Latest (Last?) Amp + D-lator Pictures

[ayan]

Hi guys,

Been really busy this year but managed to finish another amp and an accompanying Dumbleator clone. Here are a couple of pictures, in case they can help anyone. There is nothing new here, this is a backup for my main amp, a 100K plate, non HRM, almost identical to #124 and another D-lator clone, since I sold one each a while ago.

Cheers,

Gil

[tubedogsmith]

Gil, what do you have connected in that "open air" eyelet by the presence resistor and cap?

[tonelab2]

WOW!!!! that is real nice work. Jaw dropping clean and neat. Most stunning lead dress.
From the PT wire colour codes it's looks like you've used the 6.3v tap for relay board and 5v tap for heaters. No problem with noise from using heater supply for relays? I tried the reverse (5v tap to relay doubler board) but found too much noise.
Looks like you've used MFs on grids for V1 and CFs on V2 any particular reason or just doing a Dr D and using up surplus parts?
What are the disc caps across the B+ diodes for? I've never been able to work that out.
Sorry for all the questions but even the photos spell quality.

[fabiomayo]

Beautiful job. Really clean. Thanks for the pics. Both inspirational and
god education!

[mat]

Stunning Really good looking build !!! 'Last amp' ?? I don't think so
What kind of transformers (PT,OT) did You use on the build ?

Thanks for shearing,

[heisthl]

Beautiful work - since this is your personal amp why use that expensive period correct wimpy impedance switch when the heavy duty NKK is much cheaper and a lot more robust? Or is it your love for lacing wires among the sections? I'd rather run heater wires than gang those sections together For the nitpickers, I noticed Gil's P/S layout orients the bias cap's ground down (+ terminal) on his board layout.

[ayan]

Gil, what do you have connected in that "open air" eyelet by the presence resistor and cap?

Tube, that is simply an anchor point, as in the real amps. In the case of a non HRM, where there is a single master volume, that point connects to the wiper of the master volume on the “south side” and to the FX loop send jack on the “north side.” In HRM amps, where there are two independent master volumes, the anchor point connects to the channel switching relay output that selects either clean or overdrive output on the “south side” and to the FX send jack on the “north side.”

WOW!!!! that is real nice work. Jaw dropping clean and neat. Most stunning lead dress.
From the PT wire colour codes it's looks like you've used the 6.3v tap for relay board and 5v tap for heaters. No problem with noise from using heater supply for relays? I tried the reverse (5v tap to relay doubler board) but found too much noise.
Looks like you've used MFs on grids for V1 and CFs on V2 any particular reason or just doing a Dr D and using up surplus parts?
What are the disc caps across the B+ diodes for? I've never been able to work that out.
Sorry for all the questions but even the photos spell quality.

Thanks! Actually, the PT is custom wound. The green wires are low amperage 6.3V and feed the relay, and the yellow wires are 6.3V 10A for the heaters. The yellow wire is about 16 AWG and it's almost impossible to get it into the tube socket lug!

The only thing I am mostly, but not always, consistent with is using metal films on the plates and cathodes – although I built a couple of amps with carbon films at the cathodes. The rest are mostly “whatever.” I do try and use a carbon film on the slope and a few other places for “salt and pepper” effect, however, I can’t say that I feel resistor types are any more important to the greatness of sound than is the “luck of the draw” when building an amp, sorry. I built amps with metal oxide resistors in the plates that sound just as good as amps with the Dales in them.

The .01uF 1KV discs across the diodes on the rectifier board help make the B+ quieter by getting rid of some of the diode switching noise which might otherwise trickle into the audio path.

Beautiful job. Really clean. Thanks for the pics. Both inspirational and
god education!

Obridago, Fabio. Tudo encima la no Rio?

Stunning Really good looking build !!! 'Last amp' ?? I don't think so
What kind of transformers (PT,OT) did You use on the build ?

Thanks for shearing,

Well, Mat, I can only hope I don’t build (m)any more. It requires a lot of work, takes a lot of time and, in my case, there is no need to build any amps other than to replace occasional sales. With the fierce competition these days, the only people that will probably buy amps from me are the ones that hear one of my amps at a gig, fall in love with them and don’t mind paying the asking price. Don’t get me wrong, I still get a rush whenever I finish and amp and look at it and play it for the first time, but I think I am at a point where the novelty of it all has pretty much worn off… and I have two aborted retirements from amp building in my resume already, maybe this one's for real.

As for the iron, Heyboer specially would PT, as explained above, and Twin Reverb style, multi-tap on the OT. I have built many amps by now and dabbled with different iron over the last 9 years. It’s hard to make a generalization, but I think I am just as comfortable with Marshall style iron both for the PT and OT – regardless of type of power tubes used. Of course, the Fender type PT lays nicely into the chassis and is preferable from that standpoint, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with the New Sensor MPT 100 Marshall replacement iron. As for the OT, I like the Twin Heyboer, I like the Magic Parts TF-170 Marshall style and I have used the MOT 100 from New Sensor once. The latter is weird, in that the amp that uses it is appears to not as be loud, but at the same time that happens to be my favorite sounding amp at the moment.

Beautiful work - since this is your personal amp why use that expensive period correct wimpy impedance switch when the heavy duty NKK is much cheaper and a lot more robust? Or is it your love for lacing wires among the sections? I'd rather run heater wires than gang those sections together For the nitpickers, I noticed Gil's P/S layout orients the bias cap's ground down (+ terminal) on his board layout.

Thank you! The reason for using the expensive switch is tone in my case, as I have found the NKK switch attenuates the 2nd order harmonics by an average of 1.2 dB more than the Electroswitch (Mouser P/N 690-D4G0303N, $24.45), give or take. Actually, I don’t know what the NKK switch is. These are the only switches I have ever used, before I was wiring my amps with a transfer jack to switch between 4 and 8 ohms. Anyway, yes they are tedious to wire, but I am not sure worse than the heater wires in my case. I use Teflon wires 18 AWG and that is a bitch to work with and thread into the socket lugs.

As for the orientation of the caps in the bias supply, like just about everything else in my amps, I copied The Man himself. For what it’s worth, I don’t see anything peculiar about orienting the caps downward, since the transformer tap feeds the board at the top, which makes sense to me from an assembly standpoint. Flipping the caps around would disagree with the flow of the circuit, no?

Cheers,

Gil

[heisthl]

Actually, I don’t know what the NKK switch is. These are the only switches I have ever used, before I was wiring my amps with a transfer jack to switch between 4 and 8 ohms. Anyway, yes they are tedious to wire, but I am not sure worse than the heater wires in my case. I use Teflon wires 18 AWG and that is a bitch to work with and thread into the socket lugs.

As for the orientation of the caps in the bias supply, like just about everything else in my amps, I copied The Man himself. For what it’s worth, I don’t see anything peculiar about orienting the caps downward, since the transformer tap feeds the board at the top, which makes sense to me from an assembly standpoint. Flipping the caps around would disagree with the flow of the circuit, no?

Cheers,

Gil

The Mouser number for the NKK is http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDet ... WVKA%3d%3d

Your P/S is very similiar to the Funk build I did in which I copied the P/S from the "real" as well. I think by orientating the bias caps that way you could make up for the lost switch harmonics.

[ayan]

Your P/S is very similiar to the Funk build I did in which I copied the P/S from the "real" as well. I think by orientating the bias caps that way you could make up for the lost switch harmonics.

Sure, it's all about harmonics. : )

BTW, now that I isee the picture at the Mouser site, the NKK switch is the one Brandon used to use at first in his D-clones. At some point, he had one or more failures and I suggested he try the real thing. I think he hasn't looked back since, something to be said for double redundancy in a switch, I suppose.

Gil

[tubedogsmith]

Thanks Gil.

[jelle]

Gil, with your track record....that would be 'Latest'

Stunning build! Very nice.

It 's funny though, based on the previous pics of your amps, I can tell by the leaddress that you build it.

Have fun playing it.

Jelle

[mat]

Well, Mat, I can only hope I don’t build (m)any more. It requires a lot of work, takes a lot of time and, in my case, there is no need to build any amps other than to replace occasional sales. With the fierce competition these days, the only people that will probably buy amps from me are the ones that hear one of my amps at a gig, fall in love with them and don’t mind paying the asking price. Don’t get me wrong, I still get a rush whenever I finish and amp and look at it and play it for the first time, but I think I am at a point where the novelty of it all has pretty much worn off… and I have two aborted retirements from amp building in my resume already, maybe this one's for real.

Yes. it sure takes lots of time to build one for sure. Actually what I meant to say was that when D-fanatics/players sees and hears Your amp there is no end of building the amps I guess. The quality of Your builds are stunning. But as You said there are lots of builders these days.

I personally would like to concentrate to playing lots more than building, but always something (reading the ampgarage daily ) draws me back to open the chassis.. It's very periodical. These days I'm back to developing my D-style pedal.

Thanks for the transformer info also.

[martin manning]

Gil,

Just stunning as everyone has said!

I am still looking to start one, but the hold-up is finding the right box. Which chassis is that, one of Funks?

MPM

[Guitarman18]

Yet more great looking builds ayan. If these are your last builds, hopefully this does not mean that you will stop checking into the garage. The insight and wisdom you have shared throughout time has been of enormous value, so don't think for a moment about taking a break from the garage.

On the insight front: when you wire your Electroswitch and daisy chain each 4th lug together, are we to connect all the way round and back to the first lug again or not connect back to start again? I've been concerned that if one of my wires connecting between lugs fails, then I may (without knowing it) have all the OT current hanging on one lug. (Have I just answered my own question? )

Also with your Heyboer PT, does your green relay tap have a grounded CT wire we can't see in the photo? I've just taken delivery of a Twin Heyboer PT with an extra 6.3 tap and that seems to have the green CT, but then without any documentation that is just speculation.

One final point, I see that you have included a standby switch on your D'lator. Did you not say that you thought it redundant in a D'lator?


Best wishes for your 'retirement',

Cheers,
Paul.

[ayan]

Gil,

Just stunning as everyone has said!

I am still looking to start one, but the hold-up is finding the right box. Which chassis is that, one of Funks?

MPM

Thanks for the compliment, Martin and Jelle! Yes, the chassis is from Dr Brandon M., He Da Man! 

Yet more great looking builds ayan. If these are your last builds, hopefully this does not mean that you will stop checking into the garage. The insight and wisdom you have shared throughout time has been of enormous value, so don't think for a moment about taking a break from the garage.

On the insight front: when you wire your Electroswitch and daisy chain each 4th lug together, are we to connect all the way round and back to the first lug again or not connect back to start again? I've been concerned that if one of my wires connecting between lugs fails, then I may (without knowing it) have all the OT current hanging on one lug. (Have I just answered my own question? )

Also with your Heyboer PT, does your green relay tap have a grounded CT wire we can't see in the photo? I've just taken delivery of a Twin Heyboer PT with an extra 6.3 tap and that seems to have the green CT, but then without any documentation that is just speculation.

One final point, I see that you have included a standby switch on your D'lator. Did you not say that you thought it redundant in a D'lator?


Best wishes for your 'retirement',

Cheers,
Paul.

Paul, I wouldn’t be retiring from the garage either way… for good or bad.

On the impedance selector switch, I do not go all the way round. The reasoning is that while a particular contact may fail by opening up (that’s all I think could go wrong with these things), the wires are daisy-chained together at the individual solder lugs, so you would still “close the loop,” so to speak, and reach the other contacts. If a wire fails, then yes, it could mean trouble, but I suppose that holds true for just about any given wire in the amp, right? The daisy chain gives redundancy to each one of the switches themselves, and helps distribute the POWER among all contacts. However, any given wire must be able to carry all of the power at once. The good news is that the wire runs are short, and the wire I use is a respectable 20 AWG type, so not a problem as far as I can think.

No CT on the relay winding. Even in the amps where an auxiliary transformer is used for the relays, the CT is not used if there is one present -- which IS the case with the Radio Shack ones. The circuit I (copied from Dumble) use has a full bridge rectifier, so the secondary ground is derived from the bridge, not the iron.

I have probably said the standby switch on the Dumbleator is unnecessary, as I really feel that way. However, I have always put one in mine probably for aesthetic reasons… but I never use them. I power my entire rig through the rack-mounted power unit, the FX and Dumbleator switches are all on. I do use the standby on the amps, however, most of the time at least.

Cheers,

Gil