ez wrote:
Yeah, Makepeace is right. You should be fine. Building an amplifier without knowing EXACTLY what everything does (like me) is easy enough as long as you work methodically and triple triple check everything you do as you go. Grounding design is something you should be intimately familiar with, with your background, but reading some stuff on the application in audio amps prob won't hurt (you'll likely be bored by it in 10 minutes though).
Playing your own amp is the best feeling, MUCH more rewarding than playing a shop-bought amp.
I agree there is nothing like playing an amp built by yourself the feeling is addictive. you feel like Frankenstein
I just finished my first amp recently actually the electronics side at least, still have to do the enclosure for the chassis and mount all the trannies etc . The best thing to do Is do a lot of research looking at Valve amp schematics first, this will
allow you to learn the common building blocks that make up a typical valve amp like: the high voltage DC power supply, phase splitter/phase inverter, pre-amp section, tone stack, power output stage, matching your output trannie to your
valves, biasing output tubes, types of biasing ie fixed or cathode biased, grounding etc etc.
one thing I found that worked for me is that I built each major amp section eg. power supply(DC), bias supply, pre- amp section as an independent modules. Tested Each module separately for expected outcome, then joined modules
together and tested again to check for correct operation.
Note: voltages/current in a valve amp can kill you or someone else please do homework on safety first
If you do decide to build one remember baby steps, and kiss all your spare time good buy!
