Following on from my OR120 clone, I thought I'd go completely the other direction and make a subminiature tube amp. Always fancied building one of these.
It's built into a 1590B pedal enclosure. Uses a standard 12v power supply and ramps the voltage up to HT level of about 180v to run the valves. Kicks out about 1/2 watt - not much clean headroom but plenty of lovely crunch. Loud through a decent 1x12. Gain, volume and bias switch to ramp up the headroom slightly.
I love noodling through it with a telecaster, seems like a perfect match.
Pictured here with a business card for scale ...
Comments
In the end, though, if you want any sound out of it, you need a speaker and your setup will include pedals and a box at least the size of a Tweed Champ, whether your amp is a pedal or a combo.
Doesn't mean I don't like it ...
ZVex might not be too amused!
Have you avoided a cooling fan for the high-voltage supply? That was the annoying thing about the ZVex Nano.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Sweet! I have often wondered about using the old portable radio valves? DL96, 1.4V heater and 90V HT. The radios were quite loud back in the day and much better sound quality than the early transistor jobs!
I am not sure now however if there is a reliable source of the valves?
Love the type numbers to look up?
Cooling fan for the HT converter IC? "Our" HT pedals use 300V at about a watt and the MOSFET in the converter does not have or need a heatsink and I never had one fail.
Dave.
If you can make enough of these then we can all sing along with the Beatles “we all live with a yellow submini amp”.
It was by far the worst feature of the amp, and mostly why I sold it - even after a mod to quieten it, it was still too noisy for home playing.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep