anyone build there own tub amp before?

harrisonmerwin

hey,

i was lookign online at some self-build amp kits, they seem interesting, and you coudl virually make it look however you want. Just wondering the difficulty of these, and if any of you have done it. I wouldnt mine a little custom 30 watt, and this coudl be a cool way to do it

harrison

exhausted

i considered building a marshall 18W clone but decided i'd screw it up and electrocute my self.

i think it would be fun to try though.

sj_2150

a friend did and after a week it blew up

Pacomc79

Mr. Allen of Allen Amps (and the famous kits) http://www.allenamps.com offers technical support and instructions. you can do it, you just need to be careful and follow the steps and be extremely comfortable with soldiering. If I was going to build one, I'd probably buy from Mr. Allen for the instructions and support. I think Mojotone and Ted Weber also offer good stuff.

sj_2150

well hes an idiot, he wont get it right anyway

moemoe6434

I did, i built a Graydon 18watt kit. Seriously, you have no idea how easy it is to build an amp that SMOKES 90% of all amps out there to buy. My total cost was right around $950. You can build them much cheaper but since it was my first build i wanted a kit.

DO NOT do this unless you feel competent with DIY skills. I am an engineer so i understand how the circuit works and i consider myself to be pretty handy in general. THERE ARE LETHAL VOLTAGES STORED IN THE CAPS, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO DRAIN THEM PROPERLY AND SAFELY!

DriftingByTheStorm

sj_2150 wrote:

well hes an idiot, he wont get it right anyway

you write a lot of negative posts.
it makes me sad.
:(

harrisonmerwin

Pacomc79 wrote:

Mr. Allen of Allen Amps (and the famous kits) http://www.allenamps.com offers technical support and instructions. you can do it, you just need to be careful and follow the steps and be extremely comfortable with soldiering. If I was going to build one, I'd probably buy from Mr. Allen for the instructions and support. I think Mojotone and Ted Weber also offer good stuff.

i think i might just order the brown sugar head kit ($999, us funds i imagine) its seems like a killer 30w, with clean/dirt pull switch, i love em, no room for switching, you commit to your tone! i can solder well, but do they give you step by step soldering instruction, i really dont want to waste that money by wiring to the wrong place and frying it at all. If anyone knows please drop a note, thanks

harrison

sj_2150

DriftingByTheStorm wrote:

you write a lot of negative posts.
it makes me sad.
:(

sorry, im usually a very optomistic person,its possibly because i post about things i dont like...

and the guy is an idiot, trust me on that

who's_pearljam?

I never built a full amp, but I built a tube preamp for my stereo and a Theramin once.
The tubehead is a great piece to warm up the digital sound on your stereo. I have no idea where it is anymore, but I bet it would work great for an Ipod in a home system, too. I think the kit is about $100

http://www.paia.com/tubestuf.htm#tubehead

The theramax is just totally weird and cool. I lost that too, but I want to make another one and put it in next to my Dali print, so that when people look at it, they can make weird Salvador Dali noises.
http://www.paia.com/theremax.htm

http://www.paia.com is a great group of guys, and they get involved with Craig Anderton, who builds and has great books on electronics. They have one on of his books on that site.