What's better than an amp?
Two amp.
I've been lucky to be able to play two good tube amps at once for a very long time. With time and age, it became difficult and stupid to play tube amps. So for the price of a tube set, i bought a boss katana 50W a few years ago. it is always on, cope very well with low volume and was very lonely.
So i decided to build this just for the test:
(https://i.ibb.co/gdyqyPR/map.jpg)
The gutshot is awful but it's basically a unbuffered klon that i decided to use as a preamp & volume control
(https://i.ibb.co/b5Dbr6K/mamp-guts.jpg)
The amp itself is one of this poweramp card sold everywhere from ebay to amazon for around 20 zargloubs from EU or US that i decided to test. Obviously it is given for 10 000 Watts and is probably closer to 10W never pushed past 1/3rd. Enough for home use.
A fireaxe or a B65 would have been a better choice for the preamp section, the klon works.
I thought it could give a few idea on how quickly to build a cheap stereo setup. I use mine in a dry / wet setup where all modulation effect are going to the katana and the dry sound goes to this tiny box. I plan to build another one to add stereo to my delay.
Some of those little amp pcbs are surprising loud. I've built a couple and gigged with them. Push them through a 4x12 and they'll keep up with acoustic drums.
https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=33275
How easy was the transition, sound wise, from tube to SS.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: Willybomb on January 15, 2024, 01:31:00 AM
Some of those little amp pcbs are surprising loud. I've built a couple and gigged with them. Push them through a 4x12 and they'll keep up with acoustic drums.
https://www.madbeanpedals.com/forum/index.php?topic=33275
Cool, yours looks more serious than the one i built. So does the board you use. At least the heatsink makes it look like it. Never gigged with mine and not likely to happen.
Quote from: jimilee on January 15, 2024, 02:26:19 AM
How easy was the transition, sound wise, from tube to SS.
Awful, but it is more complex and nuanced as always. It was a transition from "Thou shalt be loud" to "Thou shalt not be heard".
It took me 20 years to transition from gig player to home studio musician, 1 hour for it to happen, 20 years for me to acknowledge it.
I still have 4 tube amps in my home office and i'll switch them on when it's recording time.
But the bottom line is i built two amps these last couple of months. A SLO100 clone and this. There's two galaxies and a half between the two objects.
I'm very happy with both but looking at the ratio usage/cost is insane. This tiny box is on all the time, that is a 30 buck thing that works very well for what it's used for: an complementary amp.
Do you have recommendations for class D power amps?
Is this maybe a good alternative to the TPA3118? (Do you know it?)
Quote from: Aleph Null on January 17, 2024, 03:40:48 AM
Do you have recommendations for class D power amps?
Not really. I just built this one. I can't compare to anything else. Willy has, if he sees the question.
The one i used is a Wondom AA-AB31471 very much a TPA 3110 based board. I bought after a few minutes of research and founding this post:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/wondom-aa-ab31471-1-x-30-watt-class-d-amplifier-board-review-and-measurements.46972/
I did buy it from a serious webshop as it seems that there's plenty of fakes flooding the different market places.
In fact, I stumbled upon a fake TPA3118! >:(
Next time I know where I can buy a real one.
Quote from: JackSkellington on January 17, 2024, 09:00:33 AM
Is this maybe a good alternative to the TPA3118? (Do you know it?)
It might be alright, but the TPA3116/8 are 50 and 30watt per side amps (allegedly). This is a 3110, 15w a side.
Lately I've been messing with Aliexpress amps pcbs. Hit and miss, had one that was great, but only one side worked....