[parabellum]

Hello everyone,

I already introduced myself in the NorCal part of the board, but might as well do it here too.  I got bit by a bug and now want to build my first amp.

Right now I am thinking about building a modified Dynaco st70. I still need to find out whats a good pre-amp that will go well with it.

I've been looking over these schematics http://www.quadesl.com/refurb/refurb_dynaST70.html . There are driver boards on sale for these, but thats no fun, I'd like to build everything myself. I just need some good documentation since I never built an amp before.

Do you guys have any opinions on this?

[JimJ]

Google "Boozhound Laboratories".

Some good plans for SET amps (and a lot of other cool stuff!), helpful if you want to put together something from scratch that's not a formal "kit".

[parabellum]

hey thats a cool site, thanks!

The reason I am thinking about the ST70 is because there was a bunch of them made and I read good reviews about them. I read it was a good "starter amp" to play with since it was relatively simple. I'm still not sure if I should go with the original schematic or substitute the tubes with some newer easier to find ones. I don't want to complicate it right now to reduce my chance of messing it up.

[JimJ]

The reason I recommended a SET as a starting amp is because conceptually, they're cake to deal with. Also, the parts count is much, much lower than a Dynaco push-pull.

[parabellum]

Thanks Jim,

I already started buying parts for a ST70 clone. I came across a very good source of documentation and a really helpfull board with people willing to help out. On top of that a cousing of mine has already built one so I got resources to help me out.

But you are absolutely right, although the ST70 is pretty straightforward a more simple amp would be a better first project.