My new little project...

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Now just have to make the cases. Some do not like GC amps but the few I checked out and listened to I really really liked to the point I purchased the cream of the crop 4780 versions from Peter Daniels with all of his prefered upgrades which have received rave reviews. These are to be my reference amps for the Zaph ZD5's I am building. Going to be feed from a shanling scd-s300.

Some readers say GC's lack punch or slam or all kinds of other terms, BAH. They have not heard them properly built or have just read what others say about them and then spew out garbage like they know what they are talking about. I can only compare them to OTL's but mucho more bottom end and speed. Close to a se or otl you can get but with all the benifits of solid state. Anyways some pics of the boards completed and the transformers.

Most resistors are Caddocks, two dales & two rikens per board. PS supply caps are blackgate standards & the amplifier caps are blackgate N's. Transformers are Plitrons

It is a dual mono setup which will make approx 55-60w rms into 8 ohm or 110-120 into 4 ohm.

Click to read more...

 

[btlking 10+ year member]

pics no work

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Show up fine on my screen?

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Nice man... Very nice...

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

I am VERY impressed! How much did that all cost you? I would like a full review when you are done please //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Will definitly give a full review. I also plan to loan them to a local with some really nice equipment for review to get others opinions / he is very interested in them as well. Also may have Beat check them out as he as some nice toys as well //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Price on the parts was not to bad. The transformers were around $160-170+ ship

the boards and high end parts ran approx $250ish shipped.

Now the cases are going to probably run me $400 total.

$820 is not bad at all for this project knowing how they can perform and what the retail versions have been compared against and who has reviewed them "not talking magazine nazi's either" but unbiased opinions.

 

[hempy 10+ year member]

I'd love a gain clone. Maybe one day. Which components are the "high-end" ones? (all?) That's quite a price tag on parts.

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Yeah... pretty much all components *LOL* The BG standards are not uber special but a little "nice" for the power supply section haha... Did not scrimp on anything and only went with what Peter Daniels told me to exactly as he seems to be quite the GC guru.

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Well the proto cases to be CNC'ed are almost finished in design. very retro / open design. Trying to mimick the look of a vintage tube but with solid state gear.

 

[BassAce 10+ year member]

Where are you going to get the heat sinks from?

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Custom made out of solid copper //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Custom made out of solid copper //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

OOOO, fancy man very fancy...

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Yeah should be cool. Since it is a major DIY and I have already gone this far, I am going to spend the coin to finish it right, not just hurry it along. Just have to figure out how to keep the copper "copper" looking haha. Will probably tape off the mating area and clear coat it. The sink will be large enough that the coating would not matter.

I could also make it out of aluminum... anodize it black and then cnc each fin for a two tone look... Ah well it is still in planning so we will see what happens //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif LOTS of work still to do.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I am thinking you have access to some bad *** tools... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif