[Amps] Building an Amp 101

[Colin Lamb]

One area where home built amplifiers can be substantially better than commercial ones is ease of repair.  Many commercial amps are designed to be compact.  Even Collins and Alpha can be bears to repair.  A good home built design will allow easy access to all the components.  Roger mentioned that the flat panels and angle aluminum constructed cabinets may not look as pretty as the commercial amps, but with blind nuts the maintenance might be significantly better than commercial.  

If your home built amp is better in some way than a commercial amp, you can hold your head high.  

I build a lot of gear and mostly use components that I have acquired.  I try to use the components I have to come up with pleasing looking equipment.  For that, I find that knob and meter selection is important along with panel layout as well as labeling.  I am just ready to try engraving a panel with my CNC mill.

73,  Colin  K7FM