I have recently finished testing of my second Tubelab Simple SE amp build-up and just wanted to once again praise George of Tubelab for putting together this neat little DIY system. I find this to be a great opportunity for learning and creating in the audio hobby. I bought 4 boards and will likely buy more. For about $50 you can build different flavor modules of this great sounding circuit; keep them on the shelf and swap back in allowing very cool comparison of components ( capacitors, resistors, output transformers, and well as the built -in switches for rectifier and grid usage .
This time I used Russian Ft-3 .22 teflon coupling capacitors and JJ GZ-34 S rectifier. Output transformers are Edcor CXSE 25-8-5K ( i really like these) and the driver tube is an RFT 12AT7.
Power tubes are still the Russian 6P3S-E (so far, a great value). I am using a 6SN7 based pre-amp I built as a kit from Mapletree Audio Design( another cool build) but will likely incorporate a SMD attenuator volume control when this board gets built into a suitable box.
Tweaks I have included are the large air conditioning type polypropylene and oil power supply caps ( that are further bypassed by some Russian Pios) , the Triad choke, and the 47 Ohm CL-80 Thermistor ( i think the JJ tube arced without this).
To some up this project in one phrase: Very satisfying sound for the money. This amp is at least the equal of $3000 amps I have had in my system. Now, this amp is not a frat house party amp , you understand, but my neighbors have commented how good the music sounds that emminates from my garage/ workshop.
Pictures to follow when I do the chassis build. Right now , I'll just have a good listen.
This time I used Russian Ft-3 .22 teflon coupling capacitors and JJ GZ-34 S rectifier. Output transformers are Edcor CXSE 25-8-5K ( i really like these) and the driver tube is an RFT 12AT7.
Power tubes are still the Russian 6P3S-E (so far, a great value). I am using a 6SN7 based pre-amp I built as a kit from Mapletree Audio Design( another cool build) but will likely incorporate a SMD attenuator volume control when this board gets built into a suitable box.
Tweaks I have included are the large air conditioning type polypropylene and oil power supply caps ( that are further bypassed by some Russian Pios) , the Triad choke, and the 47 Ohm CL-80 Thermistor ( i think the JJ tube arced without this).
To some up this project in one phrase: Very satisfying sound for the money. This amp is at least the equal of $3000 amps I have had in my system. Now, this amp is not a frat house party amp , you understand, but my neighbors have commented how good the music sounds that emminates from my garage/ workshop.
Pictures to follow when I do the chassis build. Right now , I'll just have a good listen.