Diy tube amp kits of the internet recommendations

[hixy]

Hello has anybody built a diy amp kit which they bought of the internet.i can solder but cant read schematics so something which is fairly easy to work out for a newbie.

 

[snowman_al]

As no one else has been along yet:
I've never had a Chinese tube amplifier 'kit', but I'm sure one or two fishies have.
They look reasonable and affordable, but watch out as most are for 220 volt mains and are over run on 240/250 volts in the UK. Burnt out transformers or short valve life could result. Don't expect high power, the quoted outputs are optimistic(!), or hifi results. Over on the diyAudio site there are a few threads on ebay kits.
I assume you are talking about a power amp, so have you looked closer to home at the World Designs kits? Their KEL84 is at least real hifi when finished and there is a good forum for support.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

I did design a very simple active valve pre amp for diy and put it up on AOS (now gone since the photobucket fiasco) but the people who wanted a first project also wanted basically to be guided by the hand through it ie "solder a 2.5" long red wire to the second pin on the valve base..." kind of thing, accompanied by pictures etc, and this represented more input than I was prepared to give I'm afraid.... More advanced diyers who could read a schematic etc etc in their sleep were not interested as they wanted something more "advanced" I guess...

 

[Marra]

I built an SP14 pre from these guys.

http://www.tubes4hifi.com/

 

[hixy]

Thank you all.I will have a look.

 

[stevec67]

You can fix the 220V/240V thing by adding a "buck" transformer to the power supply circuit. This can be done with a cheap trafo costing only a few £. Alternatively you can replace the main PSU trafo, I did this when my Yaqin went bang, it cost £90.

 

[sjs]

As a first kit with full support and step by step instructions I would look at Audio Note Kits
www.ankaudiokits.com

 

[cubastreet]

Take a look at bottlehead too

 

[Cable Monkey]

Most simple builds are pretty much colour by numbers. A simple PCB with components identified on the PCB itself. Just slot them in and solder. There are bigger issues like telling resistors apart and identifying the polarity of capacitors and diodes.

 

[hixy]

Thank you all for replies.

 

[Ali T]

Transcendent Sound are very good too, worth a look.