instructables

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier

by ThomasH358

For bedroom rockers like me, there is nothing worse than noise complaints. On the other hand, it is a shame to
have a 50W amplifier hooked to a load dissipating almost everything in heat. Therefore I tried to build a high gain
preamp, based on a famous mesa amplifier using some subminiature tubes for ultra low output.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj6G5DezAjg

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 1

Step 1: Overview, Tools and Materials

This instructables will be structures as:

1. Circuit overview: The amplifier

2. Circuit overview: The SMPS
3. Parts list
4. Thermal transfer
5. Masking
6. Etching
7. Finishing
8. Adding sockets
9. Assembling the boards
10. Adjusting the trimpots
11. Mounting everything inside the enclosure
12. Final result and Soundcheck

There are some tools required to build this amplifier:

Hand drill, with different drill bits (in case you want to drill the PCB with a hand drill you need a 0.8-1
mm drill bit, not normally found in kits).
Soldering iron
Clothes iron
Multimeter
Sanding files
Access to a toner printer
Plastic box for etching

And some materials

Sanding paper (200, 400, 600, 1200)

Spray paint (black, clear)
PCB Coating spray
Ferric Chloride Etching Solution
Solder

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 2

Step 2: Circuit Overview: the Amplifier

Subminiature tubes for batteries wanted to power them with a 9v 1A power supply, as
commonly used with guitar pedals.
For this project I used 5678 and 5672 tubes. They
were used in portable battery radios, where filament The 5678 tube has a mu of roughly 23, which makes
current was a problem. This tubes only require 50mA it a low gain tube in comparison with the 12AX7, but
for their filaments, making them way more efficient maybe with some tweaks even this could be enough.
than the 12AX7. This keeps the current consumption High gain amplifiers are known to have a lot of
low, requiring a smaller power supply. In this case I filtering between stages, where almost the majority of

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 3

the signal is shorted to ground. There may be some supply, it just required a small resistor, which also
air to play with. improved the bias of the first stage. This means the
total filament current is only 50mA!
The 5672, on the other hand, has a mu of 10, but was
mostly used as a power tube in hearing aid devices, Pretty good for a pedal power supply.
and was already used in some other subminiature
amplifiers (Murder one and Vibratone, from For it to work, some stages have a trimpot to adjust
Frequencycentral). It can produce up to 65mW the desired bias. The bias is calculated as the
clean...ish. Don't be scared with the low wattage, it's difference between the voltage at the negative side of
still pretty loud when distorted! The datasheet the filament (f-)and the grid of the tube. The trimpot
specifies a 20k output transformer for this tube. adjusts the DC voltage at the grid of the tube,
allowing the different bias configurations and is
As in previous builds, the 22921 reverb transformer bypassed by a large capacitor, working as a short to
will be used. ground for the signal.

Biasing The third stage, for example, is biased close to the

cut-off point of the tube at -1.8V, achieved as the
One of the difficulties is to bias these tubes without difference between f- (pin 3) at roughly 3.75V and the
using different batteries, since they have direct grid, at 1.95V. This stage emulates the cold clipping
heated cathodes. I did not want to make this more stage found in high gain amplifiers, such as the
complicated, so I had to use a fixed bias soldano or the dual rectifier. The 12AX7 in a dual
configuration. This, on the other hand, allowed the rectifier uses a 39k resistor to achieve this. The other
use of the filaments in series, reducing the total stages are almost center biased, at approximately
filament consumption. With 6 tubes, each dropping 1.25V.
1.25V, I got pretty close to the 9V of the power

Step 3: Circuit Overview: the SMPS

High voltage supply (SMPS) instead. With the SMPS I can boost the 9V
to 70V and add some massive filtering before the
Regarding the plate voltage, these tubes run ideally output transformer.
with plate voltages at 67.5V, but also worked with
90V or 45V batteries. Those batteries were huge! The circuit used in this instructables is based on the
They are also difficult to come by and expensive. 555 chip, successfully used in previous builds.
That's why I opted for a switched mode power supply

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 4

Step 4: Parts List

Here you have a summary of the necessary parts:

Mainboard

C1 22nF/100V__________R1 1M_______________V1 5678

C2 2.2nF/50V__________ R2 33k_______________V2 5678
C3 10uF/100V__________R3 220k______________V3 5678
C4 47nF/100V__________R4 2.2M______________V4 5678
C5 22pF/50V___________R5 520k______________V5 5678
C6 1nF/100V___________R6 470k______________V6 5672
C7 10uF/100V__________R7 22k_______________TREBBLE 250k Linear 9 mm
C8 22nF/100V__________R8 100k______________MID 50k Linear 9 mm
C9 10uF/100V__________R9 220k______________BASS 250k Linear 9 mm
C10 100nF/100V________R10 470k_____________GAIN 250k Log/Audio 9 mm
C11 22nF/100V_________R11 80k______________ PRESENCE 100k Linear 9 mm
C12 470pF/50V_________R12 100k_____________VOLUME 1M Log/Audio 9 mm
C13 10nF/50V__________R13 15k______________B1 10k trimpot
C14 22nF/50V__________R14 330k_____________B2 50k trimpot
C15 680pF/50V_________R15 220k_____________B4 50k trimpot
C16 2.2nF/50V_________ R16 100k_____________SW1 micro DPDT
C17 30pF/50V__________R17 80k______________J1 6.35 mm Mono jack
C18 220uF/16V_________R18 50k______________J2 DC Jack
C19 220uF/16V_________R19 470k_____________J3 6.35 mm Mono-switched jack
C20 220uF/16V_________R20 50k______________SW2 SPDT
C21 220uF/16V_________R21 100k_____________LED 3 mm
C22 100uF/16V_________R22 22k______________3 mm LED holder
C23 100uF/16V_________R23 15R/25R
C24 220uF/16V_________R24 15k
C25 10uF/100V_________R25 100R
C26 10uF/100V_________R26 1.8k
C27 220uF/16V_________R27 1k
C28 100uF/16V_________R28 10k
C29 47nF/100V_________R29 2.7k (LED resistor, adjust for brightness)

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 5

C30 22nF/100V_________R30 1.5k

Special attention to the capacitor voltage rating. The high voltage circuit requires 100V capacitors, the signal path
after the coupling capacitors can use lower values, in this case I used 50V or 100V since the film capacitors have
the same pin spacing. The filaments need to be decoupled, but since the highest voltage on the filaments is 9V a
16V eletrolytic capacitor is on the safe side and way smaller than a 100V one. Resistors can be of the 1/4W type.

555 SMPS

C1 330uF/16V__________R1 56k______________IC1 LM555N

C2 2.2nF/50V__________ R2 10k______________L1 100uH/3A
C3 100pF/50V__________R3 1k_______________Q1 IRF644
C4 4.7uF/250V_________ R4 470R____________ VR1 1k
R5 150k_______________D1 UF4004 or ES2G (ultra fast)
R9 2.2k

Attention to the switching diode! It must be of the ultra fast type, otherwise it won't work. For the SMPS low ESR
capacitors are also desired. In case a normal 4.7uF/250V capacitor is used an additional ceramic capacitor of
100nF in parallel helps to bypass the high frequency switching.

These are the easier parts to find and can be obtained from any eletronic parts store. Now, the tricky parts are:

OT 3.5W, 22k:8ohm transformer (022921 or 125A25B) Banzai, Tubesandmore

L1 100uH/3A inductor Ebay, just don't buy the toroidal shaped. You also find it at Mouser/Digikey/Farnell.

Don't forget to buy:

A copper clad board, 10x10 mm will do for both boards

2x 40 pin sip sockets for the tubes
A 1590B enclosure
Some 3 mm screws and nuts
Rubber feet
5 mm rubber wire grommets
Six 10 mm knobs

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 6

Step 5: Thermal Transfer

To prepare the PCB and the enclosure I use a process based on toner transfer. The toner protects the surface
from the etchant, and as a result after the etching bath we have the PCB with the copper tracks or a beautiful
enclosure. The process of transfering the toner and preparing for etching consists of:

Print the layout/image with a toner printer using glossy paper.

Sand the surface of the enclosure and of the copper board using sanding paper with grit 200 to 400.
Fix the printed image to the PCB/enclosure using tape.
Apply heat and pressure with the clothes iron for about 10 minutes. Make some extra movement
with the tip of the iron at the edges, those are the tricky places where the toner won't stick.
When the paper is looking yellowish trow it in a plastic container filled with water to cool it down,
and let the water soak into the paper.
Remove the paper carefully. It's better when it comes off in layers, instead of removing everything in
a single attempt.

The drill template helps to identify the positioning of the components, you just need to add your own art, and you're
good to go.

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 7

 Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FQ2/ATR6/JTCSFEYF/FQ2ATR6JTCSFEYF.pdf
…

Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/F75/YB69/JTCSESNZ/F75YB69JTCSESNZ.pdf
…

Step 6: Masking

For the enclosure, mask larger areas with nail polish. Since the reaction with aluminum is much stronger than with
copper, there could be some pitting in larger areas.

Giving an extra protection guarantees that there will be no marks to ruin the enclosure.

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 8

Step 7: Etching

For the etching process I like to use a plastic container with etchant and one with water to rinse between steps.

First, some safety tips:

use rubber gloves to protect your hands

work on a non-metallic surface
Use a well ventilated room and avoid breathing the resulting fumes
Use some paper to protect your workbench from possible spills

Here I only show the etching of the enclosure, but the PCB was etched in the same solution. The only difference is
that for the PCB I just waited for about an hour until all the unprotected copper was gone. With the aluminum there
must be some extra care, since we only want to etch the outside of the box.

For the enclosure I shake the box in the etching mixture for about 30 seconds, until it gets warm due to the
reaction an rinse it in the water. I repeat this step another 20 times, or until the etch is about 0.5 mm deep.

When the etch is deep enough wash the enclosure with water and soap to rinse off all the remaining etchant. With
the box cleaned sand the toner and the nail polish off. For the nail polish you can save some sanding paper by
using acetone, but remember to keep the room well ventilated!

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 9

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 10
Step 8: Finishing

In this step I used the 400 grit sanding paper to go from 400 to the finest grit. I change the sandng
achieve a clean surface, like in the third picture. This paper when one grit removed the lines of the previous
is clean enough for the drilling step. I drilled all the one. Sanding in different dirrections makes it easier to
different sized holes, and used the files to make the identify when all the previous marks are gone. With
holes for the tubes sockets. The PCB must be drilled the enclosure shining I apply 3 layers of the clear coat
too, I a 0.8 mm drill bit for the components and 1-1.4 and wait until it dries for another 24h. The PCB can
mm for the wire holes. In this build I also used a 1.3 be protected from corrosion by using a protective
mm drill for the tube sockets. coating. As you can see in the last two figures I like to
have a dark green coating. This coating requires
With the drilling and filing done I give the box a black longer times to dry. I waited 5 days to avoid having
coat of spray paint and let it dry for 24h. It will give a finger prints on the board while soldering the
better constrast between the etch and the enclosure. components.
Obviously, the next step is to sand it off. This time I

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 11

Step 9: Adding Sockets

Soldering the Sockets the components side it looks like a blob of solder, but
it helps to keep the pin stuck), as shown in the first 3
According to the layout, the tubes are mounted at the pictures. The 4th and 5th pictures show all the
copper side of the board. This way the board can sockets and jumpers installed.
come closer to the enclosure and profit from some
extra shielding against nasty high frequency EMI Soldering another set of sockets, this time with the
coming from the SMPS. But using the copper side of plastic structure, to the tubes improves the
the board to solder components has some connection to the board and makes it more stable.
disadvantages, such as the copper becoming loose The original pins of the tubes are very thin, which can
from the board. To avoid this, instead of soldering the lead to some bad contact or even falling off the
tube sockets, I made larger holes where the sockets sockets. By soldering them to sockets we solve this
could be pressed in. The pressure of a slighlty problem, since now they have a tight fit. I think they
smaller hole and some solder on both sides should should have come with proper pins on the first place,
solve the problem. For this I used the machined style like the larger tubes!
pin sockets, without the plastic structure, forced the
metal pin in the hole and soldered on both sides (on

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 12

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 13
Step 10: Assembling the Boards

To solder the components I started with the resistors, Although I was going to test the board outside the
and moved to the larger parts. The electrolytics are enclosure I already built the tonestack in the box. This
soldered at the end, since they are the highest way all the potentiometers are fixed and properly
components on the board. grounded. Testing the circuit with ungrounded
potentiometers (at least the outside shield) can result
With the board ready it's time to add the wires. There in horrible noises. Again, for longer connections I
are a lot of external connections here, from the used a shielded cable, grounded near to the input
tonestack to the high voltage and filament cables. For jack.
the signal wires I used shielded cable, shielding the
ground mesh at the panel side, closer to the input. Unfortunately in this build the potentiometers are
really close together, making it difficult to use a board
Critical wires are around the first stage, coming from with the components. In this case I used a point-to-
the input jack, and going to the gain potentiometer. point approach for this part of the circuit. Another
Before we can build everything inside the box we problem was that I only had a PCB style 9 mm 50K
need to test it, so that we still have access to the potentiometer, so that I had to anchor it to the
copper side of the board for some debugging, if it's neighbouring potentiometers (panel mount style).
necessary.
Now is also a good time to install the on/off switch
For the high voltage filtering I added another RC filter and the LED with the 2.7k resistor.
in a smaller board, mounted perpendicularly to the
main board, as seen in the picture. This way the As a result of two rows of potentiometers I had to file
ground, high voltage and transformer connections are the inside wall of the lid, as shown in the picture, so
easier to acccess with the board mounted to the that the box would close.
enclosure and can be soldered afterwards.

Building the tonestack

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An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 15
Step 11: Adjusting the Trimpots

Adjusting the 555 SMPS second trimpot just needs to be adjusted to taste, or
nearly center biased at 1.2V (measured between pins
If the SMPS is not working there is no high voltage 3 and 4). Similarly the third trimpot is also adjusted to
and the circuit won't work correctly. To test the SMPS approx. 1V.
just connect it to the 9V power jack and check the
voltage reading at the output. It should be around The voltage readings at the tube's pins 1(plate) to 5
70V, otherwise it needs to be adjusted with the (filament) are:
trimpot. If the output voltage is 9V there is a problem
with the board. Check for a bad mosfet or 555. If the V1: <8.8V><41.6V><1.21V><0.00V><2.50V>
trimpot does not work verify the feedback circuit
around the smaller transistor. An advantage of this V2:<27.9V><27.9V><2.50V><1.94V><3.71V>
SMPS is the low count of parts, so it is a little easier
to identify any mistakes or faulty components. V3:<42.4V><42.4V><3.70V><1.94V><4.90V>

Adjusting the mainboard trimpots V4:<36.2V><36.2V><4.90V><3.90V><6.10V>

During the testing stage is a good time to adjust the V5:<41.4V><41.4V><6.20V><5.10V><7.60V>

bias with the trimpots. It can be done later, but if the
tone is to dark or to bright it is easier to make V6:<64.6V><63.7V><8.80V><1.94V><7.60V>
changes now.
Note that the filaments in the 5672 are backwards
The first trimpot controls the bias of the second, third than in the 5678, so that the tubes can't be swapped.
and output stages and is therefore the most Another important aspect to consider is the tube
important. I adjusted this trimpot by measuring the manufacturer. I found out that the tung-sol tubes
bias of the third stage, the cold clipper. If the bias is sounded better in the first positions, than the raytheon
too high the stage will be completely in cut-off, giving tubes. Checking it with an oscilloscope it was visible
a raw, cold, spongy distortion. If it is biased hotter the that the tung-sol tubes had more gain than the
output stage will be too hot, adding some power raytheon tubes I had.
stage distortion, and running the tube closer to the
max. plate dissipation. In this case, the lower side of Now is also the time to test the circuit and see how it
the master volume should be connected to the sounds, if it is too bass heavy I suggest changing the
negative side of the first stage, so that the bias is still 47nF capacitor between second and third stage to
around 5.9V. In my case it sounded better when the 10nF, that will filter some bass out from the initial
output stage was running at 5.7V instead of 6.4V. stages and improve the sound. If it got too thin, just
increase this capacitor to 22nF and so on.
Just measure the bias at the third stage (middle tube
in the back row) and verify that it is around 1.95V The

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 16

Step 12: Mounting Everything Inside the Enclosure

I started adding the screws for the mainboard. On the At this point I saw that my SMPS board would not fit
inside I added the rubber wire grommets, to give in the desired position (at the lateral wall, with the
some clearance between board and enclosure and components perpendicular to this wall) because I
also to dampen some vibration. By running the first added the power jack on the wrong side of the output
stage in pentode mode this could help if the tube gets jack... To fix this I sawed the SMPS board at the input
microphonic. Then I added the board and screwed it side, removing the inductor and capacitor, and
down with the nuts, connected the tonestack, inserted soldered the piece back to the board rotated by 90
the input jack and soldered the remaining wires. degrees, as shown in the picture. I tested the SMPS
again to see if it still was working, and finished by
With the mainboard in position I added the output connecting the high voltage to the main board,
transformer, adjusted the lenght of the wires and through the RC filter board.
inserted the output jack and power jack.

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 17

Step 13: Soundcheck

Now just plug the amplifier to your favorite 8 ohms cabinet (in my case a 1x10" with a celestion greenback) and
use your pedal power supply to play at non-deafening levels!

By the way, if you like the sound of your amp feedbacking when you stop playing at the end of a sound, wait for
the middle part of the video, it feedbacks quite easily when sitting in front of the cab.

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 18

https://youtu.be/Zu_1b5VOxhc

Beautifully done! Thank you for your post. Where did you learn to do the etching?

An Ultra Low Wattage, High Gain Tube Amplifier: Page 19