Show 'n Tell Time - Latest DIY, the SimulAmp

Howdy all,

Thought I'd share some pics of my latest DIY job.

Anyone here remember the ADA Ampulator? :wink: For those of you who don't know, the Ampulator was one of the last products ADA released before going bust in the late 90's. It's a power tube saturation and speaker simulator which uses a 12A_7 running as a micro power amp.

My DIY version has a couple of things missing that the original version had - variable B+ supply, triode/pentode switch, variable HT hum - but I've added a switch to enable the tube section to drive an external speaker for low volume cranked amp tones, something the original unit couldn't do.



More pics here:

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s222/ac1176/SA2.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s222/ac1176/SA3.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s222/ac1176/SA4.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s222/ac1176/SA5.jpg
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s222/ac1176/SA6.jpg

A lot of firsts for me in this project - my first double-sided board layout, first time I used "proper" board layout software (was using AutoCAD previously, now using FreePCB, which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a no-frills free PCB layout program), first time I had a PCB made by a board house, first time I had a front panel made by Front Panel Express. I'm really happy how the whole thing turned out.

As an amp sim it sounds pretty good too. I'll try to post some sound clips soon. I've currently got a CV4068 tube installed, but have yet to try other tubes in its place.

Very nice work - I bet you're quite proud of that one

Marty.

....is the back of the case a re-cycle of a Digidesign 442 ??

nice work and great build - I want one :grin:
(now to follow: me too, me too, me too :green: :green: :green: )

[quote author="[silent:arts]"]nice work and great build - I want one :grin:
(now to follow: me too, me too, me too :green: :green: :green: )[/quote]
next step: will full parts kits be available?
then: could someone please make me a BOM for mouser
followed by: how do I have to wire the mains transformer?


:roll:

anyway, congrats, mate, a great built!!!

very nice one, original thinking - australian audio strikes again :wink:

the small mousers transformers are for signal, so i count 3 together with the three-watts spkr out ?

-max

Very nice !

Been lusting after the schematic of that ADA-box for quite a while back then but didn't find anything.
You have it ? Or are you willing to share your version ?

Thanks & enjoy that box! :thumb:

Peter

found with google :wink: :
http://www.adadepot.com/adagear/gearpages/cabsims/ADA-Ampulator.htm

[quote author="[silent:arts]"]found with google :wink: :
http://www.adadepot.com/adagear/gearpages/cabsims/ADA-Ampulator.htm[/quote]
Nice, thanks :thumb: I recall the ADAdepot-website, but it may not have had the Ampu-stuff then.

Now for The Question: how does this true nice piece of Analog Technology compare to todays software based emulators ?


Cheers,

Peter

I always wanted an ampulator , but they got to be crazy money

your's looks great , maybe there's hope eh ?!

O.k i'm in for one !

F*****g how !

I'm just struggling with a mesa Quad preamp right now, but of course I can't plug it in my power amp, it's too loud.

Would be nice to get one of these baby

Hope you're gonna share or better make the pcb and all info available.

Great work so far :thumb:

....is the back of the case a re-cycle of a Digidesign 442 ??

Click to expand...

It's an old computer ethernet switch/hub thingamy that I picked up from the waste recycling shop for about 5 bucks. Cheapest 1u steel rack case I've ever bought!

the small mousers transformers are for signal, so i count 3 together with the three-watts spkr out ?

Click to expand...

Yep, the two little ones are for the speaker sim section - one is used to couple the output of the 12AX7 tube to the speaker sim, and the other one is used to create an switchable inductive load for a more accurate sim of the speakers themselves. The bigger 3W Hammond unit is used when an external speaker is connected for "real" amp noises.

Now for The Question: how does this true nice piece of Analog Technology compare to todays software based emulators ?

Click to expand...

It's different, but I still find it quite good. It's a lot more "alive" than any other speaker sim I've tried so far. It has more of an upper-midrange "bark" than I've become accustomed to using convolution-based simulations. I find that there's still a slight "cardboard-y" texture to distorted sounds, but running a steep lowpass filter @ circa 12kHz over the output seems to tame this a bit. What's really neat is that you can bypass the speaker sim section altogether and just use it for the power tube saturation effect.

Hope you're gonna share or better make the pcb and all info available.

Click to expand...

We shall see, you never know your luck :wink: Although there are several components that will be fairly difficult to track down. That pushbutton switch array is a doozy - a combination of interlocking and latching 4PDT, 6PDT and 8PDT units!

Thanks for the kind words everyone :thumb:

Very Nice Work! Clean as a whistle! :thumb:

Great work! :thumb:

Is it for sale? My favorite effect is distortion/fuzz/overdrive and such. Would be great having it here, in the future. :grin:

Impressive work!!

it look cool but I want samples!!! :grin:

basic project yeah , project yeah , yeah

I'd support a basic kit of some sort , hope
you decide to take it on , or help out

TIA regards Greg

[quote author="Curtis"]

Now for The Question: how does this true nice piece of Analog Technology compare to todays software based emulators ?

Click to expand...

It's different, but I still find it quite good. It's a lot more "alive" than any other speaker sim I've tried so far. It has more of an upper-midrange "bark" than I've become accustomed to using convolution-based simulations. I find that there's still a slight "cardboard-y" texture to distorted sounds, but running a steep lowpass filter @ circa 12kHz over the output seems to tame this a bit. What's really neat is that you can bypass the speaker sim section altogether and just use it for the power tube saturation effect.[/quote]
Thanks for adding :thumb: Still wondering a bit about the total chain - if you were having access to both say a complete chain of suited pre-amp and the nice box of this thread -vs- a good HiZ DI that's entering a DAW with one of todays complete chain emulations (Amplitube, GTR or what are they all called etc.)
Which one would you choose ? Say we're taling about overdriven sounds, not hi-fizz metal.

In other words: while I guess the ADA box will be the (or at least near to) best what Analog emulation has to offer, DSP has made big progress.

Note that the answer I hope for is Analog over DSP, since what's more fun than to have a real box with real controls ? :wink: But I could imagine DSP has come alongside...

That HT-power supply from the schematics looks interesting... quick glance... controlled current mirror....



W.r.t. difficult switches, maybe some corners could be cut by going for a set of rotaries ? The interaction will be lost then of course...

Bye,

Peter

Still wondering a bit about the total chain - if you were having access to both say a complete chain of suited pre-amp and the nice box of this thread -vs- a good HiZ DI that's entering a DAW with one of todays complete chain emulations (Amplitube, GTR or what are they all called etc.)
Which one would you choose ? Say we're taling about overdriven sounds, not hi-fizz metal.

Click to expand...

I think the Ampulator/SimulAmp works best as a overdriven rock box. For simulated metal sounds you're probably better off with a Pod or similar. To be honest, my experience with DSP sims is limited to running an analog preamp into a DAW and simulating the cab using convolution plugins. I haven't tried Amplitube.

As a side note, I really like the clean sounds this box does :thumb:

As for which I'd chose, I'd say it depends more on the sound I'm after. There's also the attraction of being able to actually operate the unit, as opposed to twiddling sliders and knobs on screen using a mouse.

That HT-power supply from the schematics looks interesting... quick glance... controlled current mirror....

Click to expand...

I haven't paid too much attention to the power supply to be honest. Mine's fixed at 150VDC using the back-to-back toroid transformer trick.

W.r.t. difficult switches, maybe some corners could be cut by going for a set of rotaries ? The interaction will be lost then of course...

Click to expand...

I guess you could, but you'd still need to find at least two 8P two position units. I originally started doing the PCB layout using stacks of 4PDT relays which would've been easier to get, but then I was lucky enough to get my hands on the proper switch assemblies and ditched the relay idea.

I'm sure the boards could still be re-worked using the relays instead. If time permits I might look into this.

wow, seriously, you are good man!