Recent content by Alan W

If you’ve got them around, I’d try a 12AT7 or 5751 first, and see how that feels/ sounds. The 12AY7 will have about half that amoun5 of gain, and then there’s the 12AU7 that’s only got half of what the AT has—so plenty of room to experiment. And yeah, it’s a bit like algebra…. Sorry. ;~)

That’s absolutely worth a try, it should give you a longer sweep in the lower gain range. I’ve done that with a number of amps over the years. A 5751 is just a hair lower gain than that, and my also have some noise benefits. Oh, wait! Is your V1 normally a 12AT7, or AX7? I was thinking AT7 when...

You’ve come to the right place! Don’t be shy about posting problem builds. Take a clean close up of both sides, with any description of what’s happening (or not happening) and our team of sharp eyed investigators will toss out observations. We’ve all been there, and I for one, still visit...

I typically do a light tinning of the transistor leads, makes them a more snug fit into the sockets. And yeah, if I need to cross leads, I’ll use stripped insulation.

I test specific LEDs to find the brightness I like and note it on the baggie. I’m usually in the 6.8k to 10k range.

I'm just seeing the timeline on this. When you say the effect is too subtle, do you mean that you don't get much gain out of it? If that's the case, then you should re-visit it; I think is has about as much gain available as the other "cleaner boosts"—it's main feature to me is that it really...

Take it out of the case again and post close up photos of both sides of the board. Sharp eyed people amaze me with their ability find the cold solder joints… Yes, as you surmise, this is a rite of passage. I wonder if that cable you showed the closeup of is a reverse cable. I’m used to those...

Really one of my favorite drives, but my only experience with it has been feeding a blackface style amp. Close to neutral in terms of tone; I haven’t missed a tone knob on this pedal. With 18 v (which I prefer), I agree about the sag not working as well, but love the more fine grained...

Yes, that’s exactly what I’m planning on. I was concerned that I was only switching one (the non ground) with this style of switch. Even though from a simple circuit view it should be safe, I still had my doubts, and posted this question both here and on the amp tech forum on the gear page. I’ve...

Yeah, I would really like to see Speakon become the standard. The cabinet I’m most likely to use has Speakon, and I pretty much always use an adapter cable with it. In this case, I’ll be mounting the Jack just inside an opening on the back, facing sideways. The amp is so light (~25 pounds) that...

I just got (and will post about it after I’ve had another few weeks to get to know it better) a small combo amp, single ended, from about 5 watts to 15, depending on the tube used. It has a 10 inch speaker in it, which is what I wanted; but I also want to add the possibility of running an...

That is such a cohesive design! Really very beautiful.

Well, I learned a new word this morning😉 But, my apologies. Images are important. I’ve just decided I’m going to make waffles for breakfast. I’ll try to remember to post a trigger warning before posting any gut shots. Hopefully, you can imagine a hot buttermilk pecan waffle sitting on a plate...

And I did it a few years ago with a major (for me) restocking order; I got the wrong series of 1/4 watt from Mouser (my mistake) and they were half watt sized. I got very good at standing them up in alternating directions to make them work on boards.

Pretty sure it does*—with larger wattage resistors having less. In critical circuits you can also spend more $ and get quieter resistors. (Usually along with less noise, you get both tighter specs and less thermal resistance change.) When I was building stereo equipment, trimmed naked foil...