Feb 17, 2009

The transformers and most of the tubes arrived today. Both the Output and Power transformers are Heyboer's. According to the authority of the Marshall 18 watt amp, http://www.18watt.com/ these transformers are the ones that started the whole 18 watt resurgence.
This is the inside of the chassis showing the power transformer. I'm about 50% complete in wiring all of the connections. I need to finish the rear face plate and install it so I can solder the various wires to the rear components. Since most of the components on the rear side have flanges, the face plate must be in place prior to soldering the wires.

The tubes that I'm starting with are the Sovtek's for the 12Ax7's and the EL84's.
I still have the rectifier tube and a couple other EL84's and one spare 12Ax7 on order.
These are made in Russia (most tubes are made in former Communist countries as their whole military still used tubes, because they don't get destroyed by EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) when a nuclear bomb explodes. So when a nuclear bomb explodes, if there is anything left of this amp, it should still work :)

I also swapped out the cheapo spring clips for these snazzy real spring clips. These will hold the tubes in place a lot better.
The Power Transformer is on the left, the Output transformer is on the right.








Here is the diagram showing the output transformer. The output transformer converts the little signals from the amp to something that a speaker can use. This transformer has taps for 4 ohm, 8 ohm and 16 ohm impedance speakers. The word on the street is that the 16 ohm tap sounds best sounds the best. This might be due to the fact that the 16 ohm tap has more windings and thus will replicate the sound better than a 4 or 8 ohm tap that has fewer windings. This is what I read and hasn't been proven.

This is the diagram for the Power Transformer. The HT taps are at 200-300 volts so there is a lethal amount of voltage inside any tube amp. On this transformer there are two heater circuits. One is for the 3 12xa7's and the 2 EL84's. The second heater circuit if for the Rectifier tube the EZ81. Finally the input's that plug into the wall allow this amp to be run off of 120 or 240 volts.

1 comment: