A DIY 100 watt Tube Amp: PW100B

[Tassieviking]

Fantastic work Charlie, I'm so glad your road to recovery seems to be on the right track.

 

[2saddleslab]

Well done, OP!

 

[Al Kraft]

It's kind of a full circle moment for me as I've already done several high wattage Class D builds, DSP based stuff, uber modern solid state pedals, and so on. Pulling these things out of the 60+ year old original wrappers and having them sound great just brings a smile, for sure:

View attachment 7507422

View attachment 7507423

Or a set of spare organ tubes from the mid-60s, clearly never used:

View attachment 7507424

Every time I see old boxes like that it reminds me of when I was growing up (lots of decades ago in the last century) and you could bring your TV and radio tubes to that test station that was in many of the local stores to check them out. When it identified a bad tube you could open the cabinet in the lower part of the test station and grab a new replacement tube.

Of course in the days of the CRT TV sets there were a number of dangerous parts you did have to be careful of even after the set was unplugged. I can't imagine in today's government safety control environment even allowing companies to provide parts that you would replace inside a CRT TV to be available to anyone but licensed technicians.

 

[Passinwind]

Every time I see old boxes like that it reminds me of when I was growing up (lots of decades ago in the last century) and you could bring your TV and radio tubes to that test station that was in many of the local stores to check them out. When it identified a bad tube you could open the cabinet in the lower part of the test station and grab a new replacement tube.

Of course in the days of the CRT TV sets there were a number of dangerous parts you did have to be careful of even after the set was unplugged. I can't imagine in today's government safety control environment even allowing companies to provide parts that you would replace inside a CRT TV to be available to anyone but licensed technicians.

Yep, in my case you could get some aspirin, a root beer float, and some 6L6GC tubes down at the Rexall drugstore on Sunday morning. You're 12 years old and you want to mess with a flyback transformer? Have at it!

 

[agedhorse]

Yep, in my case you could get some aspirin, a root beer float, and some 6L6GC tubes down at the Rexall drugstore on Sunday morning. You're 12 years old and you want to mess with a flyback transformer? Have at it!

And hopefully you make it to 13!

 

[Al Kraft]

Yep, in my case you could get some aspirin, a root beer float, and some 6L6GC tubes down at the Rexall drugstore on Sunday morning. You're 12 years old and you want to mess with a flyback transformer? Have at it!

Our store was Drug Fair in the Ravensworth Shopping Center right behind the neighborhood main street that we lived on. IIRC Dart Drug and Peoples Drug (now CVS) also had those set-ups.

In retrospect, do you think there was a reason they had those things in drug stores...maybe it's a little like the local glass shops sponsoring little league baseball teams...

 

[Al Kraft]

And hopefully you make it to 13!

As a kid I recall watching that discharge procedure with a heavy ground strap attached to a big, well-insulated screwdriver that they would slide under the "suction cup connector" on the CRT. Even when done properly by a pro, the pop and spark usually made me jump.

Thankfully I was always around adults who knew what they were doing and stressed the importance of safety. They also drove home the risks of blindly trying to figure things out without the proper knowledge of a system you were working on.

As an adult I moved on to work with things that were either explicitly designed to kill you or could easily kill you if you didn't keep your head on a swivel. However, I never forgot those early words of caution from smart people during my childhood.

 

[Passinwind]

Our store was Drug Fair in the Ravensworth Shopping center right behind the neighborhood main street that we lived on. IIRC Dart Drug and Peoples Drug (nopw CVS) also had those set-ups.

In retrospect, do you think there was a reason they had those things in drug stores...maybe it's a little like the local glass shops sponsoring little league baseball teams...

There was an ice cream parlor directly below my dentist's office, and he even gave out vouchers sometimes if you behaved.

 

[TomB]

Every time I see old boxes like that it reminds me of when I was growing up (lots of decades ago in the last century) and you could bring your TV and radio tubes to that test station that was in many of the local stores to check them out. When it identified a bad tube you could open the cabinet in the lower part of the test station and grab a new replacement tube.

Of course in the days of the CRT TV sets there were a number of dangerous parts you did have to be careful of even after the set was unplugged. I can't imagine in today's government safety control environment even allowing companies to provide parts that you would replace inside a CRT TV to be available to anyone but licensed technicians.

Even the grocery stores had them!

 

[John D Harris]

Every time I see old boxes like that it reminds me of when I was growing up (lots of decades ago in the last century) and you could bring your TV and radio tubes to that test station that was in many of the local stores to check them out. When it identified a bad tube you could open the cabinet in the lower part of the test station and grab a new replacement tube.

Of course in the days of the CRT TV sets there were a number of dangerous parts you did have to be careful of even after the set was unplugged. I can't imagine in today's government safety control environment even allowing companies to provide parts that you would replace inside a CRT TV to be available to anyone but licensed technicians.

In the South, 7-Eleven's (small convenience stores) used to have tube testers, you just walked up to and used them with "no charge".

 

[bknop]

It's kind of a full circle moment for me as I've already done several high wattage Class D builds, DSP based stuff, uber modern solid state pedals, and so on. Pulling these things out of the 60+ year old original wrappers and having them sound great just brings a smile, for sure:

View attachment 7507422

View attachment 7507423

Or a set of spare organ tubes from the mid-60s, clearly never used:

View attachment 7507424

That is definitely some outdated and obsolete tech right there! But it's my favorite amplifier tech. I have a number of amp rebuild projects that are waiting.
One of them is an old Bogen CHB-50 PA amp.

 

[JGR]

How are the Tocos pots working out for you? Hopefully better than the beautiful and now even more insanely priced scratchy PECs.... I have been using them here and there as well, time will tell.

 

[Passinwind]

How are the Tocos pots working out for you? Hopefully better than the beautiful and now even more insanely priced scratchy PECs.... I have been using them here and there as well, time will tell.

I've used them in a few other things with no drama at a few years in, so keeping my fingers crossed. I've rehabbed some PECs successfully in the past, but it's absurd to have to do that considering what they cost!

 

[Mark Reccord]

I ain't been around much the last few years, great to see you still doing these awesome projects!!

 

[Passinwind]

I ain't been around much the last few years, great to see you still doing these awesome projects!!

Nice to see you here Mark. Hope you're doing well and rockin' some new projects from time to time yourself!

 

[mikeswals]

Such a beautiful amp there, Charlie! That's so awesome to see the process, would love to hear it sometime.
I too love that blue-ish face panel, would have looked just a hair cooler with that one.

I've got tons of those RCA/Baldwin preamp tubes and others all dated '57-'58 I pulled from an organ my old drummer (real estate agent) was clearing out. Have a few more 50s/60s ones I've bought along the way too.

Glad to hear you're feeling healthier.

 

[Passinwind]

Such a beautiful amp there, Charlie! That's so awesome to see the process, would love to hear it sometime.
I too love that blue-ish face panel, would have looked just a hair cooler with that one.

I've got tons of those RCA/Baldwin preamp tubes and others all dated '57-'58 I pulled from an organ my old drummer (real estate agent) was clearing out. Have a few more 50s/60s ones I've bought along the way too.

Glad to hear you're feeling healthier.

Hey Mike, hopefully the amp will make it to the next Seattle GTG. Marco and I may try doing the whole final cab and faceplate with transparent tints, but that part is still a definite work in progress. It's got to sound good, first and foremost, and I think that's already happening now.

 

[Major Seven]

It's kind of a full circle moment for me as I've already done several high wattage Class D builds, DSP based stuff, uber modern solid state pedals, and so on. Pulling these things out of the 60+ year old original wrappers and having them sound great just brings a smile, for sure:

View attachment 7507422

View attachment 7507423

Or a set of spare organ tubes from the mid-60s, clearly never used:

View attachment 7507424

I cannibalized a Baldwin organ with those in it. i got at least 30 12ax7s as well as many other types from it.
4 guys to move it.
Sawed the carcass in half to keep the 15" Leslie speaker intact in a cabinet. Huge power transformers.
Great fun!

 

[Major Seven]

Yep, in my case you could get some aspirin, a root beer float, and some 6L6GC tubes down at the Rexall drugstore on Sunday morning. You're 12 years old and you want to mess with a flyback transformer? Have at it!

We went to the dump and took the TVs apart right there. The last fun part was smashing the CRT.
6L6GC you had to buy those.
Otherwise built Heathkits.

I know there are tube amp kits out there, but I don't know if they would meet the old Heathkit quality.
Do you know of one you would recommend building? For a Heathkit level experienced person?

 

[Major Seven]

We went to the dump and took the TVs apart right there. The last fun part was smashing the CRT.
6L6GC you had to buy those.
Otherwise built Heathkits.

I know there are tube amp kits out there, but I don't know if they would meet the old Heathkit quality.
Do you know of one you would recommend building? For a Heathkit level experienced person?

You apparently saw this as I was editing the question at the end.