Firstwatt F1J

music soothes the savage beast
Joined 2004
Paid Member
Hi Nelson, I just ordered 2SK725 (fuji). May be those will be better to try in F1. I mean, I can try APT8075 as well, I can make the amp modular.
Here is comparison:
 

Attachments

  • mosfets.jpg
    mosfets.jpg
    30.9 KB · Views: 310
  • mosfets2.jpg
    mosfets2.jpg
    39.2 KB · Views: 304
Official Court Jester
Joined 2003
Paid Member
ifference between various types - looking at output nodes DC potential, can only be as big as is difference between their Ugs voltages for chosen Iq

so, few volts max - hardly being of any significance

however, if you really want to adjust that, go for it

though, I would go for changing upper (or lower) 47K with , say, cell of 43K fixed+10K trimpot, rather than using just one coarse adjustable trimpot (47K or 50K)
 
music soothes the savage beast
Joined 2004
Paid Member
yup, the mod works great
it allows me to adjust output dc and voltage on the input gate at the same time
i can now report that all three mosfets work great, of course, just listening on test speakers, but the sound is nice whatever the pair
previously, when I soldered parallel resistors to adjust DC, I had to remove them and start all over with different mosfets
now with trimpots on both sides, no soldering, just adjust the trimmer
i have three sets of outputs on the separate heatsinks, so its easy
it would be even better to put some 3prong connector there, will see
 
music soothes the savage beast
Joined 2004
Paid Member
ifference between various types - looking at output nodes DC potential, can only be as big as is difference between their Ugs voltages for chosen Iq

so, few volts max - hardly being of any significance

however, if you really want to adjust that, go for it

though, I would go for changing upper (or lower) 47K with , say, cell of 43K fixed+10K trimpot, rather than using just one coarse adjustable trimpot (47K or 50K)

so you are suggesting four trimpots? naaah, too messy
 
music soothes the savage beast
Joined 2004
Paid Member
I had time to measure distortion with all three mosfets I used. It was tricky at first, because F1 has no ground on speaker outputs, its lifted ~8 volts above the input signal ground, so connecting the wires to soundcard could cause the trouble. Other issue is that you can not connect two speaker grounds together. Anyway, I had to improvise and use ground breaker (old radioshack transformer type) and measure only one channel at a time.
To my surprise 2SK725 measured better than IRFP, originally designed for F1.
APT not too well, high distortion. But if that's what one desires, distortion engine, primarily 2nd harmonic, tube like sound, sure it works.
Now F1/F1J is balanced circuit, but as configured, only unbalanced input is used, second input is grounded. No 2nd harmonic suppression. Its mainly 2nd harmonic, pleasant sounding.
I will post table of results and some spectra when I get the chance.