attached a photo of one of the power supply caps that came with it. If you believe this is a genuine NCC capacitor, I have a bridge to sell you!
Attachments
LOL! Nailed it! But if you want a cheap entry level amp to build, these cheap kits are a good start. They come out not bad if you replace a few of the parts with higher quality parts. The kit posted would sound pretty good with quality 6V6s, some audio quality caps in the signal path and YES some terminal strips. Probably only add another $100 to the bill. You could replace the OTs with some Edcors for another $100. Build it as is and replace parts later.
I couldn't disagree more.
The circuit design is terrible. You can put $5,000 worth of caps, resistors, pots, and jacks into one of these and the circuit design will still be terrible.
You make a good point, but if it's your first attempt I say it's a good start, you get all the parts in a cheap kit that will work. Upgrading a few parts is easy too and will make a difference. That being said your spot on, you could buy all the parts on your own from a simple Odd Watt SE schematic and be far better off, however that is a lot more work and cost a lot more, probably double. You can't get a high quality tube amp for $150 like these kits, but you can learn a lot about construction. Why make first attempts on expensive parts? Hell you can build a great KT88 amp, very simple build with a complete video walk through parts list and all:
YouTube
But were talking almost $800!
This is basically the schematic of the crappy Chinese 6P3P I built years ago, replaced the 6P3P with KT66 and C4 and C5 and it came out pretty good. I don't think the build is that bad, if you can point out the flaws are I would love to hear them, I make no claims to know anywhere near what you all in these forums know so I would love the education. It's a pretty typical cookie cutter layout. I was thinking of replacing the OTs with Edcors, but I don't know if it's really worth spending another $100 on this knock off.
Note: C Values are not correct in this picture it is primarily meant only to show the design.
C4 should be . 033uf and C5 47uf ? not sure R5 or R9 are right either, not sure where I got this schematic it was years ago.
Note: C Values are not correct in this picture it is primarily meant only to show the design.
C4 should be . 033uf and C5 47uf ? not sure R5 or R9 are right either, not sure where I got this schematic it was years ago.
Attachments
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I do not think you can go wrong with the Tubelab SSE. People on this website are more than happy to help out. Depending on your speakers and budget take a look at the Bottlehead kits, step by step instructions with photos and they are complete kits. The SEX amp is fantastic, fun to build, cheap tubes and also a headphone amp. I have built two of them. If I wasn't going to be cremated when I pass I want one of then buried with me.