SOLVED : Help please on my darling tube amp

sweet & juicy SE amp for 1626 Darlings and the 6L6 family

SOLVED : Help please on my darling tube amp

Postby Chucklesincharge » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:55 pm

SOLVED!

Hey guys,

I have been working on this amp for a little while, trying to figure it out with the help of a few really nice people on this forum. Haven't figured out the problem yet.

Here's what's going on : - The amp powers up and the tubes all light up, but with the sound source connected and speakers hooked up. There's just a little bit of sound coming out of the speakers when I turn the volume up all the way. It's the same amount of volume as when I connect the speakers directly into the rca out of my cd player. So it seems that the signal is being passed through the amplifier without being amplified in any way. The volume knob works in that when I turn it all the way down there is no sound. Also funny thing is that I can hear music when I turn the volume knob all the way up from the transformers also. I know it's kinda cool, but I'd rather have this thing playing louder tones from my speakers : D

I tried to take as detailed pictures as possible, I know I must've made a mistake somewhere I just can't figure out where.

I've gone through all the voltages and resistance charts provided by Shannon and they're all fine. Still stuck on this.

my parts list :

Hammond 269EX Power Transformer
Edcor XSE15-8-5K Outputs
Hammond 156R Choke

tubes are : 2 x 1626
1 x 12sl7gt

rest of parts are clementine board with the standard issue of parts from Shannon.

PICTURES REMOVED.
Last edited by Chucklesincharge on Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby Shannon Parks » Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:42 am

Could you do a closeup shot of that volume pot again? Maybe just go ahead and bypass it for now. Everything looks good to me, Charles.

Shannon
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Hello

Postby Chucklesincharge » Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:53 pm

I have tried by-passing the volume control in the past and had the same effect. With little volume from speakers and music humming from transformers. Although it has been a while and when I get the chance hopefully later tonight or tomorrow I'll still give it another go.

I appreciate any and all input you provide Shannon, and I'll try to get a better close up of the volume pot.

Thanks!
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Location: Portland, OR

Re: Hello

Postby Ty_Bower » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:43 pm

Chucklesincharge wrote:With little volume from speakers and music humming from transformers.


Take a real close look at the way you've mounted the binding posts, and
make certain you haven't accidentally shorted the posts together through
the chassis. Typically, those kinds of double binding posts require you drill
two holes, 1/2" diameter each, with centers 3/4" apart. The plastic bases
have little circles that should fit the 1/2" holes perfectly, and the base keeps
it insulated from the chassis.

Some builders have mistakenly drilled holes too small, and the whole
binding post assembly slips and the metal part of the post shorts out
against the chassis.
"It's a different experience; the noise occlusion, crisp, clear sound, and defined powerful bass. Strong bass does not corrupt the higher frequencies, giving a very different overall feel of the sound, one that is, in my opinion, quite unique."
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WOOHOO! SOLVED!

Postby Chucklesincharge » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:49 am

Thanks TY!

You're right about the binding posts, I did as you said. I re-drilled all the holes made them very large and put them back in. Now everything's working and my darling's playing music! it's a good thing you weren't here with me cause I might've kissed you.

-Charles

Thanks again everyone who contributed.

Thanks again to Shannon and Tom Mcnally, both who exchanged emails with me in regards to my darling. They helped me fine tune it and helped me with a lot of other mistakes that I made in the build process. Now even with the volume cranked all the way up, there is not even a hint of noise.

Pictures to celebrate.

Image

Currently powering my pair of realistic mach ones, listening at quarter volume.

Image
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Postby Shannon Parks » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:28 am

Awesome! Hey - no prob at all. This was a particularly tricky snafu, since the secondary of the output is already at a very low impedance. So a simple DMM check wouldn't necessarily catch it. I will remember this for the future.

Have fun, and hopefully it'll even sound a little sweeter due to all the debugging!

Shannon
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