Wow, that brings up my memories of electronics school in the 80s. I went to DeVry.
Hi Steve,
I just one day decided I wanted to learn how to repair tube amps, mainly because we had one in our band that was always giving us trouble. I started building amps and things got out of hand pretty quickly...lol It was and still is a challenge. This little dive into solid state has been a pretty steep learning process also.
At my age, I am not sure I could deal with formal school though I am sure it would be very helpful. I have been considering getting a professional to start teaching me Spanish at a much deeper level. It was never my plan to be here in Miami long term. I have become friends with people I really like and need to get past basic Spanish. Taking a formal class two days a week past seventy was also not something I planned for...lol
You should have not let it be known you went to electronics school. I will be bugging you with questions...lol
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
I am trying to envision what it would be like to have a bunch of firemen as friends, because if I ever tried to build something like this, they'd be at my house a LOT!
Fire is the least of it Eddie...lol Here is some stuff that would scare most people to death who understand it!!...lol
690 volts AC for testing.
110 volts for testing.
No one but me works on stuff here so it is sort of like having a loaded gun setting on the coffee table. I know to keep my hand off the trigger...lol
Last edited by Planobilly; 04/27/2106:21 PM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
The hi voltage stuff can easily kill you. Even when a tube amp is unplugged there can be charged capacitors that can kill you.
Not as dangerous as flying choppers in Vietnam but pretty close...lol But then I often go cross the gulf stream to the Bahamas in my boat by my self...been crazy for a long time...lol
This boat is huge when I have to clean it up. It gets pretty small about 50 miles offshore...lol
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
What do you pull that with? A tank? That small truck seems like it would strain under that weight. Unless it has a bigger power plant than what it looks. Mt friend Andy's boat comes in at 3750 but he has a really heavy duty trailer. One time he was n a jackpot because he had not yet bought his truck and the one he had access to had a blown head gasket, and he had to move the boat to a shop. I offered to do it with my car until I heard the weight, because my max towing weight for my car is 1500. My little trailer only weighs 700 and it tows like it isn't there.
I might pick up a 12 ft aluminum boat with a trolling motor next year. Where I live there are a ton of small inland lakes. I have about 5 just within a 20 minute drive. I have dropped a line into every one of them at some point, but I fish like "Catch fish... don't catch fish... Whatever. I'm just here for the silence and solitude."
Here's a quick map of my fishing spots. And remember, I live in the city. And this is just what is south of me.
The boat is over 10 thousand pounds, actually around 12 thousand I think. The truck is a Nissan Titan with 315 HP and a good amount of torque. The boat stays in the water at our dock behind the house in Marathon Florida most of the time so it is not an everyday event to get the boat out of the water. We have a new Chevy 2500 HD also that pulls the boat a little better than the Nissan. I have installed 5000 pound air bags on the rear axal of both trucks. Both trucks are used to to pull a 30 foot cattle trailer loaded up with claves. Towing has never been a real issue.
I don't know what the future will be. I am getting to old and weak to haul the big fish over the rail. We also have a zillion lakes and rivers here. A small boat sounds like a good plan for me also.
My plan was to be living in southern France by now. It is just not going to happen for many reasons.
Getting old sucks...lol To many "I can't do this any longer" No more flying airplanes, no more working a hundred hours a week, perhaps no more running around in the ocean very soon, and no more four set gigs. Plus I had to stop chasing cars and howling at the moon!!...lol
I can't really complain...like Joe Walsh said "life's been good so far"
Not sure how we got so far off the amp thread but I am taking it easy today, no pressure.
Billy
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
(And you can't blame me if you zap yourself on the 9 volt battery )
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
You guys who can build amps I assume had formal electronics training to know circuits like you do. What kind of training goes into that? Do you have formal degrees in electronics?
I have a long time friend who was offered a 4 year ride to MIT on some kind of Eastman Kodak scholarship program. He DECLINED and went to work delivering appliances for a local business. And he worked that job for 25 years until the business closed. His logic? "I just finished 4 years of school. I don't want to go to school anymore. And for what? So I can sit at a bench and solder circuit boards all day?" And then headed into adult life with constant financial problems. Had he gotten that degree from MIT the world would have been his oyster, and with his creative side he would likely have been designing those boards, not producing someone else's designs.
When the world hands you a gift, accept it with grace and move on.
LOL...well I am sure I could charge up a cap with a 9 volt battery that would wake you right up.
Solid state is great. It opens up a whole new universe of possibilities.
You need to come to Miami and visit me. Plenty fun stuff to do here that I can take you around to do and see.
Of course there is about 10 boxes of old carbon resisters I could use a hand sorting out...lol This is what purist demand when repairing vintage amps.
I am sure I must have over 5000 sorted resistors of several types on hand, funny, I am not sure how it could be possible not to have a 3.9K I needed for this little amp...lol
Billy EDIT: I got these by the pound from an old radio/TV repair shop. They are a bit of a pain to use. They require testing each one (really need testing under a load) and sanding down the leads to remove the years of oxides. I got around 10 pounds as I remember.
Last edited by Planobilly; 04/28/2102:57 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
Here, I'll help. This one with the arrow is a 6.8M Ohm with a tolerance of 5%. Actually, they all look like carbon film, pretty old technology, I think.
(well, just tryin' to help )
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
Here is some stuff that would scare most people to death who understand it!!...lol
690 volts AC for testing. PIC1
110 volts for testing. PIC2
No one but me works on stuff here so it is sort of like having a loaded gun setting on the coffee table. I know to keep my hand off the trigger...lol
Yeah, that first pic scares me a little. There's some juice there.
For the second photo, I have several of those plugs lying around for testing wiring. I ran my own underground wiring from my back yard patio to the house, about 30 feet. I used plugs like that during each phase to make sure I wasn't trashing the wiring as I went.
Originally Posted By: Planobilly
You should have not let it be known you went to electronics school. I will be bugging you with questions...lol
The 80s also happens to be the last I was heavily involved in electronics. I ended up switching majors and although my degree is AAS in Electronics Technology, I had switched over to mostly computer science topics. So I'm kind of a jack of all trades in technology.
You guys who can build amps I assume had formal electronics training to know circuits like you do. What kind of training goes into that? Do you have formal degrees in electronics?
I have a long time friend who was offered a 4 year ride to MIT on some kind of Eastman Kodak scholarship program. He DECLINED and went to work delivering appliances for a local business. And he worked that job for 25 years until the business closed. His logic? "I just finished 4 years of school. I don't want to go to school anymore. And for what? So I can sit at a bench and solder circuit boards all day?" And then headed into adult life with constant financial problems. Had he gotten that degree from MIT the world would have been his oyster, and with his creative side he would likely have been designing those boards, not producing someone else's designs.
When the world hands you a gift, accept it with grace and move on.
Eddie, lots of people have degrees in electronics and many could build most anything they would like too. On the other hand if they went to school in the last twenty years they most likely have little idea how a vacuum tube works. Others have learned on their own. Some like me just jump in with both feet knowing nothing and are lucky enough not to kill themselves.
One of the most famous amp builders had no formal education in electronics. Leo Fender studied accounting at Fullerton Collège. Here is a link worth reading. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Fender
While you will not find my name listed in wikipedia the people who are will likely be just as unknown to you and others. Bruce Zinky, use to work for Fender as a amp designer. Mark Sampson who started Matchless amp company. Alexander Dumble designed what many consider the world's greatest guitar amplifier – if you want one, it'll cost you $50,000. These people are certainly not household names. I could go on listing names only because I have an serious interest in guitar amp, guitar, and music in general.
This little solid state amp I am building I would have had up and running in a couple of days if my only interest was to build a working amp. I am trying to learn some solid state electronics and digging into subjects as arcane as understand what Bypass decoupling path on pin 7 of the op-amp actually means and how the value of a 100nf capacitor was derived.
The fact of the matter is it is not necessary to know much of anything about electronics to build a tube amp or transistor amp . All you need is to be able to read and follow instructions.
There are a few skills like learning to solder you have to acquire. DIY kits are readily available on the internet for sale at various levels of complexity. A million tutorials exist on youtube.
Learning electronics is not super easy but a lot less work than becoming a really good piano player.
Go to MIT if given the opportunity but don't let the lack of formal education stop you from doing anything you set your mind to do.
Learning new stuff can always be a challenge. Many kind people here on this forum have helped me to learn BIAB. One or two have advised me in no uncertain terms to go read the damn manual...lol You sometimes have to wade through some mud before you get to cross the river...lol
Enough soap box....back to work!
Billy
Last edited by Planobilly; 04/28/2106:15 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
Here, I'll help. This one with the arrow is a 6.8M Ohm with a tolerance of 5%. Actually, they all look like carbon film, pretty old technology, I think.
(well, just tryin' to help )
You got good eyes. The 5% gold band does not look exactly like gold in the photo but what else would it be. The grey was not that easy to see also.
They are old...most likely from the 1960's.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
The hi voltage stuff can easily kill you. Even when a tube amp is unplugged there can be charged capacitors that can kill you.
Not as dangerous as flying choppers in Vietnam but pretty close...lol But then I often go cross the gulf stream to the Bahamas in my boat by my self...been crazy for a long time...lol
This boat is huge when I have to clean it up. It gets pretty small about 50 miles offshore...lol
Yes, a 28 foot Contender. My dock is only 32 foot long so to get a bigger boat I need to sell the house and buy another one. My pardner and I have talked about that a lot but taken no action.
I don't need another boat, truefully I don't need this one any longer. The last two times I have gone fishing I have chartered a boat. My business partner is to busy working to use the one we own. We are both old enough that a open center console boat beats us up pretty bad.
Contender is a pretty good fishing boat and for sure very seaworthy. I have been in some real XXXX weather on occasion without issue. The boat has always been a little small for the type of use I put it to. Only 180 gallons of fuel being it's is the main problem.
Perhaps if I would loose about 40 pounds boat life would be a bit less of a problem...lol
Forty miles off Marathon in 1600 feet of water, a small swordfish. Man, just talking about all this makes me want to go fishing!!
Billy
Last edited by Planobilly; 04/28/2108:49 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
Yes, a 28 foot Contender. My dock is only 32 foot long so to get a bigger boat I need to sell the house and buy another one. My pardner and I have talked about that a lot but taken no action.
I don't need another boat, truefully I don't need this one any longer. The last two times I have gone fishing I have chartered a boat. My business partner is to busy working to use the one we own. We are both old enough that a open center console boat beats us up pretty bad.
Contender is a pretty good fishing boat and for sure very seaworthy. I have been in some real XXXX weather on occasion without issue. The boat has always been a little small for the type of use I put it to. Only 180 gallons of fuel being it's is the main problem.
Windows 10 (64bit) M-Audio Fast Track Pro, Band in a Box 2025, Cubase 14, Cakewalk and far too many VST plugins that I probably don't need or will ever use
It is not really much of a wrestling match. This is day time swordfishing. They live near the bottom in the day and 1600 feet is a good depth for them. There is a three knot current so it requires a 10 to 12 pound weight to keep the bait down near the bottom. The only way you can fish at that depth is with an electric reel.
It is a fairly complex process but once a fish is on the hook the reel does all the work to bring the fish to the surface. At that point with a fish of any real size, say two or three hundred pounds or more you need to harpoon the fish and he pulls a big float around until he gets to tired to fight much. At that point you can pull him near the boat and put a tail rope on the fish and drag him backwards to kill him or he may go crazy and kill you.
Swordfish have killed a few people doing this...so it is big game hunting for sure. Everyone I know loves to eat swordfish. I am lucky to get my share...lol
It probably sounds barberic to some people because they only see the swordfish pieces in the store or at the restaurant. Now you know.
Billy
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
I finally got the amp to work, well sort of. The JFET buffer circuit is still not working and I have not received the new JFETs I ordered from Mouser.
My impression of all this is that it reminds me of making jewelry. Everything is tiny and there are different requirements for soldering skills. Solid state does not lend itself to being built on eyelet boards or turret boards or even perf boards for that matter.
Discrete components can be used without much issue but op-amps and ICs need PCBs.
You need some cost effective way to build one off PCBs. One would also need some design skills to prevent unwanted coupling and other things involved with PCB design. As far as I know one off boards are pretty pricy.
The first mistake I made was not to really studying the op-amp data sheet and really understand it. Looking at a 1/4 inch square piece of black material with some tiny legs tells you nothing. This is really different from looking at a tube amp.
Anyone could solder a DIY solid state amp together on a PCB. If it worked fine, but if it did not and you are forced to trouble shoot you would not understand how to do that without understanding what is going on at each pin and why. You need more or less the same info with tubes but it is very visual. To me tube electronics is a less trouble to understand.
I am transitioning from a builder to a designer and it is a huge leap.
Fun stuff...I think...lol
Billy
Last edited by Planobilly; 04/29/2109:56 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig? “Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
Billy - looks like you used pad-per-hole board. While not a bad choice, I personally find it much easier to use veroboard/stripboard as any horizontal connection is done for you. These are quite commonly used by DIY guitar pedal builders, myself included. Take a look at this site for some examples: http://tagboardeffects.blogspot.com/
Generally speaking though, I usually use plain copper clad board and do the iron on transfer/ferric chloride etching route for my electronics projects. I'm also looking into having some professional PCB's produced once I finish a couple things I'm currently designing.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® users: Build 904 now available!
If you're already using Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®, make sure to grab the latest update! Build 904 is now available for download and includes the newest additions and enhancements from our team.
PowerTracks 2026 is here—bringing powerful new enhancements designed to make your production workflow faster, smoother, and more intuitive than ever.
The enhanced Mixer now shows Track Type and Instrument icons for instant track recognition, while a new grid option simplifies editing views. Non-floating windows adopt a modern title bar style, replacing the legacy blue bar.
The Master Volume is now applied at the end of the audio chain for consistent levels and full-signal master effects.
Tablature now includes a “Save bends when saving XML” option for improved compatibility with PG Music tools. Plus, you can instantly match all track heights with a simple Ctrl-release after resizing, and Add2 chords from MGU/SGU files are now fully supported... and more!
Get started today—first-time packages start at just $49.
Already using PowerTracks Pro Audio? Upgrade for as little as $29 and enjoy the latest improvements!
Band-in-a-Box 2026 for Windows Special Offers End Tomorrow (January 15th, 2026) at 11:59 PM PST!
Time really is running out! Save up to 50% on Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® upgrades and receive a FREE Bonus PAK—only when you order by 11:59 PM PST on Thursday, January 15, 2026!
We've added many major new features and new content in a redesigned Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®!
Version 2026 introduces a modernized GUI redesign across the program, with updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, and a new Dark Mode option. There’s also a new side toolbar for quicker access to commonly used windows, and the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, making it easier to customize your workspace.
Another exciting new addition is the new AI-Notes feature, which can transcribe polyphonic audio into MIDI. You can view the results in notation or play them back as MIDI, and choose whether to process an entire track or focus on specific parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
Upgrade your Band-in-a-Box for Windows to save up to 50% on most Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade packages!
Plus, when you order your Band-in-a-Box® 2026 upgrade during our special, you'll receive a Free Bonus PAK of exciting new add-ons.
If you need any help deciding which package is the best option for you, just let us know. We are here to help!
Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® Special Offers Extended Until January 15, 2026!
Good news! You still have time to upgrade to the latest version of Band-in-a-Box® for Windows® and save. Our Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® special now runs through January 15, 2025!
We've packed Band-in-a-Box® 2026 with major new features, enhancements, and an incredible lineup of new content! The program now sports a sleek, modern GUI redesign across the entire interface, including updated toolbars, refreshed windows, smoother workflows, a new dark mode option, and more. The brand-new side toolbar provides quicker access to key windows, while the new Multi-View feature lets you arrange multiple windows as layered panels without overlap, creating a flexible, clutter-free workspace. We have an amazing new “AI-Notes” feature. This transcribes polyphonic audio into MIDI so you can view it in notation or play it back as MIDI. You can process an entire track (all pitched instruments and drums) or focus on individual parts like drums, bass, guitars/piano, or vocals. There's an amazing collection of new content too, including 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, “Songs with Vocals” Artist Performance Sets, Playable RealTracks Set 5, two RealDrums Stems sets, XPro Styles PAK 10, Xtra Styles PAK 21, and much more!
There are over 100 new features in Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows®.
When you order purchase Band-in-a-Box® 2026 before 11:59 PM PST on January 15th, you'll also receive a Free Bonus PAK packed with exciting new add-ons.
Upgrade to Band-in-a-Box® 2026 for Windows® today! Check out the Band-in-a-Box® packages page for all the purchase options available.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you over the phone. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday, and 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST Saturday. We are closed Sunday. You can also send us your questions via email.
One of our representatives will be happy to help you on our Live Chat or by email. Our hours of operation are from
6:00AM to 6:00PM PST (GMT -8) Monday thru Friday; 8:00AM to 4:00PM PST (GMT -8) Saturday; Closed Sunday.
)
Dansk
Deutsch - Windows
Español
Français - Windows
Italiano - Windows
Nederlands
Polski
Português
Svenskt
русский
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
Korean