Step 1:
B- 220v
Filament voltages R 2.47 L 2.47
Step 2: Add GZ34
Filament glows
10 seconds later major bright sparking in tube
No B+ at any time
Switched off. No obvious damage to board.
Will double check board and post photos tomorrow.
Bad tube? (I only had one GZ34)
All advice gratefully received.
B- 220v
Filament voltages R 2.47 L 2.47
Step 2: Add GZ34
Filament glows
10 seconds later major bright sparking in tube
No B+ at any time
Switched off. No obvious damage to board.
Will double check board and post photos tomorrow.
Bad tube? (I only had one GZ34)
All advice gratefully received.
Cheapo speakers first of course, then yes this is intended to be my main amp.
I will attach it - still breadboarded to the Sachikos. The TSE will either:
1) Be better (or the same) in which case I have all the stuff sitting here ready to go for the casework.
2) Be not as good - in which case I will consider myself a few $ lighter and wiser.
I will attach it - still breadboarded to the Sachikos. The TSE will either:
1) Be better (or the same) in which case I have all the stuff sitting here ready to go for the casework.
2) Be not as good - in which case I will consider myself a few $ lighter and wiser.
Good luck I guess we are in the same boat
Is that the "shorted tube" boat or the "Sachikos" boat?
New rectifier tube OK, checkout completed uneventfully. Music!
Amp still on breadboard, and now transferred to the big rig (Fostex BLHs). Sounding very good indeed. Some background hum - hopefully casework, motor-run cap, will reduce that significantly.
After 4 or 5 hours critical listening, this amp betters the Decware Zen, in my system, by some distance.
Photos and detailed listening notes to follow.
Amp still on breadboard, and now transferred to the big rig (Fostex BLHs). Sounding very good indeed. Some background hum - hopefully casework, motor-run cap, will reduce that significantly.
After 4 or 5 hours critical listening, this amp betters the Decware Zen, in my system, by some distance.
Photos and detailed listening notes to follow.
Last edited:
Glad to hear you got it working.
I too just got a TSE 45 up and running, and I was disappointed to hear so much background hum, despite that fact that it made beautiful music. I replaced R4 with a 8H choke, and the hum has disappeared. YMMV, but I'd give that a shot before doing anything else.
THanks ... but I had a choke installed from the start. Adding the motor-run cap has made no difference. The whole thing is a breadboard tangle of wires at present - plenty of scope for hum. Anyway I will do the casework now, get the earths properly sorted, then see where I stand.
The music is sublime though! This will be worth it.
Transformer is at 90° to OPTs, they are in a line, fairly close - just as they are in many commercial / diy SET amps. Choke fairly close by, not much option on the breadboard. Inputs are twisted. Still got a multi-meter attached to B+.
I'm not going to systematically chase hum until these are all mounted on a sheet of aluminium with the power components on the left, OPTs on the rear, input paths well away from power components, and earthing properly done. I remember spending ages going through all this with my previous amp - it was a revision to the grounding which solved it there.
I won't be able to start casework until next week. Got the aluminium sheet and a set of drill-bits for the various holes required. Same basic construction as my previous amp, so I'm on familiar ground.
Previous amp:
External:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Internal:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Will post progress here ...
Alan
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