Anyone ever build and AX84

Brian Marshall · April 27, 2004, 01:35:25 PM

I'm seriously considering building one of these for my self.

Buying a complete kit is kind of spendy ($200) and there's no speaker or enclosure.

Anyone build one? What do you think of it?

Jim Jones · April 27, 2004, 01:40:43 PM

Hey Brian,

It's a great low wattage practice amp. $200 for the kit doesn't seem bad to me...

Jim

Brian Marshall · April 27, 2004, 02:16:34 PM

hmmm you really think so. I havent even really looked at the bill of material yet. i seem to think that the only things that would be a little spendy would be the transformer, and the tubes.

Brian

Chris R · April 27, 2004, 02:26:10 PM

it comes with the chasis too.. that would be the hardest part for me.

C

Jim Jones · April 27, 2004, 02:44:09 PM

Hey Brian,

Tube projects are pretty expensive if you're not scrounging parts from old equipment. The nice thing is they'll make your SS amps sound like the toys they are.

For example, for the P1 you'll need an output transformer, a power transformer, a chassis, hi voltage filter caps, tube sockets, a pilot light, 5 pots, knobs, 2 switches, etc. etc.

(Using prices from Angela Instruments)

Hal · April 27, 2004, 03:07:59 PM

im thinking of building one too...But then the P1E caught my eye...thats the higher gain version. It seems like thats a new project thats gaining a lot of support very quickly...

we'll see. I need to save up first :-D

Brian Marshall · April 27, 2004, 04:00:10 PM

i already have 2 tube amps... maybe i'll hold off on this one.

jsleep · April 27, 2004, 04:13:39 PM

Quotei already have 2 tube amps... maybe i'll hold off on this one.

As a friend of mine recently said: "You can never have too many amps" He was talking mostly about good tube amps of course.

BTW, if you haven't seen it already both Fransico (tonepad) and Jack (AMZ) have built the AX84 amp, you can see stuff about it on their sites.

JD

Paul Marossy · April 27, 2004, 05:19:45 PM

I want to build that "Octal Fatness" thing that Doug H. just built. That looks pretty cool and I am really interested to hear that 6AR6 output tube...

Anyhow, all of those circuits at AX84.com are cool. I also remember seeing that AX84 build at Tonepad.com

jrc4558 · April 27, 2004, 06:22:28 PM

It's a really nice amp, especially thru some 4x12 cabinets!!! :twisted:

cove · April 27, 2004, 06:35:48 PM

why cant the ax84 be made smaller, alot smaller to look a clone of the
ZVEX Nano Head...any ideas on that....just a thought

toneless · April 27, 2004, 06:59:51 PM

I've made the AX84 P1 from scratch. The site has all the information you will need and they are very kind to help anyone that needs help. The forum they have is fantastic and with lots of info for tube amps.
It's very easy to mod the P1 so it can accept other tubes than EL84. I've moded mine and it can accept EL84, EL34, 6550, 6V6 etc !!!
This is my one and only amp... and it's around 5-7 watts with EL84.

Brian Marshall · April 27, 2004, 07:09:19 PM

Quote from: tonelessI've made the AX84 P1 from scratch. The site has all the information you will need and they are very kind to help anyone that needs help. The forum they have is fantastic and with lots of info for tube amps.
It's very easy to mod the P1 so it can accept other tubes than EL84. I've moded mine and it can accept EL84, EL34, 6550, 6V6 etc !!!
This is my one and only amp... and it's around 5-7 watts with EL84.

how much did it cost to build.

I think i might start putting stuff off to the side, and ordering piece by piece to build it.

althought i'll probably use their circuit board.... i'm not used to working high voltage, Im sure their layout would be much smarter than mine.

Brian

toneless · April 27, 2004, 07:48:26 PM

I've gathered the parts piece by piece so I can't really tell but they were around 100Euro without the speaker and the cabinet(I used my solid state 10watt Park amp

) I didn't used a pcb or any board but made it point-to-point.

toneless · April 27, 2004, 07:54:24 PM

I've used the first layout. They are all correct by the way.
http://members.shaw.ca/house-of-jim/Html/schematics.html

jrc4558 · April 28, 2004, 12:58:00 AM

I built mine from scratch too. Got the specified transformers from www.e-sonic.com
The rest was from the local Electrometronics component store. it IS very simple build. Even with an original Fender pilot light it cost me around $200 (head version). And it IS IS IS an excellent amplifier. I used the Princeton kind of a tone control though...

As to why not making it as small as nano-head - why should we? Nona is a nifty little gadget to have at the studio, but you will not go gigging with it, neither would you use it at rehearsals. P1 fills both abovementioned positions, including a nifty gadget one.
Remember SMALL is good only when applied to one's STUDENT LOAN.
The rest is mean to be big!!!
And LOUD!!! :twisted: :twisted:

Brian Marshall · April 28, 2004, 04:02:55 PM

that's it, i'm going to slowly start buying the parts to build one of these.

couple bucks here, couple bucks there, I wont even notice it. I cant really justify spening 200 on it straight out....... just want a small amp for my shop.

Doug H · April 28, 2004, 06:04:41 PM

FWIW I probably spent around $75-$100 on my Firefly- head only. But that was leaning *heavily* on surplus parts.

But amp building is like pedal building- you don't do it to save money- you do it for the love...

In the same way, as you start accumulating parts, you find that you have a lot of stuff lying around that you can use for new projects. At least it doesn't *seem* as expensive...

Have fun,

Doug

Eric H · April 28, 2004, 08:46:38 PM

Quote from: Doug H
In the same way, as you start accumulating parts, you find that you have a lot of stuff lying around that you can use for new projects. At least it doesn't *seem* as expensive...

Have fun,

Doug

OTOH surplus stores are FULL of cheap goodies that you "will have a use for later" and so cheap you can't pass them up ($1 here... $5 there). I have a LOT of dollars sitting here in cheap, good parts, that I may never use ;-)

Very seductive places

--Eric

Brian Marshall · April 28, 2004, 09:09:54 PM

Quote from: Eric H
Quote from: Doug H
In the same way, as you start accumulating parts, you find that you have a lot of stuff lying around that you can use for new projects. At least it doesn't *seem* as expensive...

Have fun,

Doug
OTOH surplus stores are FULL of cheap goodies that you "will have a use for later" and so cheap you can't pass them up ($1 here... $5 there). I have a LOT of dollars sitting here in cheap, good parts, that I may never use ;-)

Very seductive places

--Eric

I have this exact problem already. I bought a bunch of caps from mouser. film caps .47 1.0, and 2.2. i only bought 10 of each, and put the part no.s in wrong and got 250v caps instead of 50v and got charged like $1 each... it was on a $300 order so i didnt catch it until i got them.... leads are so big they wong go in to bread board very easy.

Brian

News:

Anyone ever build and AX84

Doug H