Fsharpminor
Active member
- Joined
- May 4, 2015
- Messages
- 41
WOW. This is on a whole other level. Looks amazing. Fun to watch! Rooting you on from the PNW.
K&H UE100 from scratch
- Thread starter DaveP
- Start date
Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:
Thanks for the support.
About two weeks ago I thought I had finished it only to find that only one of the six sections worked as it should! I wondered if my use of screened cables had caused extra capacitance and some unwanted feedback.
Actually, I had made some silly mistakes in the wiring. Two components were wired to tags that were bolted to the chassis so a signal dead short! It was so crowded in there that I had failed to see the bolts! Other problems were simple switch mis-wires.
One by one I got all the six sections working and in the process I found it to be a very elegant design. The use of cathode followers ensures that the gain is never more than one, so the feedback is very stable. 12dB/octave through one CF or 24dB/octave through two!
I will post some final pics before it's shipped next week. I will also show where there are a couple of mistakes on the official schematics.
Best
DaveP
About two weeks ago I thought I had finished it only to find that only one of the six sections worked as it should! I wondered if my use of screened cables had caused extra capacitance and some unwanted feedback.
Actually, I had made some silly mistakes in the wiring. Two components were wired to tags that were bolted to the chassis so a signal dead short! It was so crowded in there that I had failed to see the bolts! Other problems were simple switch mis-wires.
One by one I got all the six sections working and in the process I found it to be a very elegant design. The use of cathode followers ensures that the gain is never more than one, so the feedback is very stable. 12dB/octave through one CF or 24dB/octave through two!
I will post some final pics before it's shipped next week. I will also show where there are a couple of mistakes on the official schematics.
Best
DaveP
PermO
Well-known member
Absolutely amazing piece of work !
Now I wonder, how much power will this thing draw from the wallsocket just to "shave off a dB or two"
Now I wonder, how much power will this thing draw from the wallsocket just to "shave off a dB or two"
This is the final build post.
There were so many tubes, I had to label them inside and out to keep track of it all.
It looks overwhelming but it can be done by very carefully marking your progress on a build copy of the schematic.
I had to drill extra ventilation holes for the power supply, there were more on the base cover to get some convection currents going.
The blue presets are used to set the outputs of the six sections according to the original schematics.
The supply voltages I used were 280V for the ECC83 tubes, 260V for the output E83F and plus and minus 100V for the cathode followers. I prefer to use 6DT8's which are a more robust 6V version of ECC81's. The maximum voltage for a half watt resistor with this current would be 139V, so I preferred to stick to plus and minus 100V. There is no info on voltages in the manual, so I had to work them out for myself.
This shows the front panel lit up, I hope Ian manages to make sense of it all!
Thanks to everyone for your support on the project, it has been the most challenging I have ever done, especially with the domestic situation in chaos at the beginning.
There were so many tubes, I had to label them inside and out to keep track of it all.
It looks overwhelming but it can be done by very carefully marking your progress on a build copy of the schematic.
I had to drill extra ventilation holes for the power supply, there were more on the base cover to get some convection currents going.
The blue presets are used to set the outputs of the six sections according to the original schematics.
The supply voltages I used were 280V for the ECC83 tubes, 260V for the output E83F and plus and minus 100V for the cathode followers. I prefer to use 6DT8's which are a more robust 6V version of ECC81's. The maximum voltage for a half watt resistor with this current would be 139V, so I preferred to stick to plus and minus 100V. There is no info on voltages in the manual, so I had to work them out for myself.
This shows the front panel lit up, I hope Ian manages to make sense of it all!
Thanks to everyone for your support on the project, it has been the most challenging I have ever done, especially with the domestic situation in chaos at the beginning.
Outstanding... How many working hours in total?
This whole thread has been an awesome journey to watch. Congrats on the beautiful end product!!
Beautiful! My vintage-addled brain thought the tubes looked lonely without accompanying transformers
How many working hours in total?
I don't really count the hours as it's my hobby, I had to redraw all the schematics first with rotary/toggle switches, so about a month or so. Then I had to plan the front panel to see if they would fit, several weeks. Then planning the amp layout, again several weeks. Building the chassis was the easiest part and then fitting all the components., two months. The labeling of all the switches took several weeks printing etc. Wiring up all the switches about a month, then fault finding took several weeks.
The most stressful part is that you can't make a mistake, as it's a one-off and represents a lot of money and effort. Like building a house of cards that only becomes strong when the last card is in place.
Best
DaveP
I don't really count the hours as it's my hobby, I had to redraw all the schematics first with rotary/toggle switches, so about a month or so. Then I had to plan the front panel to see if they would fit, several weeks. Then planning the amp layout, again several weeks. Building the chassis was the easiest part and then fitting all the components., two months. The labeling of all the switches took several weeks printing etc. Wiring up all the switches about a month, then fault finding took several weeks.
The most stressful part is that you can't make a mistake, as it's a one-off and represents a lot of money and effort. Like building a house of cards that only becomes strong when the last card is in place.
Best
DaveP
PermO
Well-known member
Well, it shure is a job well done !
60 Watts, seems to be well behaved, I expected to see over a 100...
What surprises me the most is that this beast is mono.
Are you building another one ? (oh my..)
60 Watts, seems to be well behaved, I expected to see over a 100...
What surprises me the most is that this beast is mono.
Are you building another one ? (oh my..)
PermO
Well-known member
Cool, that's not really a small one either !
Also found your 660 build on this forum, pretty amazing stuff !
Very inspiring, thanks for sharing these builds.
Also found your 660 build on this forum, pretty amazing stuff !
Very inspiring, thanks for sharing these builds.
letterbeacon
Well-known member
Incredible work - congratulations!
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Member
- Joined
- Jan 27, 2012
- Messages
- 8
It arrived here and this UE 100 sounds and looks fantastic.
I’d not ever been near a real UE 100 , id only read online that it was a fantastic EQ.
And it hasn’t disappointed !
The tone of the box is gorgeous. And the EQ, especially the high end , is smooth and airy.
Very different sounding indeed to other EQs I have here — a pultec (built by Dave) or the vintage alteq EQ....
I’ve just about mastered the buttons now.
And today I’ve been happily recording vocals for two tracks for an artist (Hannah Grace) album today and it enhanced her vocal & acoustic guitar overdubs greatly.
Thanks Dave !
It’s a top audio box
I’d not ever been near a real UE 100 , id only read online that it was a fantastic EQ.
And it hasn’t disappointed !
The tone of the box is gorgeous. And the EQ, especially the high end , is smooth and airy.
Very different sounding indeed to other EQs I have here — a pultec (built by Dave) or the vintage alteq EQ....
I’ve just about mastered the buttons now.
And today I’ve been happily recording vocals for two tracks for an artist (Hannah Grace) album today and it enhanced her vocal & acoustic guitar overdubs greatly.
Thanks Dave !
It’s a top audio box
Wow, just came across this now. This is an utterly insane build. Only an expert or a madman would attempt this. This is an inspiration to stop whining about completing my builds that are simpler than this. Great work, Dave. I'm still happily using your EL84 mic pre designs from 2010 and have modded those at times (my favourite iteration being the front stage as an EF86 in triode mode feeding the EL84). Thanks for taking the time to photograph and share your builds over the years. Very useful to me.
Mad boffin is not a bad place to be.I think madman is probably the best description
Best
DaveP
This is off topic, but I've been meaning to ask if you developed your EL84 mic pre ideas further ? As mentioned, your circuit with the 6922 into EL84 has been used consistently over the years in my studio and sounds more natural to me than heavy NFB preamps.
Peter
I agree about NFB, The first mic pre I made was a REDD47 but I found it sounded "dry" to my ears, that's why I decided to make the no feedback mic pre with the ECC88 and EL84. My current thinking is that choke loading the output stage would be an improvement, you might like to checkout my post yesterday on the RCA 41B
Best
DaveP
Best
DaveP
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