Poundland 45
- Cressy Snr
- Amstrad Tower of Power
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#1 Poundland 45
The top of my existing 45 amplifier has been hacked about so much that it resembles a colander. The chassis has seen everything and has been weighed down with a ton of iron in the past, hence all the holes.
I decided to look into a building more compact setup: neater, no screws visible and more in keeping with the dinky dimensions of the valves themselves.
As a result of this pondering, I came up with this: It’s a midi-sized component, made from a translam construction using seven bamboo chopping boards I got from Poundland for £2 each. Five of them have had their middles jigsawed out, to make a set of half-inch thick frames and two have been left solid to serve as top and bottom panels. Over the past week, six have been stacked, glued, clamped and sanded to within an inch of their lives, with the seventh (bottom panel) made detachable. I’ll detail the build as usual, but the circuit and power supply themselves are just the same as before, so not much new there.
As for the original walnut chassis; once this translam construction has been wired up and brought into service, I’ll let our Ant have it and maybe, with a new top-plate he can use it to house the breadboard he bought from Ed. It should easily be big enough, to make an attractive housing for the audio circuit at least.
Onwards! as they say.
I decided to look into a building more compact setup: neater, no screws visible and more in keeping with the dinky dimensions of the valves themselves.
As a result of this pondering, I came up with this: It’s a midi-sized component, made from a translam construction using seven bamboo chopping boards I got from Poundland for £2 each. Five of them have had their middles jigsawed out, to make a set of half-inch thick frames and two have been left solid to serve as top and bottom panels. Over the past week, six have been stacked, glued, clamped and sanded to within an inch of their lives, with the seventh (bottom panel) made detachable. I’ll detail the build as usual, but the circuit and power supply themselves are just the same as before, so not much new there.
As for the original walnut chassis; once this translam construction has been wired up and brought into service, I’ll let our Ant have it and maybe, with a new top-plate he can use it to house the breadboard he bought from Ed. It should easily be big enough, to make an attractive housing for the audio circuit at least.
Onwards! as they say.
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.
#2 Re: Poundland 45
That looks nice Steve, Coincidentally I was looking at cutting boards yesterday as I will need a front panel for the new Follower I'm working on - yep, solid state, similar to the MoFo but using Tokin SIT devices.
Sorry, I couldn't resist!
- Cressy Snr
- Amstrad Tower of Power
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#4 Re: Poundland 45
Here is the schematic for the amp:
I've tried not to skimp on the audio circuit components, but the coupling caps are guitar amp jobbies, and the valve sockets are bog standard nickel plated Chinese units. The 45s from Paul and Mr I are of course not budget and the black Gate WKz final PSU cap is a loaner from Nick so I'm not counting that as budget either.
In terms of driver valves, it's just an ECC88 with both channels in a single bottle. It's a Philips Holland NOS, so not modern production. It does however sound great in the amp that exists at the moment. I also have a few Miniwatt PCC88s with the 7V heater, so I'm good for a long time with these. These were part of a package of valves I got from Shaman of this parish last year (or was it 2019?)
The underside of the top panel is part of a stainless steel, door kick plate I picked up for a few quid and everything will attach to that from below with self tappers apart from the earth bond and the 0V signal bond. These will be on bolts, with recesses for the heads sunk into the underneath of the wooden top plate.
Once this is built, there is no scope for changing the driver valve. To mod it apart from maybe coupling cap changes will be nigh on impossible. This is how I want it, as I want this to last me a long time. I've proven the circuit to my satisfaction and am more than happy with the sound quality. There seems little to be gained by going beyond this point unless I spend very big (which I can't) and I want some stability in the old sound system, so I can sit back and appreciate what I've got, thanks to some really rather generous people.
It's a 'Poundland' in more ways than one. Of course the case is made from Poundland chopping boards as previously mentioned, but also the output transformers are a pair of push-pull ones I rebuilt myself as single ended. I've tried not to skimp on the audio circuit components, but the coupling caps are guitar amp jobbies, and the valve sockets are bog standard nickel plated Chinese units. The 45s from Paul and Mr I are of course not budget and the black Gate WKz final PSU cap is a loaner from Nick so I'm not counting that as budget either.
In terms of driver valves, it's just an ECC88 with both channels in a single bottle. It's a Philips Holland NOS, so not modern production. It does however sound great in the amp that exists at the moment. I also have a few Miniwatt PCC88s with the 7V heater, so I'm good for a long time with these. These were part of a package of valves I got from Shaman of this parish last year (or was it 2019?)
The underside of the top panel is part of a stainless steel, door kick plate I picked up for a few quid and everything will attach to that from below with self tappers apart from the earth bond and the 0V signal bond. These will be on bolts, with recesses for the heads sunk into the underneath of the wooden top plate.
Once this is built, there is no scope for changing the driver valve. To mod it apart from maybe coupling cap changes will be nigh on impossible. This is how I want it, as I want this to last me a long time. I've proven the circuit to my satisfaction and am more than happy with the sound quality. There seems little to be gained by going beyond this point unless I spend very big (which I can't) and I want some stability in the old sound system, so I can sit back and appreciate what I've got, thanks to some really rather generous people.
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.
#5 Re: Poundland 45
Nice job Steve. I guess similar could serve well as a TT plinth.
- izzy wizzy
- Old Hand
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#6 Re: Poundland 45
Nice one. I like building in wooden boxes but have found things can get hot inside without good ventilation as unlike metal chassis, there is no conduction of heat.
- Cressy Snr
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#7 Re: Poundland 45
Yes, the input socket panel on the rear is made of perforated ally and the base will have large holes in it, backed by the same perforated material.izzy wizzy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 30, 2021 9:48 am Nice one. I like building in wooden boxes but have found things can get hot inside without good ventilation as unlike metal chassis, there is no conduction of heat.
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.
- Cressy Snr
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#8 Re: Poundland 45
After much cutting, sanding, rubbing with linseed oil, paint spraying, filing and bleeding (literally) I’ve got as far as this:
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.
- pre65
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#9 Re: Poundland 45
Did you consider doing the transformer bell ends black ?
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Edmund Burke
G-Popz THE easy listening connoisseur. (Philip)
Edmund Burke
G-Popz THE easy listening connoisseur. (Philip)
- Cressy Snr
- Amstrad Tower of Power
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#10 Re: Poundland 45
Yes and I rejected it. It would have been way too much blackness.
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.
- IslandPink
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#12 Re: Poundland 45
Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH blackness ?Cressy Snr wrote: ↑Thu Jul 01, 2021 9:51 pmYes and I rejected it. It would have been way too much blackness.
#14 Re: Poundland 45
I followed the johnny painter link and discovered the agro outtakes on youtube, talk about falling down the rabbit hole...I lost an entire hour, and I'm sure I'll go back for more later.......curses
There's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be
- Cressy Snr
- Amstrad Tower of Power
- Posts: 10580
- Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 12:25 am
- Location: South Yorks.
#15 Re: Poundland 45
It’s still funny after all these years.
We crawl on our knees towards our doom.
We crawl on our knees towards our doom.
Sgt. Baker started talkin’ with a Bullhorn in his hand.