Pics of my new build Homebrew D'lite or DmbL

[Buschman]

Built with a Hammond a0-29 PT & Hotrod Deluxe Opt. Thanks for all the info ya'll. Amp sounds good but I am still tweaking. I have read that the M150 in there is illegal. I will try an OD .02 there. I originally had a mica treble caps in there. Putting a ceramic there helped bring it to life. I am most proud of the knobs!

[Bob-I]

Looks great. How about some sound clips?

[Buschman]

I could use a bit of advice on tweaking the amp.

I have decided to stay with 6v6' for now. It was just real loud & punchy for me with the 6l6s.
How big of a roll do the B+5 & B+4 voltages play in tone & feel. I am running in the 250v range on all 4 plates. The amp sounds very loud & articulate almost to a fault. I would like to get a bit more compression than this. I don't want flab, just sweet. It would be great to bring out the most harmonics & feedback out of the amp. I am not asking to much to expect Holy Grail from this amp am I?
Voltages are
B+1 466
B+2 452
B+3 438
B+4 380
B+5 376

Frow a search it sounds like less that 200 on the preamp plates is the magic number. Will this sweeten it up?
Thanks!!

[Bob-I]

Frow a search it sounds like less that 200 on the preamp plates is the magic number. Will this sweeten it up?
Thanks!!

I think so. Try putting a 150K 2 watt resistor from B+5 to ground to simulate the FET board Dumble powered from this node. By putting this resistor on you'll lower the voltage and also introduce a little sag on the power supply.

[Bob-I]

Also, looking at your pics I see you used metal films everywhere. Metal films sound great on the plates, but they need to be hi-fi metal films. I like the RN65's from Vishay Dale, Glasman likes KOA Speer's but I haven't tried them. His amps sound great so I'd trust him.

I've also found that 1W carbon films sound best for all the signal carrying resistors. I can't tell what caps you're using, but there's lots of threads on caps, I'll bet you used 6PS and not 715s, they're great.

These little tweaks all seem to add up.

BTW, the knobs look really nice. Great job.

[tonelab2]

Nice looking amp.
How did you get the printed letters on the knobs? I've never seen that before.

[Buschman]

Thanks Bob, 5:15 in the AM. posting. Hopefully you are just getting in from a great gig, not getting up to go to work.

I used the polyester film orange drops. I generally tend to like a little slop in an amp to cover up my flaws. It sounded like 715s were for a tighter sound. It was hard for me not to use 150s.
You can actually here a difference in resistors? I will have to try it.

I like the 150k on the b+5 idea. Sounds like a quick & easy test. Would that work better than changing some power supply resistors? I thought of trying a 12ay7 in v1. That would lower the voltages some but I hated to give up gain here.
Hobby Lobby sells little plastic buttons with the letters in them. They are in the scrapbooking section. You flatten the top if the knob with a sander & stick them on. Then sand the edges off. Just having fun with it. I try not to take things too seriously!

[Drumslinger]

Congrats on the new build Buschman!!! Looking forward to finishing up my build soon.

[Bob-I]

Thanks Bob, 5:15 in the AM. posting. Hopefully you are just getting in from a great gig, not getting up to go to work.

That doesn't make since, I posted at 10:15AM EDT, should be 9:15 your time

I used the polyester film orange drops. I generally tend to like a little slop in an amp to cover up my flaws. It sounded like 715s were for a tighter sound. It was hard for me not to use 150s.
You can actually here a difference in resistors? I will have to try it.

Yes, there's quite a difference in the resistors. There's large voltage swings across these plate loads and different types respond differently to frequencies.

I like the 150k on the b+5 idea. Sounds like a quick & easy test. Would that work better than changing some power supply resistors?

It's about the same response but easier to do. It also matches closer to what the Big guy did.

Hobby Lobby sells little plastic buttons with the letters in them. They are in the scrapbooking section. You flatten the top if the knob with a sander & stick them on. Then sand the edges off. Just having fun with it. I try not to take things too seriously!

Remember that these amps are complete systems, greater than the sum of the parts so all of these factors add up to give that magic sound.

[Buschman]

Yep something is wierd with the time stamp. Your last one is Sun. Aplil 8th 1:48 pm. It's not 1:48 pm yet. No biggie.

I put a 180k on b+5. It only got me down in the 230v range but I could tell a difference in sag. I am going to rework my power supply because now I have to know. Does the position of the 180k help the sag more than bigger power supply resistors would? Are 2 watt resistors stout enough in the PS? I have a 33k I could put in place of the 22k but it's 2 watt.
Thanks for staying with me here Bob!

[Bob-I]

Yep something is wierd with the time stamp. Your last one is Sun. Aplil 8th 1:48 pm. It's not 1:48 pm yet. No biggie.

I put a 180k on b+5. It only got me down in the 230v range but I could tell a difference in sag. I am going to rework my power supply because now I have to know. Does the position of the 180k help the sag more than bigger power supply resistors would? Are 2 watt resistors stout enough in the PS? I have a 33k I could put in place of the 22k but it's 2 watt.
Thanks for staying with me here Bob!

You're on the right track. Yes 2 watt should be fine.

[brownnote]

BTW...I'm using a 220K hanging off that last node to get the V1 voltages right at 200v

[Buschman]

Thanks Brownnote. Is that on your PT with the 300v secondaries? I'm pretty sure mine are in the 350v range. This PT was originally for 6v6s but probably 110v primaries.I will probably use the 220k & tweak the PS @ +4 & +5. That reminds me that I should check the filiment voltage.

What is too high for filiment voltage?

[brownnote]

oh yeah...thats the 325v PT

My first prototype used 350v PT and 18w OT, currently running 6L6's it rawks!
I'd suggest the 220K for your PT, you probably want to get those voltages around 200v, 205v, 210v, 215v, for V1a/b & V2a/b starting at the end of the line.

...people say anything over 6.9v is too high for heaters

[Buschman]

I left the 180k on b+5. I switched out the 22k in the PS to a 36k. Now my plates are in the 195 to 200 range. I like it.My b+ is still nice & strong. Heaters are at 6.5v & nothing seems to be getting hot!
Now if I can just learn to use it. I'm not used to so many options & the controls are very interactive.