Courses in Tube Amp building

[Throstur]

Dear Forum Members, I hope it is OK to post the below subject in this catagory :(

I have been asked by the board of The Reykjavik Technical College, in Reykjavik Iceland, to give series of Courses in Tube Amp building.

I think I would start with a kit assembling. Each student would assemble his/her own Tube Amp Kit under my supervision. I will get all kinds of students, so scratch building is too heavy to start with. I could maybe offer scratch building in Course 2 later on.

My idea is to teach 8 - 10 students at each Course and it would probably be wise to allow only one or two models at the first Course. An 18 - 22W Combo and/or 30 - 40W Combo. So I would need 10 complete kits for each course.

My first task is to find a supplier that can supply me with quality tube amp kits. I am talking about complete kits. Populated boards, pots, knobs, wire, filter caps, tranny´s, drilled chassis, cabinets, speakers, good instructions, diagrams and layout, and everything else needed to assemble a complete amp.

Help on this matter would be greatly appreciated. That is, can you point out a good and reliable supplier who could supply 10 quality kits at a time in one shipment? If this Course turns out to be a success I would probably need approx. 20 kits for the schoolyear 2008/2009. Feel free to contact me directly to my e-mail vidisson@gmail.com

Best Regards
Throstur Vidisson
Phone: +354 695 7100
E-mail: vidisson@gmail.com

[phsyconoodler]

To teach green students to build a 40 watt combo is a stretch.For more experienced people it is a better bet.I would suggest an easier kit to start with.
  Ceriatone comes to mind for complete kits with populated boards,but not certain of their cabinet and speaker capabilities.Mojotone kits are superb,but don't come with populated boards.Weber has inferior hard parts.
  The Tweed Deluxe 5E3 or Champ is a better bet.
20 kits will set the school back a pretty penny.20, 40 watt combo kits may be cost-prohibitive.That is unless you have a very large budget to work with.Then there's tools and equipment for each student.
  Plan for success and not frustration.Simple is always best,and the finished product will blow away your students in terms of tone.
  Imagine 20 killer sounding 5E3's running around in Iceland :)

[tubesornothing]

Search the forum, there was already a discussion on this a month or so ago.

[alcee]

If I were teaching such a course, I would scratch build AA764 Champs. During the introductory, theoretical portion of the course, I would also have them divided up into groups, each with an assignment to source and purchase x number of parts.  As they were assembling their own parts kits (just the kits, no construction yet), I would also have them contracting with your metal working shop for the fabricating of the chassis. The woodworking shop should be helpful for cabinets.

In other words, I would put them on a production schedule and form them into a production team.

All the best,

Alcee

[Throstur]

I am tempted to offer only one amp at my first course. I am leaning towards the The Tweed Deluxe 5E3. My budget will easily handle 10 5E3´s on the first course.

The teaching facilities have nice working areas with multimeter's, soldering stations and some basic tools. Probably have to buy some good finer tools, pliers, screwdrivers e.t.c. The idea is to have everything pre-drilled and more or less ready to be assembled, at least on the first course.

The School has offered to give the students a free soldering course before they will be handed over to me. >:(  

Perhaps the biggest question for the first Course is this: Should I let them populate the boards? I would have them go through the boards step by step with multimeter's anyway and mark the layouts before they started to connect anything. Then the Mojotone would probably be perfect.

I appreciate every comment and opinion on this matter. :)

[Fresh_Start]

One of your specs for a kit was "good instructions".  Mojo is great for cabs, chassis, etc. but they do not provide any instructions.  Have you considered Mission Amps or Trinity Amps?  Both offer 5E3 kits.  I haven't seen their complete instructions, but both have very good reputations for support and the build documents available on the Trinity forum are certainly a great start.

+1 on the Blackface Champ.  The Tweed Princeton (5F2-A) is another good choice IMHO.  With either circuit, you could have the students build their own boards.  I don't see as much value from assembling pieces including a pre-loaded circuit board.

Hope this helps,

Chip

[Throstur]

Have you considered Mission Amps or Trinity Amps?  Both offer 5E3 kits.

Thanks Fresh_Start, I will certainly take a look at these suppliers. It is very important that all parts are of good quality and it is better if the kits come with good instructions. Saves time. Yes I agree, the course would have more value for the students if they populate their own boards
T

[jacodaro]

I would have them build the boards from scratch. That should get their attention.

[RicharD]

This topic came up before.  As much as I like the idea, I think I had more questions than suggestions.  Given that you're in Iceland, I would think that it is critical to have all supplies on hand before you start.  I'm guessing shipping is a bit of a drag.

As with any class, you need to have a realistic lesson plan.  I guess you need to start with what's concrete:

1.  Exactly what you want to teach.
2.  Budget for supplies.
3.  Class size.
4.  Actual duration of the class.
........

4.  How long is each class session and how many times are you meeting?

This is a biggie.  If you are meeting for 1 hour once a week for 6 weeks, then your project needs to be super simple.  I would calculate time something like
time it'd take you to build the project * 4 * number of students

3.  Class size and skill level.  The more people, the greater the chance of something going wrong.  I'd guess there'll be people in the class that have never soldered in their life and couldn't tell the difference between a 100K resistor, a 10K resistor, and a diode.

2.  I wouldn't blow your entire budget.  You're gonna need extra parts.  I pull leads off of capacitors, drop tubes, etc...  Let us not forget soldering irons & test equipment.

1.  It sounds like you want to teach a kit building class which is a cool fun place to start, but there are other very important thangs you need to instruct.  First and foremost, SAFETY.  I'll spare you my sermon on this one.  Of course there's soldering skills, schematic reading, AC & DC theory, bla bla bla....

Good luck.  Please share your lesson plan with us as well as how thangs go.

-Richard