Idea -- Has this been done? -- Questions

[AmishWarlord]

I had an epiphany last night as i was going to sleep, trying to decide how i'm going to build my amp setup. I was thinking of doing a modular design with 3 preamps and 3 power amps.. but i can't find any connectors that could carry B+. Are there any out there? Anyway.. in thinking.. i came up with a new idea.. combining them. For the dirty, i want to run a High Octane preamp into the 18-Watt power amp. Has this ever been done? I have a 300-0-300 power supply.. should i just connect it like normal, or put a couple 12V zeners in the CT to lower the voltage?

Sorry about all the questions.. but.. i'm trying to get all this planned out. Thanks In Advance for your help.

-James

[Plexi]

just going on burned out brain cells here..but i believe {hope i get this right}
Master builder Paul Ruby built something like that,and had different amps you could swap out,power amps mounted along the bottom. I know someone probably remembers.. and i may be wrong, But i think Paul did build something similar.
Richie

[AmishWarlord]

Yeah, the more i think about it, the more that's what i want to do... Once i can find a connector that can use B+. Could i just use a regular 1/4" jack and then make my own cable for it? Then use the shielded part to connect chassis grounds? I'd probably include another chassis ground connection in the main connector, but, just shooting ideas around now.

-J

[brucethorn]

Yikes.
If you could maybe take a little bit of advice from an old timer,
a 1/4" phone jack with 350 volts DC on it is NOT the way to go from a safety point of view. About the only thing worse would be a cable ending
in a 1/4 phone plug with 350 volts on it. What if your girl friend, not quite
sure, were to plug in to that jack while holding the guitar on a damp basement floor? Could make for a lively if short tune.
In design it is a must never to use two connectors that could
in any way be crossed pluged if there is ANY possibly of error where
there is hazzard to life. PLEASE at least check out what I am saying.
In the "old" tube days a common connector was a 2 or 3 pin
Eby or Cinch Jones.There are hundreds of connectors to chose from,
almost any connector manufactor will have some. Try EF Johnson,
Amphenol, Amp, Molex, Cinch etc etc. in any OEM electronics cat.

Hope you can take this post as it was meant.Sometimes at least,
it is better to have spoke up and risk being wrong than to take the greater risk of having said nothing. TAKE CARE

[bartman]

You can find Paul Ruby's modular amp info at ax84.com, then click on the Tone Brewery link. He's using Molex connectors and even has Mouser part numbers.

[bartman]

You can find Paul Ruby's modular amp info at ax84.com, then click on the Tone Brewery link. He's using Molex connectors and even has Mouser part numbers.

[AmishWarlord]

You know, i looked at that, but apparently not at the right link. Found all the info. Thanks! As for the 1/4" jack.. you're right. I didn't even think someone could end up with 350V through their pickups. That's not a good thought. Also: what's a good safe B+ voltage to run all of these projects at? I'm going to be running EL84s and 6L6's in the power section, and 12AX/AU7s in the preamps. I've gotta hit up my local surplus store soon, so i can find all the PTs i'll be needing. Anyways, thanks for the nudge in the right direction. I've added it to my files.

-James