Early morning dissertation.
NO no no no no. No shame at all. We audio diyers don't follow no stinking rules, remember? We follow electricity rules and that's only because we have to. It is no surprise that the only two members who did follow the rules (more or less) already knew how to keep their budget's balanced - were accustomed to the hard labor of searching for those elusive stinkin' cheap parts. You've got to keep the discipline if you don't want to become a broke DIYer. Discipline isn't my best quality. I would make a real bad soldier.
Speaking of rules and discipline, it is not nice to give away rules if the Rule Maker doesn't follow his own rules in the first place! It is November 20th, for Christ's sake! Maybe he wasn't enjoying the fact that some people (me) were messing with his own rules.
Damn, I'm down by one vote and the poll hasn't even started. This can't be a good sign.
NO no no no no. No shame at all. We audio diyers don't follow no stinking rules, remember? We follow electricity rules and that's only because we have to. It is no surprise that the only two members who did follow the rules (more or less) already knew how to keep their budget's balanced - were accustomed to the hard labor of searching for those elusive stinkin' cheap parts. You've got to keep the discipline if you don't want to become a broke DIYer. Discipline isn't my best quality. I would make a real bad soldier.
Speaking of rules and discipline, it is not nice to give away rules if the Rule Maker doesn't follow his own rules in the first place! It is November 20th, for Christ's sake! Maybe he wasn't enjoying the fact that some people (me) were messing with his own rules.
Damn, I'm down by one vote and the poll hasn't even started. This can't be a good sign.
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Oh I spent enough time on part selection keeping the price down. My limiting the vendors to two was the biggest problem but then again I wanted to keep shipping charges down. Not really an issue if you are making a kit to sell but if you are doing a single amp it adds up. I if I did use another vendor I could have got under the $100 for my switched PI version. Since missed the target (mind you it was only by a couple of bucks) I added a few frills to test out how desirable they would be on a future amp.
Yeah the lack of discipline is delaying the finishing of the amp. I keep getting distracted by other projects, I have the old shiny-object syndrome where something else catches my curiosity and I have to satisfy it. My brother found an old guitar amp at the side of the road and I had to get it working because I was curious about how loud it could be. Back to my amp this morning, already swapping parts around to make changes for the paraphrase PI issue I was concerned about. It will effect the other two configurations so I did some searching online to get an idea of how much I should shift values. We'll see how it goes.
No, I think he pobably has some more important things on his mind. From BST's own post #1149:
Does it really matter? You have a cute new toy that you wouldn't have had if this "challenge" never happened. I have two (once they are finished) and several other people do too. We ALL learned something, and most of us have some new ideas to expand on.
I went through many of the same issues that BST is dealing with. I lost my mother and my mother in law this year. Even if he doesn't have time to deal with this forum right now, aren't we ALL winners here. Will the awarding of $100 signal the end of the creativity? I hope not. I got this cool idea.........
Oh no not another shiny new tube to play with.......Yet another half finished project.
A friend gave me a 100 watt Park lead amp. Park is the brand Jim Marshall sold amps under to bypass his distribution agreement in the US. It came into the lab, pushed everything off the bench and.......then reality smacked me in the head and I took it to my warehouse and vowed not to bring it back here until my two challenge amps are finished. I hear it calling my name........I wonder how LOUD it will be???????
Went downstairs to start on the amp, soaked the sponge for the iron. Saw the cigar box for the guitar I am close to finishing. I need to add some small wood strips to screw into. Might as well do it first so the glue can set. Find appropriate wood to use. Pick up a transformer for the heaters that I was thinking of using for a 2W amp build (using the transformer from the amp my brother gave me). Looking through my collection of transformers for the high voltage. Maybe I should use a different tube with a different heater voltage. Check what kind of pairing I can come up with. Realized I got distracted again.
Grab the miter saw from the garage, cut the strips, glue in place. Miter saw is out, maybe I should finish up the trim around the windows (replaced all the windows in the house). Nope, I'm working on the amp today. Just came up to change the channel on the radio, really I did not go off on a tangent again (radio beside computer). Might as well just check the thread. It is a wonder that I ever get anything done.
My wife is coming home tomorrow.....really need to clean this mess up. Amp parts all over the house. 3 speaker cabinets on the living room table connected up to amp 2.2 to annoy the neighbors......turn the TV on......Oh No the Dolphins are actually winning a football game......Well at least this won't last.
Sounds like a teenager with the parents coming home after a weekend away.
You aren't missing much....it's been a long downhill slide from then to this year where they lost theit first 7 games in a row. The stadium is 7 miles from my house. I used to go to 1 or 2 games a year, but not in the past 3 years or so. The Dolphins are playing at home, and this is also Nascar weekend in Miami....I'll stay far far away.
Yes it does except this time she has been gone for 2 months.....Despite being 59 years old, I haven't had to deal with the proverbial "second childhood" since I never left my first! When you start growing up, you start growing old, and when you start growing old.......
When she is away the living room gets taken over by things with a ZERO WAF, like speakers, more speakers, amps, more amps, a few guitars and a CD player. My new neighbor is a fireman. He lives at the fire station for 3 days in a row. There is no DB limit when he is not home.
down here we call that magpie syndrome, I got a whole house full of distractions, mostlly unfinished too
Trying to finish this one. Hopefully not going to build another one like this. Made a jig so I could arrange the parts and solder the wires together. Hopefully will get the transformers, fuses and power switches done tomorrow. Have to go over everything to see if there is any mistakes but otherwise almost ready to power up.
Tubekit's other BOM
Now that that is out of the way for the time being, I must say that this has certainly been an educational experience.
I've learned a great deal from this exchange of ideas and gained a variety of new inspirations from the other contributors who have submitted their designs. Of particular interest at present are some techniques and methods recently documented in this thread of which I have taken a very careful notice. As many of you know, I have studied certain of the other especially revealing submissions, and after absorbing the lessons thus learned I came to the realization that simply by omitting a few unnecessary structural parts and building the amp with the flimsiest and cheapest components available, I could get the cost down to where the reverb tank also fits within the challenge budget.
See my revised BOM, attached.
Amp with functioning reverb tank. For less than $100.
Now that that is out of the way for the time being, I must say that this has certainly been an educational experience.
I've learned a great deal from this exchange of ideas and gained a variety of new inspirations from the other contributors who have submitted their designs. Of particular interest at present are some techniques and methods recently documented in this thread of which I have taken a very careful notice. As many of you know, I have studied certain of the other especially revealing submissions, and after absorbing the lessons thus learned I came to the realization that simply by omitting a few unnecessary structural parts and building the amp with the flimsiest and cheapest components available, I could get the cost down to where the reverb tank also fits within the challenge budget.
See my revised BOM, attached.
Amp with functioning reverb tank. For less than $100.
Guys you need to cool it. I just deleted two of the most disrespectful posts I have seen in weeks. If I see any more the offending parties can expect infractions to be given. You have been warned.
I really hate when they make fun of my nose.
Well it is sort of alive. Got the cathodyne and paraphase PI's working. Not sure what is going on with the LTP but that will be for another time. Boy does the Fender Black Face tone stack really suck the gain out of an amp. The Tweed tone control really rocks as far as overdriving the amp. Can only get a clean output with the tone stack. Mind you it is a pretty sound. Not running any NFB yet, wondering if it is worth it, mind you I set up for it so I can play with it later. I get the feeling it might take me a while before I can say this amp will be done as changing a switch position changes the feel of the amp. Tried it with the 8", 10" and with the 12". Surprised there is no squeallies and it is quiet even without a case around it. Mind you the sheet ,metal the controls and the tubes are on probably works as a ground plane. The two PI's do sound different. can't wait to get the LTP going so I could tell how that one is compared to the two. This is going to be a fun little amp when I am done.
Oops. How did I get this far without realizing that I never put a switch in to join the cathodes for the LTP together? Probably can not have all three PI's with the switch I have, know how to get it by rewiring the cathode bypass capacitor but I did not want to have to throw two switches to do it.