Weber Trainwreck kit

[ampman1961]

Michael...
Very true, but for the sake of comparison the CC does not have a warm up period. I just don't see the need for a thermistor, or current limiting in a guitar amp. Think about all of that loss by having extra impedances in series and the HEAT LOSS. You will have the "possibility" of several converging failure modes in a string. I encourage you to experiment with one of these things in a test setup. I would love to hear what your findings are. I think the accumulated perceptions and test results would help to identify its flaws on a broader scope than from just one person like me. A group finding of results is more compelling than those of one.
Billy Yates

[mlp-mx6]

Billy,

I don't disagree with any point you've made about the Copper Cap product. I just didn't want anyone to think that a 5U4 hits the power rail slowly or gradually. It is a LOT quicker than most "tube rectifier guys" think. And again, the 5AR4/GZ34 is a different story. It IS gradual. The sag thing is strongest w/ the 5U4, and least with the 5AR4, with the 5Y3 and 5V4 in between - due solely to internal resistance.

As I can make time I'll try to test the Copper Caps. We'll see how that goes...

Michael

[jelle]

Ok, I'll add this TLA to my list!

Jelle

[ampman1961]

Michael...
Much Gusto, very well stated. Nice to meet you.
My Disclaimer to the forum...
I want to re-iterate that I posted these remarks in order to relate information as it relates to facts. Omar has a wonderful site here and my thanks go to him for allowing me to post my comments. If he gets baked by Weber in any way because of my comments, I take full responsibility for my comments. That being said, there is nothing wrong with open discussion pertaining to the safety of others and the dangers of using questionable components that may damage someones investment(s).
Having said that, I think we can move on to more interesting topics, like building amps and having fun!
Take care all.
Billy Yates

[Allynmey]

Michael...
Much Gusto, very well stated. Nice to meet you.
My Disclaimer to the forum...
I want to re-iterate that I posted these remarks in order to relate information as it relates to facts. Omar has a wonderful site here and my thanks go to him for allowing me to post my comments. If he gets baked by Weber in any way because of my comments, I take full responsibility for my comments. That being said, there is nothing wrong with open discussion pertaining to the safety of others and the dangers of using questionable components that may damage someones investment(s).
Having said that, I think we can move on to more interesting topics, like building amps and having fun!
Take care all.
Billy Yates

Well put Billy! I on the other hand I say "Pound Sand" BBQBoy

[s2]

This is one of the 2 discussions that caused all the problems over at 18W. The safety of the CC and the quality an accuracy of the kits.

BBQ has a little army that scours the forums looking for negative press. Generally speaking, when they find it, they post something positive in response or they get him to do it if it is serious enough. Or if it is his competition or the board is run by a competitor or has a moderator who competes with him in some way, he goes all lawsuit threat.

They also log it like some kind of big brother. Once Ted emailed me pretty much all the comments I have ever made on public forums pertaining to his products or company. Scary!

I think it behooves us to just forget Ted and Weber VST exist so as not to endanger fine humans like Omar. If they don't find any fodder, they won't attack.

Honestly, I would rather take him down after what he did to me and several of my friends, but it's a lost cause, so let's just forget him.

<rant>

Why would anyone buy a CC anyway ?! What's wrong with a good old tube? They are cheap, durable and seem to last forever. I have the original in my '66 Deluxe Reverb. I shake my head every time someone talks about their CC woes. I just want to hand them and tube and tell them it will be OK.

</rant>

[Richie]

Why would anyone buy a CC anyway

unless he has changed his trannys.. you either have to use a CC or SS rector, or on maybe the 6v recto use the tap that also supplies the heaters for the orther tubes. In other words, his trannys don't have a recto tap for the heaters.

[s2]

Why would anyone buy a CC anyway

unless he has changed his trannys.. you either have to use a CC or SS rector, or on maybe the 6v recto use the tap that also supplies the heaters for the orther tubes. In other words, his trannys don't have a recto tap for the heaters.

All the BBQ trannies I've used in the past had rectifier taps. They just weren't shown in the schematics or layouts. Not hard to guess what those 2 yellow wires are for though

[Richie]

i know people had asked before how to wire up a EZ81, since the tranny only had one 6v heater section. I know i helped some of those guys from webers forum,[early on, before the crap went down] mod some of there amps. They used to come in to 18 watt and ask for help.
I don't know much about his stuff, and proably never will. Never bought anything from him. But thats just me. you know i also remember, i helped alot of those guys that had bought his kits. Then after the incident..i got flamed for not wanting to help someone, when they were told to take there questions back to the Weber forum.

[vaia10]

i know people had asked before how to wire up a EZ81, since the tranny only had one 6v heater section. I know i helped some of those guys from webers forum,[early on, before the crap went down] mod some of there amps. They used to come in to 18 watt and ask for help.
I don't know much about his stuff, and proably never will. Never bought anything from him. But thats just me. you know i also remember, i helped alot of those guys that had bought his kits. Then after the incident..i got flamed for not wanting to help someone, when they were told to take there questions back to the Weber forum.

Speaking of how to wire up an EZ80/81 when your PT doesn't have two 6.3V secondaries: is it really that bad to wire up the heaters of the rectifier in parallel with the heaters of the other tubes? Is there a special trick for how to use the 5V secondary for the heaters on the EZ81 ? Thanks

[bigtone96]

[
Well Bigtone, I think it is customary to have more than 1 post before you try to help people like BBQBoy on this forum. Go back and tell BBQ that they wouldn't listen to you and you said exactly what you were told to say....

So, is this the way you welcome new posters to the forum? I have absolutely no affiliation with Weber, other than purchasing a few amp kits from him. I purchase amp parts from numerous sources. I am not trying to help anyone. I did not mean to open any wounds. I have no idea what went down with him. I could not help but notice the contradiction of postings concerning him, from parties in similiar businesses and in the public eye.

[Allynmey]

[
Well Bigtone, I think it is customary to have more than 1 post before you try to help people like BBQBoy on this forum. Go back and tell BBQ that they wouldn't listen to you and you said exactly what you were told to say....

So, is this the way you welcome new posters to the forum? I have absolutely no affiliation with Weber, other than purchasing a few amp kits from him. I purchase amp parts from numerous sources. I am not trying to help anyone. I did not mean to open any wounds. I have no idea what went down with him. I could not help but notice the contradiction of postings concerning him, from parties in similiar businesses and in the public eye.

Bigtone, this is not usually how we welcome new posters. I will however mention a few tips on how new members can transition into a great forum like this....

First, a how do you do post...like Hello, I am new. Nice to meet you
maybe a few posts about the subject at hand...Trainwrecks and Dumbles. Maybe a "Can you help me" thread. This forum contains some of the most knowledgeable people in those categories. Everybody here loves to help people in their search for the ultimate tone. In other forums, many new members come in with a head of steam, ruffle everyones feathers and are gone in a puff of smoke. The community is hurt by these people, 18Watt is now shut down and many of the guys that contributed to its demise might be looking for other forums to ruin. We are on guard against that since we like this forum and our admin Omar. BBQBoy contributed to the demise of 18watt too. We don't want that to happen here. The word of the day is courtesy. If your intentions were innocent...I'm sorry. On the other hand I still say Pound Sand BBQBoy .

[s2]

i know people had asked before how to wire up a EZ81, since the tranny only had one 6v heater section. I know i helped some of those guys from webers forum,[early on, before the crap went down] mod some of there amps. They used to come in to 18 watt and ask for help.
I don't know much about his stuff, and proably never will. Never bought anything from him. But thats just me. you know i also remember, i helped alot of those guys that had bought his kits. Then after the incident..i got flamed for not wanting to help someone, when they were told to take there questions back to the Weber forum.

Yeah, I remember when he took our work and turned it into a cheapo kit and everyone swarmed to buy it. When they couldn't get tech support from him or his forums, we became his tech support for a good long time.

I hadn't thought about the CC coming with his kits. I was thinking more about guys who go out and buy one to replace their 5Y3 or 5AR4 in their vintage amps. Why would anyone do that when a rectifier tube is like $7? You can buy 3 of them for the cost of 1 CC. Marketing machine at work, I guess.

Anyway, it's good to find you over here, Richie. Some of us older-timers (not quite old-timers like you :) noticed when many of the good folks stopped posting over there. Glad to be back in your presence, my friend.

[Richie]

Thanks.. yeah i been here for a while, but been to busy to post much. I surf a few sites,and post every now and then.

Richie

[Mr. dB]

Speaking of how to wire up an EZ80/81 when your PT doesn't have two 6.3V secondaries: is it really that bad to wire up the heaters of the rectifier in parallel with the heaters of the other tubes? Is there a special trick for how to use the 5V secondary for the heaters on the EZ81 ? Thanks

It is perfectly okay to run an EZ80/81 on the same heater string as the audio tubes, as long as sufficient current is available. Unline many older rectifier tube designs, the EZ80/81 has a separate cathode, and the tube was designed to survive a greater heater-to-cathode voltage range. So running the heater at ground potential and the cathode at 300V+ is okay. Philips designed it to work that way, and used such a simplified scheme in many of their own products and tech application sheets.

Conversely, older 5V rectifiers like 5Y3, 5R4 or 5U4 are either direct-heated, i.e. the heater IS the cathode, or have an internal connection between the heater and the cathode, making it impossible to share heater supplies with the audio tubes.