DIY.....Suggestions?

[Sproto]

I have a wild hair and would like to get started building some equipment, start with kits. I've done a couple pedals and really enjoyed it but there wasn't much to it. I'd like to get started with something more substantial.

There are a bunch of great looking kits out there for DIY La2a's or 1176's which I would like to try but I'm a little intimidated by all the warnings about getting yourself killed (particularly on the Drip Fairchild 670 docs..ouch! but man it would be cool to knock one of those out!). Does anyone have a suggested path to take to build some confidence & useful technique?

I want to build a collection of preamps and compressors, I'm just not sure where to start, I am looking for ideas on the best way to get into this without killing either myself, my bank account or the equipment that I am trying to make? Maybe start with some 500 series modules??

Also, any suggested reading to shed some light on this stuff?

I appreciate any advice you guys can offer.

Thanks
Steve

[MicDaddy]

Tube Reamer

^ Is a simple pedal worth keeping around.

All of the parts are available at a local RadioShack.

If you completely botch it, you're not out hundreds of dollars.

I know you want to build some preamps and comps, but if you've none or minimal experience building/soldering I'd suggest you hit the learning curve of a guitar pedal and move from there, just my opinion. If you're comfortable around a soldering iron, and can follow diagram/schematic there's no reason you cannot tackle an Mnats/Hairball 1176 (awesome, built 2 bluestripes myself)

[AndyFromDenver]

I'm new too. What about a tube guitar amp? A champ or the like. It will be useful for a long time, uncomplicated, and can be cheap if you make the cab/ head and drill the chassis. I went to a local tech and had him hold my hand through using the multimeter and discharging capacitors. It was worth a lot to me cause I needed to see it happen in real life and watch the numbers drop.
For an 1176, you could start the process of acquiring parts slowly and keeping a good record of that, while in the meantime learning. That to me seems like one of the bigger chores.
Also, it seems no brainer, but don't work drunk or super fatigued, it's so easy to get zapped!

[._.]

SG-Acoustics

[._.]

Or maybe a a 240dB gain discrete opamp NDFL-DOA-1 NDFL Discrete Operational Amplifier
SG-Acoustics

[Bluzzi]

I would go for a mike pre at first. Transformerless ones are quite cheap and there are a few projects out there as you know. For some more $$ there are the API and NEVE variety.

Whatever DIY project you decide on make sure it is something you can use right away. Seen many projects just gathering dust on the racks.

...then you can go for my 1084 project!

Cheers

Jim

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

for building guitar amp stuff, I'd check out ax86 for lots of plans, mods, and kits. For a stereo amp kit, Hypex.

[BluegrassDan]

Classic Audio Products of Illinois

HIGHLY recommended. Just look around Gearslutz and you'll see why.

The VP26 is hard to mess up. Sound is incredible! I built two of these along with GAR2520 opamps. Took just a few hours each and was a ton of fun!

Here's what mine looked like during and after building:

[MrMegaEli]

my first (real) diy project was a pultec on turret boards, with tube makeup amp.

If I were to do it over, maybe I’d do the same thing, but with a discrete solid state makeup amp using a John Hardy 990. It would be a lot easier for a first go at it.

You learn about capacitive reactance, inductive reactance, preamps, power supplies, etc.

EDIT: after writing this I was inspired and bought two vintage UTC transformers from evilBay to make a solid state pultec!

[housegezeichnet]

dunno where to start depends on your needs an budget....but finish one project after another and start with full kits otherwise you have very fast a lot of stuff sitting on the bench and everywhere are just some caps or resistors missing and you will take way more time...

[MrMegaEli]

I think you don’t learn as much from kits as actually doing it yourself (DIY). A simple filter is a nice thing. You don’t have to make a fancy point to point tube amp for make up gain like I did, you could make a discrete makeup amp for cheaper and much more easily, and it will be great! (you could make an IC based amp to too, but I’m not sure it would sound too good).

Once you know your specs of transformers, etc, and know what is happening in the circuit, you wouldn’t have to look for BOM’s people post online, you can often substitute parts for cheaper/better parts (new, old, used, what you have on hand, etc) The two UTC transformers I just bought today for a SS pultec were maybe a little more than $80 total. I didn’t look for specific models at first, I looked for the wind ratio and in/out impedance I needed.