Super nice Rich, where did you get those regulators? I have Sigma78 and Sigma79 on order. I am going to adjust them to 16 volts, and use infrared leds to get to 17.3 volt rails. It will be interesting to see how they perform compared to the standard regs.
Here are some shots of my Whammy, currently with yellow leds, which gives 17V rails. I used 7,87 ohm resistors to give me 70mA bias current. Case is the somewhat higher version of the well known 1706 case from Aliexpress, the 1707 (70mm high instead of 60mm). Unfortunately, they sent the version with text, while I ordered without (i think the font is tacky, and I do not want Whammy to be Breeze Audio branded). Fortunately, the vendor immediately sent out a replacement front when I informed him.
Since this morning I have tidied up here and there, and now I only have a very very faint hiss that is not affected by input volume. Using OPA2134.
I will be having a great evening tonight listening to some fine tunes
Here are some shots of my Whammy, currently with yellow leds, which gives 17V rails. I used 7,87 ohm resistors to give me 70mA bias current. Case is the somewhat higher version of the well known 1706 case from Aliexpress, the 1707 (70mm high instead of 60mm). Unfortunately, they sent the version with text, while I ordered without (i think the font is tacky, and I do not want Whammy to be Breeze Audio branded). Fortunately, the vendor immediately sent out a replacement front when I informed him.
Since this morning I have tidied up here and there, and now I only have a very very faint hiss that is not affected by input volume. Using OPA2134.
I will be having a great evening tonight listening to some fine tunes
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Super cool! Would love to see more pix.
Question about the blue LED - Wayne mentioned (in the video) that these are quite noisy. Are these special blue LEDs?
--Tom
The power led you mean? Noise is only an issue when used as a voltage reference, my power led is a separate led.
Ah the blue and green leds' are on the DEXA regulators themselves, blue for positive, green for neg. The board is configured for 'naked regs' without reference LED's.
In the pics the two black PCB's hanging off the front are the super buffers on the output of the Muses control, powered from the 15V DEXA's. The Muses has it's own +/-15V supply off the main 22V rails. The Toroid transformer actually has separate 12V windings for the Muses supply, just waiting for parts for the PCB's.
Unfortunately I do have a problem with finishing my projects nicely as I'm always fiddling but hopefully will put a lid over this one eventually maybe becoming a preamp. There is not much more I can squeeze out of this amp, it sounds bloody remarkable, I rolled a few op-amps again and the 994 Ticha is definitely the one I'm pleased to say, the BJT input has a very pleasing sound combined with the mosfet output stage.
Swifty - very nice job my man, a finished project is a pure win. If you ever get an opportunity try the Muses volume control, an easy upgrade and noticeable improvement in clarity but slight less boom in the low's possibly. I'm definitely converted.
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Nice build Swifty! I'm also using OPA2134, Burr Brown edition, for what its worth. I think you'll really enjoy the WHAMMY. After building an AKSA Lender preamp and B1Korg, I still go back to the WHAMMY. I feel like the detail, imaging, and soundstage are all better than either of the others.
Interested to see how the regulator swap goes once you get the Sigma's in.
Interested to see how the regulator swap goes once you get the Sigma's in.
Thanks, its rewarding for sure. I actually already pm-ed the muses volume author a few days ago
If you mean Meldano then that's a good one, he's improved the design to V2. The muses needs +/-12 - 15V DC ideally.
I'm using Academy Audio VCU- VCU | academyaudio
Just tap straight to the 15V regulator pins under the board, two wires to +/- output pins and one wire from any Gnd point.
Sounds tempting
But before I'm ready to even contemplate such an investment in an opamp, I'll be going through some TI's first. When I receive the adapter boards, I'll be auditioning opa2210, 1622, 1612, 1656, 2156, 1642, 828, 827 and 627, So I'll be a while
Get a lid on it for sure but the fiddling and experimentation is half of why we do this. It looks cool and I bet sounds great! I am definitely going to try the Ticha opAmps. That is one of the mavels of this project - allowing for the easy swapping of the front end, and that turns out to have some of the biggest impact on the over-all sound of the amp.
--Tom
The only other high end op-amps I have are OPA627BM's and Muses 02, the Muses is also BJT but the Ticha just gets the top spot. It is hard to define what is better but I feel I can listen longer with the Ticha, the music is very coherent and just damned nice. The Muses are lovely sounding op-amps and the old OPA627's are still some of the best audio IC's you can get, and I tell you - LT1028's are also in the conversation, very dark and clear with lots of bottom end punch.
I wonder how good the chinese discreet op-amps are, there is every chance some are very good
BJT'S -
HiFi fully discrete components module high voltage high precision dual op amp | eBay
Full Discrete Components Dual OP-AMP SX45B Dynamic Strong Drive Strong New | eBay
This one is Jfet input
HIFI Fever OP03 Full Discrete Component Field Effect Input Dual Op Amp Module | eBay
Exactly Tom, the whammy is a good platform to play around with. I keep coming back to it, this must be my 4th now. It's enjoyable to build, works first time every time and the sound can really surprise you, and is scalable with improvements. The pot and op-amps are worth spending a bit extra on for sure.
I can recommend the Ticha wholeheartedly. You should check with Richard Doporto on the return status, if you're not happy then send it back minus handling fees.
I don't know much, but I do know that socketing those R's would make gain change adjustments relatively painless.
I just wish there was a ready-made 'turnkey' enclosure (or base- think Bottlehead). Since none has appeared after 5 yrs, I guess it will remain truly DIY.
For those more 'handy' than myself, this looks to be a great amp.
I just wish there was a ready-made 'turnkey' enclosure (or base- think Bottlehead). Since none has appeared after 5 yrs, I guess it will remain truly DIY.
For those more 'handy' than myself, this looks to be a great amp.
I can't agree more I made one with the standard Hammond chassis, used my dad's drill for the first time he only had one size drill piece and a hand saw.. all the holes were well ugly and everything kind of cramped tgt in a tight case. But I tell ya, the sound is incredible, hence I'm gonna buy a second PCB and do it all again and find a large case and may be have someone pre drill holes on them. Worth the effort.