Bear with me here. In the last several years I graduated from being able to replace a simple driver circuit board of a dynaco st70 to building an st35 amp using the classic output stage, a modified version of one guy's driver circuit, and a relatively new bias arrangement without using the classic layout and basically doing it all point to point.
It's still a bit of a work in progress but it sounds fantastic. I still have this humming power transformer problem which I'm sure is related to the dirty power lines in my apartment building.
I've read just about every post in this forum with the hopes of learning from Roger. While I did learn a bunch I still have a ways to go. (I have no college or formal engineering training.) I even ordered an old RCA Tube Manual with the hopes of learning the basics of tube amp design. I should be getting an oscilloscope sometime soon as well.
Roger is very inspiring in that he pushes limits in his designs but always with efficiency and reliability in mind. What I find a bit astounding is that he doesn't seem to have any real competition. According to Roger many of the big tube "designers" are essentially doing things by the books and not really doing anything new. They aren't really trying to make their amps more efficient or push the limits in available power. It's just the same old same old with the latest popular tube. What's worse is that the packaging ends up being the most expensive part. And the prices of these things are just nuts! I went to Axpona here in Chicago and saw amps for $20-60K. Greed and insanity running rampant if you ask me.
I guess I'm frustrated because out of all of my searching (which there's still much to do) I'm finding a lack of interest in doing things the way Roger does. Maybe it's too hard or requires a fundamental knowledge that's just not being shared anymore. At this point I would love to be his apprentice and learn everything I can but I have a life of my own and am quite settled here in Chicago. I get that Roger needs to keep some of his stuff private. He still has to support himself.
I could just save my money and buy Roger's amp and be done with it but that's not what I want. I don't want to just be done with it. I want to build it myself. I want to learn.
Unlike Roger I'm not looking to go into business doing this. This is purely for my own satisfaction. I have a nice job and enjoy doing what I do and it has nothing to do with tube amps.
Still, I have so many questions and just when I think I've got things figured out something else pops up that makes me feel like a total newb. And the things I want to do Roger has already mastered long ago and seems bored with.
The more I write this out the less I know what I'm even asking here. Maybe I'm just being impatient. If I have to learn to wind my own transformers to get 100 watts from a pair of KT88's or 35 watts from a pair of EL84's or find similar possibilities with KT120's then I guess that's what I'm going to have to do.
Does anyone else here feel the same way? Maybe it's just me.
