If any of you have young children, what do you think of the idea of junior tube amp for the kid's room? I have a rough design for one.
It features:
- Durable white painted wooden chassis with metal back and cover with childish decorations (Fisher Price type look and lettering).
- 1/8th" high impedance microphone input for "singing along" with large volume dial.
- Line input for any source with volume dial.
- Two small speakers built into the cabinet.
- Switch to disable the microphone input or line inputs.
The design uses two 6V6 tubes per channel, my universal driver circuit (dual 12AU7 and single 12AX7). The mic stage will use a single 12AX7 feeding both channels. The line stage will use a single 12AU7, each half feeding each channel. Feedback sets the gain for the power amplifier to compensate for the preamp sensitivity. The rectifier will use solid state diodes.
Tube count:
- 2x 12AX7
- 3x 12AU7
- 4x 6V6
To keep it kid friendly, I am trying to use tubes that keep the heat output low. If reducing the tube count really makes the amps cheaper, I could make the output stage class A. Then transformer costs increases. What do you think of this idea? What would you all do differently?