Two 35s under construction

[Ed Brown]

I have two units under construction, one board in hand, the other is on the way. Got all the board mounted components (from Mouser) for 5!
Still waiting for output transformers to arrive from www.handwoundtransformers.com, plus I might get a couple of Hammond
1650Es just for "transformer rolling". ANd several different brands of EL34s, 6BQ5s and SV83s for "tube rolling". SV83 will tale a minor wire jumper mod at the tube socket, no biggie, plus the 2nd grid likes to see 200VDC or less, again, no biggie.

What got me started here was that my Dad recently gave me an NOS, MIB Dynaco ST-35 kit, unbuilt, all in the original box. I put that together a fw weeks ago, and was so impressed, that I started scanning E-bay for another, and found diytube.com in the process.

Way back, in the paleolithic ages (around 1967) when dinosaurs still walked the earth, and tubes were king, my dad had a hobby/business in Needham Mass, and he sold audio gear, including DynaKits. I was pretty well versed in HeathKit building (built all his test equipment, and I have all that now). Didn't take too long before friends, teachers, etc wanted to buy Dyna gear, so I made them a deal: They buy the kit, I'd build it and get it working, and they'd pay me half the price difference between kit and factory wired.

/ed brown in NH

[EWBrown]

:twisted: for some strange cybernetic moment of silicon insanity (see, I said tubes are better), I couldn't post with myusername, so I aliased as Ed Brown, now it seems to work OK.


The weird title also includes some of my other forums usernames.

Ed Brown in NH

[Shannon Parks]

Ed,
You actually charged them to have all the fun of putting the kit togther? :wink:
A modern day Tom Sawyer....

BTW, you didn't cut the transformer leads real short on those Dynaco transformers, did you? :)

shannon

[dav999]

fwiw,
I've heard, and am experiencing, that handwoundtransformers can take a while to fill orders. I ordered a set of transformers from them about five weeks ago and still haven't seen hide nor hair of them...I do hear they do good work, though.

[Shannon Parks]

Yep - he can be very slow. I would budget 5 weeks (or more) as Dave says. I wonder how his SE trannies are?

Shannon

[DG]

Hi Ed.

I'm a novice to this stuff but have been very interested in using the SV83 tube. I didn't quite understand how to convert. Perhaps, if it's not too much trouble you could explain it to a relative newbie specifically what you have to "jump" and how/where to lower voltage. If it's not too much trouble that is. I haven't gotten any further than drilling the chassis, getting the sockets all soldered and building a nice wooden case to house the hammond chassis. My son and family are down for the rest of the week and besides, fedex lost my EL84 tubes. They ended up in denver and with the snow, probably haven't moved from there yet.
So, I have time to figure out what to do to use SV83's if you or Shannon would be kind enough to show me the way so to speak. Thanks!

[Shannon Parks]

DG,
See the new thread.

Shannon

[EWBrown]

:D The second board and parts arrived yesterday. I didn't log on from home yesterday, so I 'll be a day or two erplying there and feedbagging on E-bay :wink:

The new SV83 thread says it far better thanI could...

The Dynaco was NIB, it is 100% original as they meant it to be way back then. THose will stay in the ST-35 - forever. :twisted:

I have two Hammond 1650Fs and another 272FX coming, plus the two HWT 25 watters - I was told 4 to 6 weeks on those, and that was the last
week of February, so I would SWAG 2 to 3 more weex, which ill be JIT for my 2nd unit. I noticed on HWT's feedback that some transformers seem to ship pretty quickly, they must keep a stock on hand for the more popular ones, then wind-to-order the rest.

I missed out on a bargain pair of Dyna ST-35 outputs, on E-bay, the opener was $9.99 and no one bid. The leads were cut a bit short, but that wouldn't be a problem withthe Blue Board. I coulda been a contenda...

Another paiir went for around 60, and that had the original cloth insulated wires replaced with teflon. also missed that one. Oh, well, there'll be more in the future.

/ed Brown

[EWBrown]

Got Big Blue Board #2 completed (except for 2 20 pF caps, which I have coming) this weekend, plus measured and marked the two 12X8X3 inch chassis for drilling and punching. Still waiting for 2 output transformers from HWT (man, are they s...l...o...w... with delivery).

Also nearly finished small SE SV83 amp #2 aand assembling replacement
PC-3 board for my Dynakit ST-70. Still waiting on a few critical parts for that, should be in this week (hopefully).


After all that gets done, I hope to start on some more powerful SE amps,
at the last weekend of APril, there is a local antique radio swapmeet, and the weekend after that, the (in)famous "Hosstraders"hamfest /swapmeet / beerfest in Hopkinton. NH.

THose two events should be great for parts and tube hunting :twisted:

/ed brown in NH

[Shannon Parks]

Like what do you have in mind here, Ed?
Do you mean "more powerful than the SE SV83" or are you getting some old transmitting tubes from the hamfest to make some SE beast? Just curious! :)

Shannon

[EWBrown]

Just like Tool Time Tim Taylor....

I'm looking for good SE type tubes, like 2A3, 300Bs,6B4GT, etc. Not all of the tube vendors have figured out which are the more "desirable" audiophile tubes, the ones who have ask very steep prices. My last good find was a full "sleeve" of 5 NIB NOS 6CA7s for a $5 total, a few years ago. I figure to keep some for my own use, and sell off any extras that I may have after the fact. Plus, I'll look for other tubes that could be good for SE projects, like 807s, 811As, 1625s, 6146s, 845s etc.

While doing a bit of cellar archaeology last night, I "re-discovered" a couple of hefty military spec plate power transformers I forgot I had. The smaller one is 900VAC CT @ 250 mA, the bigger one is 2KV AC CT @ 500 mA. There are more transformers from this lot, they were cannabilized out of a 1950s vintage UHF AM transmitter and modulator rack. These two
behemoths don't have filament voltage windings, just HV AC. 117 VAC primaries on both. These will definitely require a heavy gauge steel chassis, as most aluminum chassis would collapes under these monsters. :twisted:
If I remember right, the "green behemoth" that these came out of, used 2 4X150s P-P in the modulator, and 2 in parallel in the transmitter. Serious wattage... :twisted:

/ed brown in NH :twisted:

[EWBrown]

:x It's been six weeks now, still waiting.......................................
I see that HWT is starting to "collect" negative and neutral feedbacks,
all complaining about their glacial pace of delivery.

I just hope this isn't yet another internet scam in progress... :evil:

/ed B in NH

[gogzhad]

I just passed the eight week mark...I'll let you know when they turn up...

[DG]

I wouldn't give up just yet guys :-) .... seems he always delivers, eventually. What "bothers" me, is that I just saw one of his listings on ebay and went to check his feedback. He has a few negatives for slow delivery of trannys he's sold on ebay ...... he really shouldn't be selling on ebay what he cannot immediately ship. That seems pretty unscrupulous to me. ....... Glad I bought that hammonds. Don't know how much better the Handwound's would sound but patience isn't a big part of my make-up ..... I'd be bouncing off the walls by now :-)

Hang in there ..... atleast it looks like he does eventually deliver a nice product.

[Shannon Parks]

I feel partly to blame, guys - I just had hoped he had gotten his act together. I guess cheap prices aren't worth the wait. Here's my story: I ordered a pair from him a year ago and waited 5-6 weeks. I emailed him and he said he had forgotten. Cool - no biggie. I got them a week later - they were the wrong ones. :evil:
Maybe I'll take the link down now.....

:oops: Shannon