Legacy Repair Gallery/Blog

[Paul Birkeland]

Much, much earlier this year, I sent out a pair of repair boxes for some "Paramours".  When I eventually received them, they were more like cap coupled Paraglows with lots of Magnequest transformers and fancy parts inside.  Ultimately some flaky hardware was to blame for the issues the amps were having, but I managed to talk the owner into letting me convert these old amps into a fresh stereo amp.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Here's the completed amplifier.  I recycled a significant number of components from the original build, but combined it all into a three sided aluminum enclosure with alder side rails.  To spice things up visually, there's a pair of 100mA ammeters that display the operating current for each 2A3. 

 

[borism]

Looks beautiful! How does it sound?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Looks beautiful! How does it sound?

Excellent, the TFA-2004 is a very solid performer and a big step up from the Speco matching transformer provided with the old Paramour.

 

[sl-15]

Wow that is a very impressive conversion and a neat looking amplifier. Great workmanship!

 

[Deke609]

Ditto. Looks great. I like what you did with the metal chassis and front and backplates. I may poach that for a re-build I have in mind using copper plate (I don't think my existing 30 gauge will stand up to the test of time)

Those output transformers are HUGE.  Why so big?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Those output transformers are HUGE.  Why so big?

They look bigger in the photos than they are in person.  A transformer stacked with all nickel laminations will also need to be a bit bigger than its grain oriented steel counterpart.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I finally got some spare time to work on those Craigslist amps that I bought.  PJ was kind enough to scan and send me his B-glow manual, and he also provided some information on DC heating a 300B from the PGP8.1.  The chassis plates of these amps are powder coated with green vein powder, the sides are 1/4" cherry over plywood since you don't see the edges, and I used a couple of motor run caps in the power supply.  A little extra B+ is dropped by using a different power supply choke, and bias is monitored with a meter so it can be more precisely adjusted.  A scrap preamp prototype from Doc B's basement provided the old school C4S boards that I thought would be fun to use in this recreation.

If you have a crusty old pair of B-glows sitting around, I am certainly available to freshen them up!

 

[Karl5150]

Beautiful.
I like how each restoration is unique: They all require similar components to function, but the final results are certainly not "cookie cutter". Objets d'art, capable of stimulating multiple senses.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I managed to snag a pair of Afterglows to complement the B-glows I built last year.  I didn't take a ton of photos of what the amps looked like when they got here because they were totally smashed up in shipping.  All I have is the "inside" shot before they were sent.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Here's the completed pair.  I went with a lighter green and carmelized bamboo sides.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Inside.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Back with "Big Stud" binding posts.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

And one more.

 

[Paul Joppa]

Sweet!

 

[2wo]

Very nice!...John

 

[Tubejack]

A man after my own heart ....

 

[Doc B]

I keep picturing running those cap cans over my polishing wheel.

 

[Tubejack]

.... black and gray primer was easier ....

Doc, I need to thank you for the inspiration behind these.  I have built many amps over the last 28+ years, but the first was the original SEX amp.  When the PT blew in one (I recall that was a bit under rated), I stripped them down and built your Afterglow, then added JT's shunt reg and CCS loaded driver.  I sold them years later to finance my EROS, and have wished I still had them.  These are CCS driver 6SF5 loaded, direct coupled 2A3, switchable high/low Ik.  No shunt reg, as the 5AR4 based RCLC supply is so over rated for the application (all the iron I had on hand from never realized other projects, like the 20W James SET OPT's) .... anyway, it's my homage to you and and all that Bottlehead have taught me over the years.  Thanks.

 

[Doc B]

Very nice! And thanks for the kind words.