Drip Dual 176

[princeton72]

Hey everyone. First post but long time reader.

I'm highly considering taking the plunge into a Drip dual 176. I figure it's going to take me a while to build and it certainly won't be cheap but I really can't get the 176 sound out of my head since I tried one at a studio. Having two channels would be nothing short of amazing.

Thus far I've done the following:
Restored a '72 Princeton Reverb
Restored a '58 Leslie 145
Built a PTP Fender 5F2A replica not from a kit but copied the layout
Hairball 1176 Rev A
(2) AML 1073-500's

I know this would be a big leap forward but I'm always up for a challenge.

Has anyone here finished one? What was your experience? Did the guides serve you well?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JMan]

A word of caution: Dr*p's documentation can be odd to work with (often incomplete, sometimes hyper-redundant, not always entirely coherent, and although this is nothing more than a pet peeve of mine, always riddled with spelling errors). Additionally, their support is (in)famously poor, with Greg's response rate to email being pretty abysmal -- although when he does respond he is usually helpful. You also may struggle to get help from this forum if you get stuck, as many of the more seasoned folks here have come to resent the fact that a commercial operation sells these projects with poor documentation and support and assumes that other people who have no affiliation with them will pick up their slack.

For what it's worth, the boards are nice. Overpriced, but nice. And if you can get the thing working, it's sure to be a winner. But don't be too quick to ignore that "if."

 

[dmp]

I agree with JMan on the support and documentation issue. Especially for a $240 pcb (!).
I will help if I someone posts here with a question, but shake my head about it.
I'm building a dual 176 right now on a turret board DIY board. The turret board is going to cost a lot less and if you did a PTP Fender you might be able to handle this. I don't like big heavy Sowter transformers mounted to a PCB. Really any tube build on a PCB seems not as good. The control boards however are really sweet and would make it a lot easier.
And I got O-1 and A-18 transformers to use - with the drip board you're using Sowters I assume. Not sure the Sowter input and interstage are even that much cheaper than buying UTCs.
If I were to spend big bucks I'd go with Rainton's chassis and boards for a 100% authentic build.

 

[Ó Draighnáin]

I purchased a mono 176 board must be almost 8 - 10 years ago? Started populating it and then realised that I was struggling with following the circuit layout and I didn't really like the concept of the big all on board PCB that much (for example, I prefer to hang a lot of stuff out the back of tube units). The PCB has been lying around gathering dust (can't seem to bring myself to throw it out - never going to use it). Someone can have it if I can find it and they want to pay for postage.

I was originally pretty excited about the idea of using such PCBs (it looked like an easier way to make units I liked) but it strangely ended up being more difficult for me. However, I suspect that I might be the outlier and not the norm in this respect.

I ended up building a few different vari-mu compressors on turret boards. I was much happier and understood the power and signal flows and grounding arrangements much better.

I still might consider purchasing PCBs for things like microphones and maybe 1176s.

 

[princeton72]

I think you convinced me to go the point to point route. I may start with a 175b based on the slightly simpler design. Thank you!

 

[beatnik]

+1 for point-to-point construction instead of pointless overpriced bling.

As pointed out above, with a ptp build you are not just stuck to using Sowters.
Also consider the 12BH7 runs very hot, we will talk in a few years time how these pcbs are standing up.

There is a turret layout for the 175b at this page although I am not sure it's tested, I would carefully double check it vs the schematic.

http://jbb.ru/schematics/175b-layout.htm
Apart from output transformer wiring 175 and 176 are basically the same. I would go for the 176, the output transformer is just about 50 bucks more and the variable ratio is a very cool feature on a vari-mu.

 

[HerbertR]

+1 for point-to-point construction instead of pointless overpriced bling.

As pointed out above, with a ptp build you are not just stuck to using Sowters.
Also consider the 12BH7 runs very hot, we will talk in a few years time how these pcbs are standing up.

There is a turret layout for the 175b at this page although I am not sure it's tested, I would carefully double check it vs the schematic.

http://jbb.ru/schematics/175b-layout.htm
Apart from output transformer wiring 175 and 176 are basically the same. I would go for the 176, the output transformer is just about 50 bucks more and the variable ratio is a very cool feature on a vari-mu.

Yeah, awesome Layout. But I would change all the values to the original values. Super compressor, fast, gentle....

 

[My3gger]

Nice, i used a piece of veroboard for circuits with tubes on Alu L profile for some projects, they are fine after 15 years of constant use. Layout is similar to what Beatnik posted.
Did you listened and scoped differences between Sowter 8650 and UTM outputs?

 

[fortress1w]

I built the Drip 175b and love it - shortly after found a Pair of built 176's that I scooped up, they are great. I have been downsizing my studio lately - mostly mixing in the box and haven't been giving the 176's much attention. Would be willing to sell the pair if you are interested.

Here is a pic of my 175b and one of the 176's - Chassis very convincing

 

[fortress1w]

Ha! just realized this thread is a year old