Finally!! Could the gainclone really be done?!

[WWWJD]

9 months in and almost a labor of love.. my amplifier is complete.

In my humble opinion, she looks as good as she sounds.





The case is Sepele (African, Tropical.. honestly had never heard of it). I didn't want the case to be too thick, i.e. 3/4" or 1/2".. wanted something in the 1/4" to 3/8" range. Not owning or knowing anyone who owns a planer, I trucked up to Woodcraft to see what they had in the back room. I came across two pieces of this stuff, 3/8" x 3" x 24". It didn't look extremely exotic, but it fit the bill dimensionally, and they were straight and true. After gluing the pieces together, cutting, gluing, I hit a left over piece with tung oil, then proceeded to have another one of my "holy crap!" moments. This stuff is really neat! The grain pattern reverses and shifts depending on viewing angle.. the pics don't really do any justice but I'm very happy with the results. 5 coats of Tung Oil over 5 days..





Quick specs: 250VA Toroid (18V+18V), Dual Power Supplies, LM3886 amp boards, 60~70W x 2, 4 ohm design, inboard USB DAC.

Final Dimensions: 8-3/4"W, 5-3/4"D, 4"H. Weight: Heavy! (as it should be... Muaha... hah.. hahaha)

11-21-2010 - Added a soft starter. Schweet!

Link to more: http://techtalk.parts-express.com/sh...d.php?t=219191

[edlafontaine]

So nice! How's the performance of the DAC?

[WWWJD]

How's the performance of the DAC?

It's great! I don't have any point of reference to compare it to, but I think it does the job right.

[cuggie]

Beautiful job. It just says Classic. That wood is amazing.
I hope to build one some day.
cuggie

[tom_s]

The case is Sepele (African, Tropical.. honestly had never heard of it). I didn't want the case to be too thick, i.e. 3/4" or 1/2".. wanted something in the 1/4" to 3/8" range. Not owning or knowing anyone who owns a planer, I trucked up to Woodcraft to see what they had in the back room. I came across two pieces of this stuff, 3/8" x 3" x 24". It didn't look extremely exotic, but it fit the bill dimensionally, and they were straight and true. After gluing the pieces together, cutting, gluing, I hit a left over piece with tung oil, then proceeded to have another one of my "holy crap!" moments. This stuff is really neat! The grain pattern reverses and shifts depending on viewing angle.. the pics don't really do any justice but I'm very happy with the results. 5 coats of Tung Oil over 5 days..

That looks great! You did a fabulous job shoehorning all that into the new case. You could probably price it in the $2-4K range if was in a "hifi salon"
I don't know about pricing on the actual lumber, but Sepele veneer is priced about the same as Oak or Cherry on Formwood's overstock page. How was it to cut and sand?

[killa]

Looks good. Clean and simple. Is that a volume knob off of a HK receiver?

[WWWJD]

I don't know about pricing on the actual lumber, but Sepele veneer is priced about the same as Oak or Cherry on Formwood's overstock page. How was it to cut and sand?

The planks I bought were $10 each; finishing and cutting were pretty easy. Final sand before oil was 600 grit, and buffed with steel wool between coats of oil.

Killa, the details of knob construction are in the build thread.

[theLinks]

Very nice! You take great pride in your work.
Tim

[absolootbs]

great looking amp. i'd been following the build in your other thread and have been looking forward to seeing it finished. now you just need a pair of these to go with it...

[arlis_1957@yahoo.com]

mark, nice job. now you can relax till fall, right?

[WWWJD]

mark, nice job. now you can relax till fall, right?

NEVER!!

Got parts for some MTM OS sitting on the front burner... No rest for the wickedly addicted.

Thanks for all the positive feedback everybody. This hobby has been the best time out of all of them I've tried... don't look to stop anytime soon.

[andykriech]

Love the amp look!

Qtr-sawn, ribbon-stripped Sapele is really nice. I used it on my RJB Microbes and Cerberus sub projects:





I still have another 2x8 sheet for future projects.
Andy.

[WWWJD]

That's some beautiful work Andy. What was the BF price for the Sepele you bought? Just curious.

[andykriech]

That's some beautiful work Andy. What was the BF price for the Sepele you bought? Just curious.

I used veneer that I bought off the sale page at Formwood (http://www.formwood.com/index.php) great place to buy cheap veneer.

Underneath is the standard 3/4" MDF.

Andy.

[pypes]

That is absolutely gorgeous! I really like the minimalist styling. Classy, elegant, unobtrusive in all the best ways! I think it was very serendipitous to have found that sepele wood, it finished beautifully and I think the 3/8 looks perfect. I understand how you thought thicker would be an issue, but looking at it now it almost seems as if 1/4 would have looked a bit thin. It looks perfect.

And I'm pleased to see how attractive the sepelle finished on both your project and the other speakers... I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what kind of veneer to get for my first project as it's coming to an end. I want something affordable as it's my first time but also want something with a really nice finish - don't know how to explain what I mean... I don't need 500 dollar a sheet burl but I don't want to just slap oak veneer on the thing either.

Great work!

[gowa]

Absolutely beautiful job!

[Wolf]

Don't kid yourself- Sapele can be expensive too, especially if it's Sapele Pommele, or some burl or such.

Quartersawn isn't that costly.
Later,
Wolf

[MSaturn]

Bada55

I am so, so tired of the profanity filter

[DjDisturbed]

I really love the amp, that knob you did for it is SWEET !
I want to do one of theSure amps that PE has right now. Seen some good write ups and some tips on what to change out on the boards to make them alot better.
Once again great looking stuff , keep up the great work.

[marscoast]

Now that's just beautiful.