Our new preamp kit - Smash

[Doc B]

It will be EL84 based, about 4.5 watts per channel. As usual we are doing things a little differently than others. I will give some more info once we are a little farther along with the project.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

I thought I'd also mention another feature in this thread that didn't make it into the announcement.

With the particular regulator that we are using, I am able to limit the maximum available current that the regulator will output.  For a directly heated tube, the filaments draw considerable more current when cold than when warmed up.  This puts a reasonable amount of stress on the filaments, so by limiting the current draw at start up, we can extend tube life a bit.

It is worth mentioning that this is a phenomenon that tube manufacturers are aware of and design for, so it is not mandatory and we do not plan to retrofit it into other kits. 

-PB

 

[dougmon]

I hope I didn't miss something in reading about this, but the specs say one of the outputs can be used for a dedicated headphone amp. Does this mean one of the outputs can be wired as a fixed volume line out?  Will there be instructions to do this?

Thanks!

 

[Paul Birkeland]

You could wire a Tape Out to one of the outputs for this purpose, but I would instead recommend using the Smash as a buffer to drive your headphone amp instead.

 

[Cleet]

It will be EL84 based, about 4.5 watts per channel. As usual we are doing things a little differently than others. I will give some more info once we are a little farther along with the project.

Doc, am I assuming correrctly that the price range of the new amp will be below the Stereomour?

I cannot quite swing the $$ for Paramounts but I was toying of building Stereomour poweramp - sans selector, volume etc to run off my foreplay III (and soon my Smash).

How will the new amp compare with the stereomour? When I read "EL84", which is a nice sounding pentode for sure, I'm thinking it's not going to be able to compte with a 2A3  stereomour no?

Thanks
Cleet.

 

[Doc B]

Yes, the EL 84 amp is intended to cost less than the Stereomour and give the same or a little more power. We are still working up the design at this point and thus it's premature to make some definitive statement about how it sounds.

 

[Sonido]

Out of curiosity, does rolling the center VR tube do much in terms of affecting the sound?

 

[Doc B]

Rolling the bypass cap on it probably has more impact.

 

[Mr. Davis]

Rolling the bypass cap on it probably has more impact.

Are you talking about the  .1 uf 400V film capacitor? I was wondering about that.

 

[Grainger49]

If Smash follows the FP III regulator circuit a USSR Military surplus 0.1uF@600V bypass will sound better there.

 

[Mr. Davis]

I've been reading about Russian capacitors for awhile now.  Would a .1 uf 600 volt FT-3 teflon capacitor be a good choice?

 

[Grainger49]

Yes, that is just the thing.

 

[Mr. Davis]

Thanks for tip.  However, I think I'll wait for the C4S upgrade to come out before I make any changes.

 

[dht 4 me]

Gosh darn, What an awesome idea!  This DHT thing seems to be catchin on.
Is an all DHT amp in the works?
Just thinkin.......

Such awesome stuff gettin created here. Wish I had more time to play.

 

[Doc B]

Yo Bob! How are you? We are fooling with a lot of different things these days. Actually our most recent release is an all indirectly heated pentode SE amp design:

http://bottlehead.com/smf/index.php?topic=6741.msg65638#msg65638

But that's not to say we don't have more DHT ideas to play with. And DACs. And speakers. And all sorts of other stuff.

 

[dht 4 me]

Hey Dan.  Been busy with crazy things.  Wow , I love the el84. If I were to pick a favorite pentode that is IT!
I wonder how it drives Fostex T50RP's?  Stopped listening for a while when I was soo busy and fired everything back up. Man looking back life is a void without beautiful music!!
Photography is geat but 2 weeks of February in Iceland chasing auroras will kick your butt. Love all the new stuff.

 

[Frihed89]

But that's not to say we don't have more DHT ideas to play with. And DACs. And speakers. And all sorts of other stuff.

How about something DHT to compete with Wavelength's USB Dacs? 

 

[Doc B]

That would mean tacking a DHT output stage onto a SS DAC circuit. We did a lot of experimenting with tube DACs and found a solution that we feel sounds better. You can always add one of our DHT preamps after it and have a DAC with a DHT output.