Yup! Mark is the discoverer of this nice chip! Dana and I have been talking about doing this for a while when Mark mentioned he found a silent ss switcher. Dana made a board and we waited until i had time to build myself an amp
It's great how groups of people work together to come up with this stuff!
Allynmey wrote:
It's great how groups of people work together to come up with this stuff!
That's what makes this hobby fun is the people you get to work with on these projects. I never had the opportunity to talk to Ken but there are a lot of people who have stated that he always asked " what have you done to make it better?" I think that this mod makes the amp a lot better. Allyn had the forethought to wonder what if, Mark came up with the chip to do the job and I got to put it all together on a board.
Noel Grassy wrote:Great job Allyn! I always enjoy your amp porn. Does this one have the tube rectifier under the small boards? Do the 5volt filaments power your SS device? This switching idea should be so much more useable. The maple/bubinga cab sounds friggin' regal! Did you score a lot of those PEC looking pots? Want to sell any?
It looks like the rectifier board is under the 5V supply board maybe.
This amp is using SS Diodes and the 5vac heater winding runs a 5vdc regulated supply mounted on top of the diode board. There is no DC high voltage on the mosfets and only 5 connections on the switcher board. GND, 5V, NC, Com and NO. It really is minimally invasive and only requires the hole for the original switch to be made larger to accept the 1/4" jack. It should be easy to install in any Komet by a good tech. We are looking into making these into a kit that can be used for any amp that has a 5v heater winding and needs a 2 channel switch or fast /gradual switch setup. The great thing is that it is trouble free, no relay points to wear out, pops, thumps, cracks or hum. We'll keep ya posted.
I would be interested in a kit for this as I would like to place this in my Express clone.
If you need any help let me know. My father is an avionics tech and learned electronics on old tube radios back in the 70's. He's been my service tech forever. Resurected my OR120 from the junk heap when we bought it, and has kept my '74 SVT running strong for almost 10 years now. He's not really an engineer but he has lots of real world and modification experience.
leaveitalone84 wrote:
I would be interested in a kit for this as I would like to place this in my Express clone.
If you need any help let me know. My father is an avionics tech and learned electronics on old tube radios back in the 70's. He's been my service tech forever. Resurected my OR120 from the junk heap when we bought it, and has kept my '74 SVT running strong for almost 10 years now. He's not really an engineer but he has lots of real world and modification experience.
I've got the ear, he has the brains
Hey Leaveitalone84
Sounds like your dad and I have a lot in common. I think we have it all figured out and tested but I do appreciate the offer. It's just a matter of getting a board layout decided on and the boards manufactured. I have been through this process a few times so it should be a done deal as soon as we get the boards in. Allyn or myself will post it in the for sale section so keep an eye out there over the next few weeks.
I used this on my first 18 watt build ala Hoffman Stout style and it worked quite well with no pop. However, I like the tone of the BN Lite IIb much better as did my guitar instructor friend. He left with the IIb amp in hand after his last visit to my house. The Stout is about to become an organ donor for another BN Lite IIb.
Excellent build Allyn! Works better than Viagra!
I feel movement!
Andy
Experience is nothing more than a collection of screw ups.
arwokc wrote:Isn't the switching relay setup basically the same as this? If not, what are the differences?
Not exactly. We are not using mechanical relays. We aren't using mechanical switches to ground anything to turn it on. We are using control logic to turn on a SS device and we are using a 5v supply that makes use of a spare winding on a amp that has no recto tube so we aren't sharing our 6v winding with the heaters. Other than that I guess the block diagram would look similar but still a little different.
Dana and I have been talking about doing this for a while when Mark mentioned he found a silent ss switcher. Dana made a board and we waited until i had time to build myself an amp 
I never had the opportunity to talk to Ken but there are a lot of people who have stated that he always asked " what have you done to make it better?" I think that this mod makes the amp a lot better. Allyn had the forethought to wonder what if, Mark came up with the chip to do the job and I got to put it all together on a board.
Does this one have the tube rectifier under the small boards? Do the 5volt filaments power your SS device? This switching idea should be so much more useable. The maple/bubinga cab sounds friggin' regal! Did you score a lot of those PEC looking pots? Want to sell any?
