After a lot of search on this forum ( very nice forum btw) , listen a lot of video and audio. I got some question about the 2w express build.
Lot of video I have found have a lack of bass and the solution found in some topic is to add another 6sn7 for a quad triode. Is it really better ? Change tone and caracteristic ?? I don't really found a good audio or video with a quad triode ...
and for transformer... Which one is offer for a 2w express ? I have found edcor, hammond and musicalpowersupplies. Another is available ? How they sound ? Someone is better ?
2w for band practice? NO WAY! If you use a 20 watt amp and put it close to you the drummer will never really hear you either unless you are standing with him behind the kit and still..
Signatures have a 255 character limit that I could abuse, but I am not Cecil B. DeMille.
Yea. 2 watts is probably not loud enough for a hard hitting drummer. It is still loud though. A 50 watt amp is only roughly twice as loud as perceived by the human ear. These 6SN7 output sections put out around 5W cranked. Rough back of the napkin calculations show that through a speaker with an SPL of around 97db@1m you would have maybe 100db at a realistic distance of 5m.
100db is loud enough that IOSH-AINSI and the CDC give a recommended maximum exposure of 15 minutes. Live drums will be louder than this. Rock on .
I built the 2w express a few years ago and it is loud, roughly 1/2 as loud as a 20 watt amp. As stated above, it's not loud enough for practice with a hard hitting drummer.
I used a Heyboer xformer with a 22k primary, I can get you the p/n if interested.
Speaker choice made a huge difference. I tried a few different 1 x 12's and couldn't get the bass response I like. I plugged it into an Orange 4x 12, and it sounded huge - but who wants to lug around a 4 x 12 with a 2w amp.
My opinion - build the amp you like the tone of and use a BadCat Unleash to control your volume. FluxTone speakers also work pretty well but are pretty pricey.
I've only built the two watt version. I'm a little skeptical that is would change the bass response all that much. The express circuit is know to be what many call bright. I don't think adding more watts will change that much.
You could increase the values of some/all the coupling caps which would let more bass through. But then you don't really have an express. As was mentioned above, I think speakers make a huge difference on the frequency profile you hear. To my ear, the 2 watter is plenty bassy through a 4x12 with 1265s.
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