Freddie Tavares, was the man who smoothed the curves on he the Strat and Tele (and probably a lot more). He had what's called french curves, coming from french cabinet/furniture making. Without him the Stratocaster would never have had the look we know today ;-)
Thanks! Been a long time since I read on that, so not all the names were there when I needed them even doing the video. I washed to praise Leo but point out that others were responsible as well - there is a cult of Leo worship out there that is kind of weird and unrealistic. What the man actually did should be enough for anyone.
@@TheChadPad I think that was after Freddie got a hold of it, but I'm not sure ;-) It's been a while since the info was fresh. There was an article in guitar player magazine, maybe it can be found online.
I only found your channel this week but I can't stop watching your videos. (I spent a whole evening watching them yesterday) They are super interesting even though I've never had my hands inside an amp (other than to change a pre-amp valve) I have built guitar effects from scratch on stripboard, tag board and PCB... and tinkered with my guitars though, so a lot of what you are talking about makes sense on some level and I'm learning all the time. You have got me a little worried about my 15 year old DSL though!! :D
There is a beauty in the visual elements of a handwired amplifier. The first thing I did after buying my comtemporary amplifier ( Blackstar Artisan 30) was pull the chassis out and stare at it. Now I don't know just how beautiful or elegant the design is, or how well it has been executed but the turret design sure looks a million miles from a PCB circuit. A bi-product seems to be a wonderful kaleidascope of colours and jucy morsels.
From Leo: very sophisticated planning and design. I can appreciate your work. I only repair and mod stuff. The closest I came was to copy a Fender Princeton print using terminal strips instead of a grommet board and a cake pan as a chassis. Not professional looking but it was fun and sounded ok. Thanks for your careful and detailed explanations.
I knew the transistor circuit was coming. Dave Gillespie used an op-amp IC buffer in his Fisher 500C receiver mod and he's a pretty brilliant engineer.
Doc Kaufman was an old radio repairman. Leo was also a radio, hi fi, PA & TV repairman, so he had been inside 1000s of radios, PAs, hi fis and more than a few TV sets. MATH IS NEVER BORING! TEDIOUS? MAYBE. MOSFETS work the same way as tubes, as far as the most basic amplification theory. Unlike a bipolar transistor that increases current the MOSFET increases voltage like a tube. EF86s are very prone to microphonics whereas MOSFETS are generally not. What is that one weird cool input on a Dumble amp? Oh yeah, it's a little TO92 case MOSFET! Hmm?
Magnatone remixed their wet Reverb signal with a bipolar germanium transistor that is unobtainium now, so you have to rework those to run with a silicon PNP. (an NPN would work to with a few changes)
I fix saxophones for a living and I get the same blank stares from my real-life friends when I talk about what I do, too. So now I tend to sit in a corner and sulk. i sympathise. A lot of what you talk about goes way over my head but I follow along just well enough to still find it fascinating. I'm also a guitar player. I do not gig any more but I do a LOT of home recording. I don't like amp simulators. I only have one room to record and mix in so no way to isolate an amplifier to monitor over speakers. Since the amp is in the same space as i am, I have to use headphones and the problem is thus: when I get a good, punchy, full guitar sound, it's generally too loud for comfortable monitoring levels, even with headphones on. Is it possible to build a low-volume amp that will sound beefy and chunky and sweet and won't rip my head off? Basically a Fender Deluxe or AC30 that will not disrupt animated dinner conversation? This may be a totally unrealistic request but what I'm looking for is an amp that a mouse would be comfortable playing. I figure that if anybody could do it, you could. Cheers.
Thanks. Honestly, physics work against that. Look up Fletcher-Munsen Curves. It would take a long time to do something that had any chance of sounding any better than a Vox amplug at "mouse volume." Honestly, I do most of my guitar practicing with an acoustic, and when that's too loud, an unplugged electric. If I had to practice with gain and delay and reverb, and that was my primary listening level, I'd get a Boss Katana and use headphones.
@@PsionicAudioThanks for the reply. Yeah, that's what I thought. It's not so much for practicing, it's for recording. I practice pretty much the same way you do. I should have been more to the point: I want a low-power amp for recording that doesn't sound like mushy shit. One that I can put a mic on in the same room I'm in and not have the room amp sound bleeding into the phones. One that has some punch and some crispness without sounding boomy or fizzy. I fear you might say that the only way to achieve punch and crispness is to move some air which automatically translates into volume. Can you modify the laws of physics?
@@PsionicAudio Thanks for that! I had a power soak with an Orange 120 watt monster back in the '70s but it was pretty wonky and got really hot. I didn't know that something like the Ox existed so thanks for the tip. I like your channel for a number of reasons. The honest, informed critiques of amps on today's market, the meticulousness of your work and the fact there isn't 5 minutes of "internet personality bullshit" at the beginning of each video. And no crappy theme music that's mixed way too loud and never fails to get me reaching for the mute button. Kudos and happy trails.
4th, obviously. Whatever. I like your attention to detail and the way you explain it. I might be in the market for one of your builds in the future. I need a versatile yet 'similar' amp in my studio for re-amping.
Hi Lyle, this is shaping up to be a really interesting project, and all done to your usual tremendous high standards. Loving your insights into designing amplifiers and so looking forward to seeing how this progresses. One question if you will permit me, what radial smoothing caps do you prefer in a design like this? I too am concerned about the future supply of axials and besides radials are cheaper! 😁
@@PsionicAudio ever try the new Kemets? i love the way they sound, and they're getting the service life for several series' of caps up above 20k hours for a reasonable cost
@@PsionicAudio no worries, cant blame you for that lol, I'd probably do the same .....I recently read an article by R.G. Keen on this very subject, I was just curious if your choice was similar to the suggestions there.
It's a refinement/evolution of RG's idea. Involved buying a lot of IRFs and other variants and doing a lot of breadboarding. There are components not shown in this video. And I'm considering having those on a little daughter board rather than built into the turrets. PCB is better for some things, and would let me bolt the MOSFET to the chassis, though it doesn't get very hot. Still, longevity is good.
@@PsionicAudio That's a pretty slick idea. If you could make the daughter board small enough or in the right shape(probably both), you could mount it in the side wall of the chassis right next to the tone stack pots. That would give you much shorter lead length and you'd still have all the normal "under the hood" realestate available for other things. That would also probably prevent the switching noise from the fet from sneaking into some of the sensitive parts of the other circuitry too. You could even make it so the pcb included pads for the pots so the whole tone stack could be like an assembly that could be swapped out. That would be pretty handy for cross compatibility between your different models.
Nube question #2 of your build series,,,,, some tecs and amp builders say the mallory 150's are best for fender sound and the mojo dijon is great for the british sound. Also vishay took over mullard years ago. They built the mustard caps. So,,, your thoughts on caps!
People ascribe all kinds of magical qualities to coupling caps. I've done blind tests, and while sometimes differences can be real (in very specific points in certain circuits) they tend to be subtle. The Dijons are too physically large for me to mess with them. They don't justify their size with any sonic juju, and they eat up space between components - and space is one of the most important juju tools in a designer's arsenal.
A laudable introductory statement of purpose; kudos. I'd have to agree with your observation; turning a conversation to notions like attention to detail or a sense of craft will find you alone on the corner couch at most parties. I'm curious, but I hope it won't be viewed as prying; do you plan to incorporate channel switching, and if so, have you found any dependable relays, or would you prefer to construct them yourself to better insure dependability? Just an FYI on replacing an EF86 (you've probably already thought of this); Blencowe's book has a chapter on cascode circuits, and there are many alternatives which should serve your purpose well. Too many great tubes floating around to bemoan the scarcity of a noisy old pentode...
This amp probably won't have channel switching, though maybe. I'll explain that later. The Bassman 50 project you can also find on this channel will have channel switching. In those videos I showed relays in the rough schematics, and for relays I like NECs and a few others. But I usually use optocouplers instead of relays as there is no hard switch, just a nice 3mS transition from 10m to about 20 ohms. I use these to make "switches" which give pop-free switching. Not the big awful vactrols Mesa uses.
I was just about to ask what you thought of Doug Hoffman's work and then at about 5:20 you answered that question. lol I did build a 5E3 using one of his designs and it sounds fantastic and is very quiet.
My ears perked up when I heard Doug Hoffman also. I’ve learned so much from the Hoffman Amps forum, but I’ve been off in other directions for a few years. I’ve done a couple of Princeton Reverb builds starting with the forum layout and used Doug’s modified AB763 for a Super Reverb derivative. Tubenit and others have played with MOSFETS as cathode followers. There were some really interesting conversations on AX84 about other uses, particularly phase inverters (at least that’s what I was interested in).
What’s your opinion of the AA1164 circuit? Do you think there’s room for improvement? Love your going to build some custom amps. What you have shown us, I’m in. What’s the turn around on mine? I’m ready.
@@PsionicAudio Sweet! I bought a bunch of them but haven't had the time to play with them yet. Thanks for making all of these videos. Super interesting content, I even learned a thing or two. I ran off and checked my old fenders fiber board hoping to see some leakage but I couldn't find any. I suspect one amp that I could not fix probably had that leakage - I wish I had a time machine to go back and check it.
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Freddie Tavares, was the man who smoothed the curves on he the Strat and Tele (and probably a lot more). He had what's called french curves, coming from french cabinet/furniture making. Without him the Stratocaster would never have had the look we know today ;-)
Thanks! Been a long time since I read on that, so not all the names were there when I needed them even doing the video.
I washed to praise Leo but point out that others were responsible as well - there is a cult of Leo worship out there that is kind of weird and unrealistic. What the man actually did should be enough for anyone.
Was the original version the kind you see on the patent for the Stratocaster? Or was that after Freddie got a hold of it?
@@TheChadPad I think that was after Freddie got a hold of it, but I'm not sure ;-) It's been a while since the info was fresh. There was an article in guitar player magazine, maybe it can be found online.
Yeees…the beauty of elegance and engineering…🫀🙏🏾🌊
I only found your channel this week but I can't stop watching your videos. (I spent a whole evening watching them yesterday) They are super interesting even though I've never had my hands inside an amp (other than to change a pre-amp valve) I have built guitar effects from scratch on stripboard, tag board and PCB... and tinkered with my guitars though, so a lot of what you are talking about makes sense on some level and I'm learning all the time. You have got me a little worried about my 15 year old DSL though!! :D
I think this approach is brilliant. Looking forward to follow this build. I love simplicity.
There is a beauty in the visual elements of a handwired amplifier. The first thing I did after buying my comtemporary amplifier ( Blackstar Artisan 30) was pull the chassis out and stare at it. Now I don't know just how beautiful or elegant the design is, or how well it has been executed but the turret design sure looks a million miles from a PCB circuit. A bi-product seems to be a wonderful kaleidascope of colours and jucy morsels.
From Leo: very sophisticated planning and design. I can appreciate your work. I only repair and mod stuff. The closest I came was to copy a Fender Princeton print using terminal strips instead of a grommet board and a cake pan as a chassis. Not professional looking but it was fun and sounded ok. Thanks for your careful and detailed explanations.
Have decided that my dream amp would be a studio amp built by you.😃😎👍❤🖖
I knew the transistor circuit was coming. Dave Gillespie used an op-amp IC buffer in his Fisher 500C receiver mod and he's a pretty brilliant engineer.
This is fantastic. Looking forward to seeing the end product.
Eager to see this build as it progresses.🌈
Absolutely love this stuff my friend.. Snowpants
Doc Kaufman was an old radio repairman. Leo was also a radio, hi fi, PA & TV repairman, so he had been inside 1000s of radios, PAs, hi fis and more than a few TV sets. MATH IS NEVER BORING! TEDIOUS? MAYBE. MOSFETS work the same way as tubes, as far as the most basic amplification theory. Unlike a bipolar transistor that increases current the MOSFET increases voltage like a tube. EF86s are very prone to microphonics whereas MOSFETS are generally not. What is that one weird cool input on a Dumble amp? Oh yeah, it's a little TO92 case MOSFET! Hmm?
Magnatone remixed their wet Reverb signal with a bipolar germanium transistor that is unobtainium now, so you have to rework those to run with a silicon PNP. (an NPN would work to with a few changes)
Good to know about the EF86 scarcity.
I fix saxophones for a living and I get the same blank stares from my real-life friends when I talk about what I do, too. So now I tend to sit in a corner and sulk. i sympathise. A lot of what you talk about goes way over my head but I follow along just well enough to still find it fascinating.
I'm also a guitar player. I do not gig any more but I do a LOT of home recording. I don't like amp simulators. I only have one room to record and mix in so no way to isolate an amplifier to monitor over speakers. Since the amp is in the same space as i am, I have to use headphones and the problem is thus: when I get a good, punchy, full guitar sound, it's generally too loud for comfortable monitoring levels, even with headphones on. Is it possible to build a low-volume amp that will sound beefy and chunky and sweet and won't rip my head off? Basically a Fender Deluxe or AC30 that will not disrupt animated dinner conversation? This may be a totally unrealistic request but what I'm looking for is an amp that a mouse would be comfortable playing. I figure that if anybody could do it, you could. Cheers.
Thanks.
Honestly, physics work against that. Look up Fletcher-Munsen Curves.
It would take a long time to do something that had any chance of sounding any better than a Vox amplug at "mouse volume."
Honestly, I do most of my guitar practicing with an acoustic, and when that's too loud, an unplugged electric.
If I had to practice with gain and delay and reverb, and that was my primary listening level, I'd get a Boss Katana and use headphones.
@@PsionicAudioThanks for the reply. Yeah, that's what I thought. It's not so much for practicing, it's for recording. I practice pretty much the same way you do. I should have been more to the point: I want a low-power amp for recording that doesn't sound like mushy shit. One that I can put a mic on in the same room I'm in and not have the room amp sound bleeding into the phones. One that has some punch and some crispness without sounding boomy or fizzy. I fear you might say that the only way to achieve punch and crispness is to move some air which automatically translates into volume. Can you modify the laws of physics?
I cannae change the laws of physics.
But check out the UA Ox.
@@PsionicAudio Thanks for that! I had a power soak with an Orange 120 watt monster back in the '70s but it was pretty wonky and got really hot. I didn't know that something like the Ox existed so thanks for the tip. I like your channel for a number of reasons. The honest, informed critiques of amps on today's market, the meticulousness of your work and the fact there isn't 5 minutes of "internet personality bullshit" at the beginning of each video. And no crappy theme music that's mixed way too loud and never fails to get me reaching for the mute button. Kudos and happy trails.
@@PsionicAudio Just looked at the price...ouch.
4th, obviously. Whatever.
I like your attention to detail and the way you explain it. I might be in the market for one of your builds in the future. I need a versatile yet 'similar' amp in my studio for re-amping.
Let’s go get to building I need some wisdom and entertainment love the channel
Hi Lyle, this is shaping up to be a really interesting project, and all done to your usual tremendous high standards. Loving your insights into designing amplifiers and so looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
One question if you will permit me, what radial smoothing caps do you prefer in a design like this? I too am concerned about the future supply of axials and besides radials are cheaper! 😁
Nichicon or Panasonic low ESR 10,000 hour 105 C.
@@PsionicAudio ever try the new Kemets? i love the way they sound, and they're getting the service life for several series' of caps up above 20k hours for a reasonable cost
Excellent!
Instead of replacing the EF86 with a mosfet, how about using a 12AU7 in a cascode configuration?
Perfect ❤️
"Oh really? That's cool."
Which high voltage mosfet are you using to drive the tone stack?
That gets to the level of stuff I keep to myself. ;)
@@PsionicAudio no worries, cant blame you for that lol, I'd probably do the same .....I recently read an article by R.G. Keen on this very subject, I was just curious if your choice was similar to the suggestions there.
It's a refinement/evolution of RG's idea. Involved buying a lot of IRFs and other variants and doing a lot of breadboarding.
There are components not shown in this video. And I'm considering having those on a little daughter board rather than built into the turrets. PCB is better for some things, and would let me bolt the MOSFET to the chassis, though it doesn't get very hot. Still, longevity is good.
@@PsionicAudio That's a pretty slick idea. If you could make the daughter board small enough or in the right shape(probably both), you could mount it in the side wall of the chassis right next to the tone stack pots. That would give you much shorter lead length and you'd still have all the normal "under the hood" realestate available for other things. That would also probably prevent the switching noise from the fet from sneaking into some of the sensitive parts of the other circuitry too. You could even make it so the pcb included pads for the pots so the whole tone stack could be like an assembly that could be swapped out. That would be pretty handy for cross compatibility between your different models.
Nube question #2 of your build series,,,,, some tecs and amp builders say the mallory 150's are best for fender sound and the mojo dijon is great for the british sound. Also vishay took over mullard years ago. They built the mustard caps. So,,, your thoughts on caps!
People ascribe all kinds of magical qualities to coupling caps. I've done blind tests, and while sometimes differences can be real (in very specific points in certain circuits) they tend to be subtle.
The Dijons are too physically large for me to mess with them. They don't justify their size with any sonic juju, and they eat up space between components - and space is one of the most important juju tools in a designer's arsenal.
A laudable introductory statement of purpose; kudos. I'd have to agree with your observation; turning a conversation to notions like attention to detail or a sense of craft will find you alone on the corner couch at most parties.
I'm curious, but I hope it won't be viewed as prying; do you plan to incorporate channel switching, and if so, have you found any dependable relays, or would you prefer to construct them yourself to better insure dependability?
Just an FYI on replacing an EF86 (you've probably already thought of this); Blencowe's book has a chapter on cascode circuits, and there are many alternatives which should serve your purpose well. Too many great tubes floating around to bemoan the scarcity of a noisy old pentode...
This amp probably won't have channel switching, though maybe. I'll explain that later.
The Bassman 50 project you can also find on this channel will have channel switching. In those videos I showed relays in the rough schematics, and for relays I like NECs and a few others.
But I usually use optocouplers instead of relays as there is no hard switch, just a nice 3mS transition from 10m to about 20 ohms. I use these to make "switches" which give pop-free switching. Not the big awful vactrols Mesa uses.
And I tried cascodes etc. Not the right sound/feel. To me.
Excellent videos! I'd definitely be interested in one with the variable voltage option. Would these be as a stand-alone head, or in Combo form?
Thanks!
Both, though pricing is to come.
I was just about to ask what you thought of Doug Hoffman's work and then at about 5:20 you answered that question. lol I did build a 5E3 using one of his designs and it sounds fantastic and is very quiet.
Doug's forum is pretty great, and he's a pretty damn fast shipper as well. :0)
My ears perked up when I heard Doug Hoffman also. I’ve learned so much from the Hoffman Amps forum, but I’ve been off in other directions for a few years. I’ve done a couple of Princeton Reverb builds starting with the forum layout and used Doug’s modified AB763 for a Super Reverb derivative.
Tubenit and others have played with MOSFETS as cathode followers. There were some really interesting conversations on AX84 about other uses, particularly phase inverters (at least that’s what I was interested in).
1st. Hi guy!
What’s your opinion of the AA1164 circuit? Do you think there’s room for improvement? Love your going to build some custom amps. What you have shown us, I’m in. What’s the turn around on mine? I’m ready.
The Princeton is obviously good, but there are ways to greatly improve it. I'll address those in an upcoming Princeton video.
And thanks!
How Much?
Form follows function?
Not first
LND150 front end?
If I do the EF86 replacement, yes, LND150.
@@PsionicAudio Sweet! I bought a bunch of them but haven't had the time to play with them yet. Thanks for making all of these videos. Super interesting content, I even learned a thing or two. I ran off and checked my old fenders fiber board hoping to see some leakage but I couldn't find any. I suspect one amp that I could not fix probably had that leakage - I wish I had a time machine to go back and check it.
Not 1st or 2nd.....................
sigh