Sorry to both of you who read this.. I’m keeping busy :-) So where are we ? I built out my McTube clone and it actually worked. Here are a couple of pictures : So yeah, she’s nice looking .. I’m a fan of the clean look. The back has the instructions / names of [...]
Entries Tagged as 'McTube'
Real McTube : We have Power.. again
May 9th, 2009 · No Comments · Amp mods, McTube
This time, I have done most of the job (I’m missing a pilot light but I’ll add that later.) As you may recall, I chose to break out the power supply because I thought it might be useful in other cases. In fact, if I were to mock up the preamp of the Crestline Skylarks [...]
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A Little Status
May 3rd, 2009 · 1 Comment · Amp Computer, calculations, McTube, Songbird
Since I am failing to complete numerous tasks at once, I thought I would describe their status Amp Computer The problem here was banana cables. At some point, the ‘Asshole Audiophile’ community got a hold of banana connections and now it’s damn near impossible to get banana cables at a reasonable rate. I wanted to [...]
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Real McTube : Some Notes on Rectification
March 29th, 2009 · No Comments · Amp mods, Gear, McTube
The Real McTube II was designed with rectified filament voltages because Fred found that the original McTube could be noisy if not done impeccably well. The original McTube (appearantly) had the 12 V AC from the transformers going directly to the heaters on the tube. That is the way it’s always done on the old [...]
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Real McTube : We Have Power!
March 29th, 2009 · No Comments · Gear, McTube
Ok.. finally got off my ass and wired up the transformer and finished the power section. That little transformer was cheap and is dead on spec. The rest of my components .. eh. So the B+ voltage is expected to be around 140V with load and 150V unloaded. I got 173V unloaded so I might [...]
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Real McTube Calculations : Getting Started
January 6th, 2009 · 5 Comments · calculations, Gear, McTube
So.. with a transformer on the way, it’s time to start fooling with the calculations. The article by Fred Nachbaur gives you a lot of info, but not a full analysis. I’m not gonna do a full analysis either, but I want to cover some of the basics, and then measure once we are built. [...]
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McTube : Transformer is on the way.
January 5th, 2009 · No Comments · Gear, McTube
At some point recently, I realized that my transformer for the Real McTube had not yet arrived. Why I needed a new one is chronicled here. A bit of looking around showed me that the reason I was not in possession of the transformer was because I never ordered it. I was talking about the [...]
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Real McTube II : Time to start building
November 27th, 2008 · 2 Comments · Gear, McTube
If you aren’t familiar with the real McTube, it’s a one tube foot pedal type pre-amp. It was designed by a guy named Fred Nachbaur and is by all accounts a very cool device. It uses a 12AX7 as a two stage pre-amp in much the same way that many other guitar amps do. The [...]
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