Modding small cheap solid state amps to valve amps.

Sidecar · 2009-08-26T09:31:56+00:00

Anyone thought of doing this before? Taking the basics of a decent and cheap small transistor amp, and modding to have a valve preamp or even making it full...

Modding small cheap solid state amps to valve amps.

Sidecar

Thats a pretty decent Solid State amp... In my opinion I think it would be best to just leave it as it is? I was thinking more like little 15-25W practice amps... Cheap and nasty ones.

Cannon

Dunno if this is really possible. I think the fact that the crazy high voltages valve amps run on would mean changing almost the entire amp & its components till its at a state where it u might as well have just bought or built a different valve amp.....I'm not a pro at this sort of thing so rather get other opinions on this matter....try asking Karel Mars(on the forum)

aja

The only worthwhile thing to do IMO is to change the preamp section for a tube one. However, a much simpler alternative is to buy a preamp type pedal that uses a real tube at proper voltages (like the Blackstar HT-5) and then use the SS amp as a PA of sorts...

Sidecar

Yeah but thats no fun!

But yeah, Cannon... you may have a point with the voltages.

Thanks!

Heath

you could change the preamp section quiet easily to a valve preamp , if you had a good knowledge of electronics , and could get the orginal diagrams , but really is it worth the effort . best bet would be for a hand made valve amp or a valve preamp pedal

Sidecar

I dont know if its worth the effort... It might be. It might be fun/or not to learn from it. This is just a thought exersize for me at the moment. I think also the point is to see if I can end up with a unique sound maybe? instead of just using whatever everyone else is using (not that its bad of course ? ) Thanks for your input!

Tailon. wrote: you could change the preamp section quiet easily to a valve preamp , if you had a good knowledge of electronics , and could get the orginal diagrams , but really is it worth the effort . best bet would be for a hand made valve amp or a valve preamp pedal

Frans-B--Cocq

Hey... how about making a tube Cube outta a Micro Cube? ? ?

TomCat

I've been thinking of removing the SS chassis from our Vox Pathfinder 15 and replacing it with my 10W Tube design once I have my Tube head sorted and working well.

Gearhead

So... if I understand you guys correctly you do want to build a tube amp but you don't want to build a cab for it? Whaddeye think is the hard part here?
I have taken 4 hours to build a cab and put a speaker in and >2 days to build my first tube amp while having all the parts including 95% finished chassis....

FenderBender

+1 Gearhead

Modding a PCB is a real bitch. Best to replace either the preamp or power amp pcb, otherwise build from scratch if it is an integrated amp you're trying to mod.

AlanRatcliffe

I also think it's more work than it's worth. Use the cabinet by all means if you're handy with electronics but not with woodwork, but a bit of a waste if you ask me.

matta

It is totally doable, but you would need to gut the amp and start fresh... not much they would share in common other than the cabinet and MAYBE the chassis.

I've been thinking of removing the SS chassis from our Vox Pathfinder 15 and replacing it with my 10W Tube design once I have my Tube head sorted and working well.

Already been done ?

Here is an AC4 built into an a Pathfinder 15.

Cheers

Matt

Karel-Mars

I agree with Matt

Take out the chassis and use the cabinet and speaker. For Dave I got a chassis made out of steel to the exact dimensions of the original chassis. Then we fitted a 30 watt 6L6GC amp based on the 5E3 circuit with adjustable bias inside. He got some red upholstery material and redid the covering to his cool design. He seems to be happy with the result. I think it is his main gig amp.

You can keep the original chassis safe, and return the amp to stock by swopping chassis ?

baseline

Hi Guys. the problem with modding is , if you don,t know what you are doing you end up doing more damage than good, when a manufacturer builds a piece of equipment, the make it to a spec. now a cheap amp is in fact just that, ' cheap." so no amount of modding will help you achieve the result you want. if you want the power , tone from a tube amp. save up and buy one, thats made for the job. 8)

winny-pooh

Hi, the sad truth is that you can't. The transformers for a valve amp are not interchangeable with that of a transistor amp for reasons too complex to explain. So all you can really do is use an empty solid state chassis but the majority of the parts needed are still not cheap.