• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

How to turn Salvaged Parts into Projects..

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#21
Miles Prower said:
Depends on what random parts he has, what he wants to do with them. Le Renard started out as a total junk box project. The OPT and PTX were both NOS, NIB parts, as were the ripple choke and the finals.
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There's a vast difference between your knowledge base/experience vs. the OP's...😉 And he is not building a "simple" amp but a tube channel strip with lots of signal processing stages.
 
#24
I already do use LT Spice. But Linear Tech's emulator doesn't let you do switches, or potentiometers... Nothing much moving.. a fixed-simulator which is just fine for some application. That are again -- Static.

There is a program called EveryCircuit made also for android phone & flash via an internet website. In E.C. you can actually run simulations live & turn pots, change capacitor + inductor values & plot in coloured lines Voltage vs Current. *Also how has Bode!

*But I need a simulator that works well w/ Tubes + Variable Resistors, Switches + Transformers. *I use LOTS of switches in my builds😉 ...lotsa options:")
 
#28
Sorry about what I said...

TheeAldeen said:
..it's Salvaged DIY gear from another gear-head :"D ..my gear are the 9" x 1" module pieces w/the bakelight turret-board, 3-tubes + dual-gauged bakelight HP-knobs. that's my design + build,
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I see, so I obviously have underestimated your abilities, sorry about that...:shy: It seemed like you already have a good idea what you want to build and have in fact started on some modules, cool!

Do you have a block/signal diagram showing what's going to be in the channel strip and how far along you are in the build?
 
#29
TheeAldeen said:
Ideally i'd rack up 3-input transformers, 3-output transformers, choice of signal path, discrete op-amp, tubes, tubes, tubes, push-pull output or single-ended. stuff like that. throw it all in one box w/ 3-dozen switches, 2-massive gauges.. eccentric un-praticle stuff like that.

i like working with my hands, don't know anything about circuitry so i do not have the knowledge to design, i can make box-diagrams and thats about it.
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It is hard to advice you where to even get started as you don't know circuitry. This is a dangerous game playing with high voltage.

I think you want to take too big a bite with too little knowledge. You really need to know some basics about circuitry before you can start building anything. This is not just mechanical parts that you drill a few holes, put a few pieces together.

At that, you still want to start small.

Get a book, study a few months before you even talk about building. Learn how to do good soldering, reading schematics. I know the feeling, that you want to build something nice in no time. It does not work this way. I am quite new to this audiophile stuff but I have many years experience as a design EE already. Yet this is my second month here, studying almost everyday, ask question here to learn before I start building. You want to stay alive, you want to have some good result, the fastest way is to get books to study first. Plan on a minimum one year project. I can tell you, I am planning on at least one year even I have the general analog engineering knowledge and experience. there's a lot to learn!!!!
 
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#30
Alan, if u follow the thread it is clear I have high-Voltage experience, soldering-skills + a knowledge of most of the math. Now we have covered that I am a big-boy. Lets get back to the reason we are all here.

Since it looks like all I need to do is know the parts inside + out. So let's discuss what exactly I need to know of my parts.

I need to know: Resistance both DC + AC, Capacitance, Inductance + Current Max. Anything else?

*I should be able to interconnect all my "pieces" by knowing ththeseew variables correct? After knowing my xompinets variables, what formulas do I need to know to align these parts? 2piRC/1 is gonna be 1 of tbem.. what else?

Thanks guys, glad this thredd is gaining momentum and moving forward towards my answer + goal. :]
 
#32
TheeAldeen said:
I already do use LT Spice. But Linear Tech's emulator doesn't let you do switches, or potentiometers... Nothing much moving.. a fixed-simulator which is just fine for some application. That are again -- Static.
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This is not true at all! You can do just about anything in Spice.
There are plenty of potentiometer models.. Switches aren't quite straight forward, but there's a 'voltage controlled switch' in the spice library. You can use that, and hook up a pulse signal to trigger it at any time you'd like during your simulation.
Then you can vary any parameter when you run the analysis. You label the part in { }, so for a cap I might do {c1} for the cap 'value'. Then you add a directive to step through a few values during the analysis.. ".step param c1 list .1uf .22uf .47uf", or whatever.
Same w/ potentiometers.. Mine accept values between 0 and 1, so I can do "step param p1 list 0 .5 1", and my chart will have a line for each possibility displayed.
Learning how to use spice was the best thing I ever did w/ my electronics hobby.
 
#36
EveryCircuit appears to be a good tool for students and teachers, but it does not appear to support vacuum tubes (I could be wrong), but as wicked1 said, you won't find much support on this forum because almost all of the members use LTSpice for circuit simulation if they bother with it at all.
 
#37
TheeAldeen said:
Alan, if u follow the thread it is clear I have high-Voltage experience, soldering-skills + a knowledge of most of the math. Now we have covered that I am a big-boy. Lets get back to the reason we are all here.
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Then I would still spend a few months studying tube theory.

BUT there is something to think about depends on the state of your career. If you are doing well already, ignore the following. But if you are young and starting a career, I would consider a project of solid state if you are willing to learn electronics. The reason is NOT SS is better at all, the reason is you need to invest time in learning electronics before you can build anything. It is a lot more useful to learn transistors as there is a big field that require knowledge of transistors other than amplifiers. Tube is really a dead end other than in hifi and guitar amps. The field is too narrow to invest a lot of time unless this is a passion like a lot of people here.

Just a thought.
 
#39
98d51c2b32b88a9fb9298c6e190bf99d.jpg
..switchable different ideas for each section
 
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