On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy
(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled
on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm
just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range
amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all
uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

TIA

Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts.

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book. If
you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will assist you,
I will send it to you free of charge.

John

On 12/2/2013 3:02 PM, John S wrote:
On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy
(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled
on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm
just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range
amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all
uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

TIA

Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts.

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book. If
you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will assist you,
I will send it to you free of charge.

John


Well, somehow my brain elided the fact that you don't want to scratch
build. So, my offer is probably worth nothing. Sorry.

On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:13:52 -0600, John S wrote:

On 12/2/2013 3:02 PM, John S wrote:
On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too
lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps
rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that
crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of
a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the
fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

TIA

Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts.

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book. If
you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will assist you,
I will send it to you free of charge.

John


Well, somehow my brain elided the fact that you don't want to scratch
build. So, my offer is probably worth nothing. Sorry.

'sokay, I appreciate the thought. I have tons of tubes and data, what I
lack is decent output transformers and the will to do yet another design
project.

I may go that route, particularly now that someone's suggested a kit and
I've taken a look at the price (!!!).

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

In article ,
ly says...

On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:13:52 -0600, John S wrote:

On 12/2/2013 3:02 PM, John S wrote:
On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too
lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps
rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that
crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of
a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the
fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

TIA

Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts.

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book. If
you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will assist you,
I will send it to you free of charge.

John


Well, somehow my brain elided the fact that you don't want to scratch
build. So, my offer is probably worth nothing. Sorry.

'sokay, I appreciate the thought. I have tons of tubes and data, what I
lack is decent output transformers and the will to do yet another design
project.

I may go that route, particularly now that someone's suggested a kit and
I've taken a look at the price (!!!).

I think I still have a box of prime used 4-400's around the shop packed
away if you'd like? I know I gave away a couple of them in the past, but
should still have at least 4 of them.
I also have some 3-500Z but you aint getting them!

I'll have to look to refresh my mind!


Jamie

On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 19:25:53 -0500, Maynard A. Philbrook Jr. wrote:

In article ,
ly says...

On Mon, 02 Dec 2013 15:13:52 -0600, John S wrote:

On 12/2/2013 3:02 PM, John S wrote:
On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too
lazy (and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for
nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps
rolled on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that
crap: I'm just looking for something that'll give the audio quality
of a mid-range amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off
the fact that it all uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

TIA

Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts.

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book.
If you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will
assist you,
I will send it to you free of charge.

John


Well, somehow my brain elided the fact that you don't want to scratch
build. So, my offer is probably worth nothing. Sorry.

'sokay, I appreciate the thought. I have tons of tubes and data, what
I lack is decent output transformers and the will to do yet another
design project.

I may go that route, particularly now that someone's suggested a kit
and I've taken a look at the price (!!!).

I think I still have a box of prime used 4-400's around the shop packed
away if you'd like? I know I gave away a couple of them in the past, but
should still have at least 4 of them.
I also have some 3-500Z but you aint getting them!

I'll have to look to refresh my mind!

4-400's would be good if I wanted amplified speakers fit for a stadium, I
suppose.

I have various old power tubes, including some VT-4's, if I want POWER
tubes. I was thinking more on the lines of a couple of 6V6 single-ended
stages.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

Yup. Tubes that are popular with musicians (for guitar amplifiers,
etc.) are still in production in a few factories (China and Russia,
mostly), and there's still an active trade in "new old stock" and
"used and tested" tubes of these types. The 12AX7/12AU7 family are
heavily used in guitar amps, and so remain available.

I recently lucked into finding a big batch of tubes of various sorts
at a garage/moving sale... got three boxes of used tubes, two
emission-type tube testers, and some manuals and tube-data guides, for
the "please take this away, I don't want to take it all to Arizona"
price of $4. A friend of mine glanced at them, and identified several
Telefunken 12AX7 tubes ("These are gold!"). I ended up selling a
batch of seven of them (tested good on his fancy tester) on eBay for
$145!

Sorta hated to let them go, but none of my audio gear is
glassFET-based and I figured that other people could make better use
of them than I.

On 12/2/2013 4:02 PM, John S wrote:
On 12/2/2013 12:58 PM, Tim Wescott wrote:
It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy
(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled
on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm
just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range
amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all
uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

TIA

Good for you! Nostalgia has its place in our hearts.

Can 12AX7s and such still be ordered?

Yes, there are lots of tube types still in current manufacture, and many
types are still available new old-stock.

I have an old 1964 GE Essential Characteristics of tubes data book. If
you promise to actually build your amplifier(s) and it will assist you,
I will send it to you free of charge.

John


You want to have the Receiving Manual too, so you can check out the full
data and curves: http://www.tubebooks.org/tubedata/RC30.pdf

On Mon, 2 Dec 2013, Tim Wescott wrote:

It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy
(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled
on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm
just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range
amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all
uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

How I hate the cross-posting.

PAIA used to sell a tube preamp, or you could have built it from the
article in Radio Electronics. I don't know if PAIA still sells it, but
the idea was to "give that tube sound", and apparently just a double
triode was good enough.

You're not going to find a tube amplifier cheap, the only ones interested
are the high end people. Even used tube amplifiers from days gone by
likely carry a premium.

Build a starved circuit amplifier.

Or, Popular Electronics once had a tube amplifier that was a cathode
output, though I think they used a transformer.

Find something old, and feed the signal into it. People are adding audio
input jacks to AA5 radios. I think that TMC GPR-90 I got last year for
$20 at a garage sale has audio input connections, it certainly has an IF
jack for an SSB converter and I think even audio output jacks, so surely
it has audio input jacks.

Michael VE2BVW

On 02/12/2013 22:57, Michael Black wrote:
On Mon, 2 Dec 2013, Tim Wescott wrote:

It's winter, and the amplifier in my PC speakers just died.

I think it'd be kinda cool to have a toob speaker amp, but I'm too lazy
(and time-challenged) to build one up from scratch.

Are there, by any chance, kits out there? I'm not looking for nickel-
cored transformers with solid silver windings, genuine paper caps rolled
on the thighs of virgins, toobs dipped in LN2, and all that crap: I'm
just looking for something that'll give the audio quality of a mid-range
amplified speaker set, in a cabinet that shows off the fact that it all
uses ancient technology to get the job done.

Suggestions welcome.

How about using a modern semiconductor IC hidden inside the box and just
having a couple of ornamental toobs stuck out the top and glowing. A USB
port should just about power two filaments.


How I hate the cross-posting.

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
How about using a modern semiconductor IC hidden inside the box and just
having a couple of ornamental toobs stuck out the top and glowing. A USB
port should just about power two filaments.

Heresy!!

....On a related note, large crates of 6AL5s have been known to turn up on
eBay, advertised for Xmas lights and other assorted uses.

BTW is "boat anchor" the US term for tube based or old dead kit?

Big heavy kit anyway. It's not really dead if it still works..?

Toob stuff is generally iron-rich, so it fits well, although some early
solid state Tek/HP/radio equipment also fits the bill nicely.

Tim

--
Seven Transistor Labs
Electrical Engineering Consultation
Website: http://seventransistorlabs.com