adding a bias balance pot?

[iknowjohnny]

it did ! I think because the fact that the majority of voltage was not dropped before the bias circuitry. I can't really clearly explain it being the non tech that i am, but hopefully you know what i'm saying. Anyways, one hardly affects the other now

[martin manning]

They will still talk to each other some, since both branches draw current through the 220K, but I think you have the right idea. If it's manageable, then problem solved!

MPM

[iknowjohnny]

Exactly. It's probably 2% of what it was. Before i would adjust 5 Ma on one side and the other would move by almost as much. Now i can sweep the entire range of either pot and the other side moves a Ma or two. so it's completely manageable. And i must say, these tubes sound much better when i crank the master up to almost stage volume, whereas before it because harsher. Not exactly what you might expect considering that often unbalancing power tubes or PI usually smooths things. Maybe it's just a fluke and later on i will hear differently but thats what it seems like now.

[Structo]

I have noticed one time when I accidentally adjusted the wrong pot while monitoring the other tube that it did bump the current a little bit but it started humming telling me something was wrong before it redplated.

All that matters is that you are happy with your setup.
Rock on!

[iknowjohnny]

I am, but now i have another problem....too much slop ! With all the changes i've made from day one i have too many parts with no place on the turret board, plus a old haggard board and turrets that ha]ve been resolered a million times. It's a total slop fest. So i'm thinking about building a new one once i have it where i think it will be permanent. But then i wonder if that will ever happen !

[Structo]

Yes after about two years of tweaking my D'lite amp and a lot of component changes and soldering, I re-wired most of the amp last summer.

I bought a bunch of Teflon 20 gauge from Apex Jr. and cleaned it up.

That is the one thing I like most of all about an eyelet board.
You can make component changes easily because the leads aren't wrapped around a turret.

[iknowjohnny]

I love teflon. Thats what i used on this amp and while everything else is slop, the wire is still as new. Great stuff. Got it at a place called apex too, and very close to the one you got yours from (which is in the same town i lived in till a year ago....montrose) i'm sure. Except the place i got it from is called apex electronics and is a HUGE electronics surplus place that has a wire section the size of Baltimore and everything is dirt cheap. i got about 100 feet of 16 gauge teflon for $6 ! Yes, 16 is huge but it worked fine and was easy to use. The price varies wildly tho depending on who is behind the counter at the time you buy. "Lets see, how's $6 sound?". That kind of thing. but even at worse it's cheap. i might have paid $10 another tine with another clerk.

[Structo]

Are you sure the place you went is not Apex Jr.?

They may call the physical store Apex.

Steve I believe is the owner/ proprietor.

[iknowjohnny]

No, apex Jr is a small place in montrose about 2 blocks from where i lived up till about a year ago. Apex electronic is a huge warehouse in sun valley full of everything from electronics to weird old stuff that has little or nothing to do with electronics. It's like a huge junkyard of erlectronics. It could be that apex Jr is somehow associated, but they are different physical locations and the big place has not set prices. (except if you buy online, then they're much more expensive then if you walk in) it's like you show them something you dug up in the many isles and ask how much and depending on who's working that day they may say $1 or $5. and everything is cheap. I found a bag of about 60-70 really nice turrets in a huge box of various turrets and related things that was probably 50 years old and the guy charged me 50 cents i think. They were silvered and like new. I've found pots that i've seen elsewhere for a fraction. Like a buck for one of those push/pull mini pots everyone sells for guitars for about $12. This was not a guitar value tho, it was 50k. But you get the idea. It's nothing like apex Jr from what i have seen online, but i wouldn't doubt Jr is probably a family member who takes some of thier stock and runs an online store for it or some such thing. Never know. heres apex electronics....
http://www.apexelectronic.com/

[Structo]

Man that place is cool!

I could spend all day there and more!

I have one place in my town that is a local chain called Norvac Electronics.
They sell some surplus but a lot of what they have is surplus.
In there computer section it's like old Unix terminals and dot matrix printer.
Stuff that is way out of date.

They have a good selection of power resistors and 1 watt metal film.

Their capacitor section is not real great and they don't restock anything sometimes up to a year later I see the same empty shelves.

That and Radio Trash I mean Shack who hardly carries anything anymore.
Unless you need a battery or a cell phone....
There must be a huge decline in amateur radio nowadays because that used to be their biggest market share.

[iknowjohnny]

I could spend all day there and more!

I have, and i'm not even joking ! Well, not ALL day, but hours at a time. All thier stock is just stuff people bring in and they buy dirt cheap. There are lots of little treasures to find. The only problem is theres so much stuff, when you need a specific item/part value, it can take forever to sift thru all the stuff. Theres a resistor isle about 50 feet long with both sides sporting a few thousand boxes stacked on the shelves about 15 feet high ! Each box with the type and value and most with and example stuck on the front. It's disneyland for guys like us !

radio shack...yeah, sad but true. used to be able to get a fair amount of components there. But electronics in general has changed so much towards throw away designs instead of repairable designs of the past. Now they're all micro components and if something goes wrong you either have to buy a new board from the manufacturer or toss the item, the latter usually being the most cost effective way. So theres little need for electronic components anymore.