i wanna build me a bass amp

[badger]

can anyone help me, i want to build me a bass amp. i'm looking for a kit, schematics or even just a point in the right direction. i thinking bout 500w valve or solid state, with intergrated preamp and maybe compressor. if anyones built one or has seen somethin like it on a site let me know.
thanks
rob

 

[Thatch_Ear]

Bass amp

Your amp needs can be based on your speaker/speakers SPL. You can blow the doors down with 30 watts if you use the right drivers. A PP tube amp can easily do that, you get better sound with tubes and power is relevent only to the SPL of your speakers. And not knowing how high you go with your bass, the old Hammond Tone Cabinets had transformers that output 200 Hz and down. I think they ran 6V6s in 2 parralells, or PP 6V6 X 2= maybe 20-25 watts constant which will get a Jensen PL15LL to maybe 120 decibals. Ouch!! Altec 421s are rated at 20 watts and 10 watts into one of those will hurt you long time. I know. The thing is whether you decide to Hollow or Solid state in your amp. I happen to think that you can get a custom amp made for the same $ either way, but vintage high quality speakers are still at this time a bargain. I don't have a sub hooked up to the sub circuit in my living room HT because I am using tube amps and 30 Hz speakers. Tubes are also opperating on the same harmonic as human speach(SS doesn't) so the listening expierence of your listeners will be greater, if they can pick you out.

 

[djk]

Hey! Don' t discourage him, I want to see him try and build a 500W tube amp.A single ended triode in class A of course.

 

[badger]

thanks for the advice i don't know what i gonna build yet, but i want to build it myself. a single ended pure class A would be very nice to go with the monster 18inch 600watt 3rd order bandpass sub i've just made to go with my current bass amp so i'm gettin really into building things myself. I gonna finish reading all the books i got then decide on whats best. if anyone knows any books that could help it would be a real help
rob

 

[blmn]

Badger,


For sure you will achieve very good sound quality at low frequencies without high distortion levels of tube designs by building your own solid state amp. A good book you can use is High Power Audio Amplifier Construction Manual, by G. Randy Slone - ISBN 0-07-134119-6. The author sells kits for his designs.

As you can see, some people like tube sound characteristics, but I think it has nothing to do with sound quality itself, just personnal taste. Listen to some tube and solid state designs and see it for yourself.

I guess djk was just making fun with how hard could be making a tube power amp with this power in class A and SE mode, and believe me, it would be very funny...

There other books and designs to help you. Search the solid state andr tube forum and go ahead!!

regards,

 

[blmn]

Badger,

The thread " Andrea Ciuffoli Mosfet Amp" has usefull information for you.

Regards,

 

[cyclotronguy]

BIG Tube Amps! An RCA 6949 will get you about 1Mw of output, but you will need about 3000A for the heaters.

 

[Helix]

i think it is a bit pointless in building a tube amp or going class A for the sub, especially as you intend to have a compressor, go to :

http://sound.westhost.com/projects.htm

and read about the crossovers and his 300w amp, and also he has articals on compression and stuff. either beef up the 300w amp or build two and bridge them.

and also look at :

www.aussieamplifiers.com

Then build a couple of the 400wattt amps and bridge them, or find out about the 800 watt one

 

[newmz]

Wow.... lots of coincidences here; When I read the original post, I was thinking to myself "this guy needs to get the Sloane power amp construction book and check out esp" (site that Helix mentioned - in addition to what he said, I also recommend looking at his Linkwitz transform, sub-woofer controller & sound impairment monitor projects).
AND it just so happens that I got the pcb's for both the 300w amp and the active x-over he also mentions just last week! I worked out that for me to buy all the parts in the b.o.m. for the amp, plus the power supply, plus some stuff to homebuild a 2U rack case - it will cost roughly the Aussie equivalent of $U.S.150. Thats pretty sweet for an amp that size!
I have to wonder why you want a sub amp that develops 500W? You must have one hell of a system to add it to!! That other site that Helix noted - Aussie amps I think (?) has I believe a 1Kw MOSFET power amp kit here. If you build something like that and you get the sub down to an f3 of, say, 10Hz (heh, heh, heh) - you should be able to use it to experiment with sub-sonic soundwave weapons technology, or at least use it to demolish houses with vibrations!!
While I'm on the fun and crazy theme, if you do ever build that 500W class-A valve amp, you can you can turn it on it's side and use the heatsink to barbecue whole cow carcasses.......

 

[badger]

thanks for everyones help, i got the amp construction book about a week ago and i'm reading it now. i probably could cook a cow on the heatsink and the rest of the farm. its gonna a bit to powerful but i'll be using it in clubs around the uk, so i want it to be big enough to cope with it. i'll let you know how i get on. thanks for everyones help.
rob

 

[Helix]

which clubs? small ones i hope, for that kind of event what u need is a couple of 1kw amps and say a twin 18 inch eminence or JBL pro sub or maybe 2 twins. thats what i have.
ideal for a 400 or so person event, good music (as well as loud) makes a really good time. i had a friend who only had a twin 15 inch sub and it was driven to distortion every friday night. after a while, it went pop! also the bass wasn't crisp and nice because of the distortion and that ment that people didn't appreciate the music as much.
With ANY project, it's always better to over spec (you can always attenuate ) then find u have under specced