Eiclone Question

a DIY, modified Mullard 5-20 monoblock design

Eiclone Question

Postby RickB » Sun Oct 05, 2003 6:27 pm

I've been interested in your amp designs and have been considering buying one of the EL84 tube boards, especially after one of the Texas Bottlehead meetings where the amp wowed a bunch of guys! see:
http://www.wardsweb.org/LSB/08_09_03/Houston44.html
and
http://www.wardsweb.org/LSB/08_09_03/Houston28.html

But, economics are winning out, I'd have to pick up all three transformers, etc., and well, I just happen to have two HF-89's that need restoration sitting around!

I pulled out the least scroungy one and spent quite a while looking at it today, looking at online parts suppliers, looking at the schematic, and came to the conclusion that I'd just as soon as start with a new chassis, machine a bit larger chassis, 17" X 14" instead of 15 X 11, etc., etc., and that's gonna be a lot of work!

Since I have read all the posts on the DIY Tube forum, I knew that you have been working on a clone of the HF-87/89 and wondered how far along with the project you have gotten. I figure that if I am going to have to start from scratch that I might as well do it with a circuit board setup!

I'm interested!

In the past year and a half I have built one of the Sound Valves VTA-70i that I got off of ebay without transformers and a set of the Bottlehead Paramours.
See: http://rblank.home.texas.net for more details, and
http://www.wardsweb.org/LSB/08_09_03/Houston28.html for their recent field trip!

Now that I have done the Paramours, I am ready to tackle something else...ergo, the HF-89's!

How's the progress? IF I am going to have to buy everything from tube sockets to resistors, might as well start with something new.

Thanks for the forum and the great work that you have done with the EL84 amplifier kit.

Rick
RickB
 

Re: Eiclone Question

Postby Shannon Parks » Mon Oct 06, 2003 12:07 pm

RickB wrote:I've been interested in your amp designs and have been considering buying one of the EL84 tube boards, especially after one of the Texas Bottlehead meetings where the amp wowed a bunch of guys! see:
http://www.wardsweb.org/LSB/08_09_03/Houston44.html
and
http://www.wardsweb.org/LSB/08_09_03/Houston28.html


I'm quite jealous! Those meetings must be a ball. Glad the stereo 35 was enjoyed.

RickB wrote:But, economics are winning out, I'd have to pick up all three transformers, etc., and well, I just happen to have two HF-89's that need restoration sitting around!

I pulled out the least scroungy one and spent quite a while looking at it today, looking at online parts suppliers, looking at the schematic, and came to the conclusion that I'd just as soon as start with a new chassis, machine a bit larger chassis, 17" X 14" instead of 15 X 11, etc., etc., and that's gonna be a lot of work!


The Eico's in general were made from some flimsy stuff to keep the costs down, but I would highly recommend a restoration. The Eiclone monoblock boards are meant for all new construction, unlike the stereo 35 board, which I originally intended to be for scavaging old integrateds. If you did part it out, you would basically only be using the two outputs and would need two new power transformers. You could probably sell what remnants you have for a decent price on Ebay. I would do this before parting it out. Heck, sell the crungy one to me. :)


RickB wrote:Since I have read all the posts on the DIY Tube forum, I knew that you have been working on a clone of the HF-87/89 and wondered how far along with the project you have gotten. I figure that if I am going to have to start from scratch that I might as well do it with a circuit board setup!


I built a point-to-point clone of an HF-87 last year, then did a batch of PCBs in January. I'm pretty happy with the two Eiclone amps I made with those boards and have been able to demo them with some local tubeheads. But I started a new layout from scratch a couple months ago and have just been fine tuning a couple details. I need at least one more full Saturday morning to go over it 100% and then I'll order 20 pcs (enough for ten pairs). I'm lucky to have Thermion build a fixed bias pair while I make a cathode biased pair - this will speed final testing. I'll make updates as they come along.

RickB wrote:Thanks for the forum and the great work that you have done with the EL84 amplifier kit.

Rick


I'm indebited to all the DIYers. What a great hobby!

Shannon
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