Tube amplifier building general

Why not start with a kit?
tubeamplifierparts.com/watts-store/guitar-amplifier-diy-kits.html

It won't necessarily teach how it works but researching each part and examining schematics will help.

>>1054136
They all cost 300$ and up , living in 3rd world thats too much for me to spend right away , thats why i prefer building instead of kits , i can buy all parts second hand at 60% price. Any experience with kits ? Seen some 100$ kits on ebay

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Read the RCA Tube Manual. See if you can grasp the concepts.

Learn about the different tube types. Fun With Tubes is an excellent site, same with The Valve Wizard.

Learn to draw load lines. Steve Bench wrote up an excellent article. He teaches you how to draw load lines for triodes and pentodes, both SE and PP, and calculate the resulting distortion.

I buy all my parts off ebay and from a local electronics store. However I only use that stuff for experiments, if I restore a piece of gear that is worth money, I use only the best parts.

I would recommend building the 12AU7 headphone amp to start, it's on DIYAudio. You can experiment with plate/cathode resistors, read voltages and understand what each component does hands on if you are not into theory AND it's low voltage which leads me to...

Tube stuff is very dangerous. It will kill you if you aren't paying attention. Being bit by 250V once taught me a huge lesson, don't be stupid and play with it plugged in, power on. Capacitors can be lethal even after being left alone for hours. Just be cautious...you don't have to fear it but always respect it.

Here's a pic of a silly amp I built. The blue tubes are mecury arc rectifiers, I don't suggest those as beginner tubes though.

Oh shit, as for tools:

Get a set of good electrically isolated screwdrivers.

A nice, good set of wire strippers will save you many headaches.

Same goes for pliers and wire cutters, get them in different sizes / types.

A third hand is very useful as well as a couple vices.

Obviously a soldering iron...I use a 60W iron for most tube stuff. I recommend 60/40 solder and flux. Solder wick and a solder sucker both have their uses.

Get a GOOD cat III multimeter, two may be useful. I have 4 kicking around that are sometimes connected semi-permanently to circuits so I avoid measuring high voltages with the probes.

If I think of more, I'll add it. It's a fun hobby, good luck. Just don't go crazy buying NOS tubes, some of the russian production stuff is good and with knowledge and practice you can use cheaper NOS stuff more used in TV equipment.

Part time refurbisher.

I've yet to see a really reasonably priced kit.

>reads
get the very basics down Teach Yourself Electronics and Electricity or electronics for dummies. Anything to get you identifying the parts on paper, in function, and in person.
NEETs module 6 : navy vacuum tube training chapter
Blencowe Designing valve preamps (now you're dangerous)
read Aikenamps online tech info and white papers over and over
lurk a handful of tube forums

>videos (channels)
I watch El Paso Tube Amps and Mr. Carlon's Lab. Interesting stuff, but I don't feel a novice can drop in and have a clue what's going on. You might try Uncle Doug since he does a tube amp 101 for rookies.

>lessons
read, solder, light it up, repeat

>materials sourcing
I buy broken or vintage amps. After you've fixed a lot of them, you'll recognize the problems from the symptoms. You can get a lot of the materials you need from a dead amp i.e. working transformers, a chassis, maybe a full decaled encloser, some working components, turrets or phenolic strips, sockets, tubes, wire, switches, jacks.

For example Hammond chassis are fifty bucks pretty much anytime. These can simply be gutted and converted into similar amps (AC15, tiny terror, 18 w marsh, etc)

websites: tayda, justradios, ebay, and amazon

>tools
good soldering iron and tips, round needle nose pliers, impact drill or drill press, heat shrink,

for repair
dmm, oscilloscope, bulb current limiter, variac, lots of clip test leads, bias probes for convenience

gl

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>>1054133
Other anons have covered the bases well, but I'll throw a few more ideas out there for you.
>literature
Inside Tube Amps by Dan Torres
The Ultimate Tone by Kevin O'Connor
Dave Funk's Tube Amp Workbook
>parts
tubesandmore.com
>first build
Tweed Champ - simple single ended class A build that won't discourage you and will sound great
>post your builds
pic related - 5E3 Deluxe clone I'm finishing up

>>1054133
There's a great youtube channel by a guy calledUncle Doug who makes great videos that explain tube amps and how they work, and he has a couple of scratch builds that he walks you through too.

Start simple and work your way up. Every guitar player should own a tweed amp. You will learn a lot just from getting something put together. Learn how to drain filter caps and handle a tube amp safely (e.g. keeping one hand in your pocket, etc). It's intimidating to have something that can kill you but you can avoid any dangerous situations altogether just by using your head.

I built my first tube amp this year, a modified 5F1 champ using a cake pan as the chassis. Run it through my DIY 2x15 cab and it sounds sick. Would post a webm if I knew how.

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this is my unfinished tube amp. running two separate heads inside the same cab. I'll finish it one day...

>>1054357
If you have a vid just convert it online, look up (your file format) to webm

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Working on as we speak