distortion ga20

General discussion area for tube amps.

Moderators: pompeiisneaks, Colossal

Post Reply
sdorer
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:46 am

distortion ga20

Post by sdorer »

Friends,
I built a ga20 from an old Hammond organ amp. I'm having a heck of a time with distortion at low volume levels. It uses all octal tubes 6sl7 and 6 sj7. I'm doing a bit of thinking here and I can't figure out why it's happening. Any insight would be appreciated. Also, does anyone know the voltages for this circuit?
User avatar
Phil_S
Posts: 6048
Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 10:12 pm
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: distortion ga20

Post by Phil_S »

What are the voltage reading on the 6SJ7 and 6SL7? IMO, the stock circuit has them too low and it kills the headroom.

Here is my take on the GA20 circuit. http://home.comcast.net/~psymonds/GA20.htm and I think it turned out to one really fine amp.
sdorer
Posts: 46
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:46 am

Re: distortion ga20

Post by sdorer »

I followed your schematic and the voltages are in the ball park but everything running a bit too high. The amp does have a better sound and more head room but I'm running the 6v6 platea at 415 volts. I had to modify the power supply as it used to have an old field coil speaker. So I put in a permanent magnet speaker and added a choke. It was still a little high so I added a 1k 10 watt resistor after the choke. I think I need to increase that resistor's value and it should be running fine. Your thoughts? Also thanks for the tip it helped a great deal to increase the voltages.
User avatar
Structo
Posts: 15446
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2007 1:01 am
Location: Oregon

Re: distortion ga20

Post by Structo »

Yeah, I built an amp from a Hammond A-29 amp.

I had to add a power zener to the PT center tap to bring down the voltages.

Mine uses a 5u4 rectifier.
Tom

Don't let that smoke out!
Post Reply