Hoffman Amplifiers Tube Amplifier Forum
Amp Stuff => Tube Amp Building - Tweaks - Repairs => Topic started by: NegotiateNothing on August 24, 2020, 05:18:56 am
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Welp. In over my head again.
I’ve taken on a TOS and Bluezmeister build. Thinking of building heads and a shared separate speaker.
Can anyone who has built these kindly share any faceplate and chassis cutout docs and vector files?
I’d like to make this as easy on myself as possible and the chassis stuff is not my strong suit. I’d like to just be able to send the files somewhere and get back a punched chassis and nice matching faceplate if possible.
Any recommendations on where to have them made would also be much appreciated.
And also best practice chassis dimensions for either? Looks like 20x8.5x2.5 was agreed upon for the TOS. I’d like to not have to shoehorn components in the back or use mini pots.
I’m building both to tubenits “standard” versions. I think the only thing I’ll add is the relay for the Clean/od foot switch in the TOS.
This may sound nuts but I don’t even play guitar, so a lot of this is lost on me. I’m assisting a friend in building as I have background with vacuum tubes in other pursuits. Making the nuts and bolts of assembly easiest on me so I can focus on the guts would make a huge difference.
Thanks all in advance.
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I don’t even play guitar
Can't tell you an E from a B flat, know nothing of scales or keys. I just have to make guitar sounds to know "i'm close", then I find a guitarist and work to unleash the amps potential :icon_biggrin:
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Progress on the TOS
(https://i.imgur.com/MtS9YuU.jpg)
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Looks good. Do I see some milspec caps? Is your beard shedding? :icon_biggrin:
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I have curious cats.
Careful with that soldering iron, Eugene!
Yes, Milspec or bust in my world.
Some nice old hermetically sealed Mil spec caps- polyp. & polycarbonate.
I tried to use film caps everywhere I could, no electros. The 147uf I may try a wet tantalum. Speaking of which anyone know the preferred voltage rating on that cap? The original schematic posted by Tubenit curiously doesn’t have suggested voltages on the caps.
The supply board I may be stuck but I’ll use long life and derate.
A pet peeve of mine is designing something that will begin drift out of spec in 1k hours- seems like a lot of work for a headache.
Films are cheap these days and getting cheaper, and there’s sensible, small 63-100V rated caps up to 4.7, even 10uf. Don’t see a reason not to throw a couple more bucks at longevity.
After all what good is a guitar amp you can’t launch into outer space?
I guess no dice on some chassis and faceplate layouts? Was hoping to not agonize over “the box and holes”. :-/
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Since you did not get any bites on the chassis request, I'll throw out an idea or two. I do not have a brake, nor do I want to spend time machining metal. So I roughly sketch out the layout for tube sockets, pots, transformers, and size location of the circuit board. Then I go looking for a chassis that'll work without too much modification. I have a set of radio chassis punches, so do not mind adding needed holes. I search all of the usual suppliers - Doug, Mojo, etc. But also there are good U.S. made chassis available of EBay. I've had good experiences with Zachmdhunter, and also Synapticamps. Both will modify or custom fabricate what you seek.
Faceplates - I keep it simple - decals from Radio Daze - Laser pint on decal paper - or a Sharpie scribble! I suspect you are looking higher grade than that, based on your thoughts on capacitors and such. For me, some of the best sounding amps in the world have drifted out of spec - and my ears have drifted way out of spec - so no worries.