My electronics projects have been non-existent for almost two years now. I’m going to kick things off again by building a headphone tube amplifier. This comes after months of prodding from Carl followed by a conversation where he basically said my creative output has dwindled to zero. I agreed, so here we are, building a little tube amp. Rather than waiting until the end to do a write up, I’m going to post as I go. Now, on to the build.
DIY headphone amps are far from untrodden territory. There are many designs out there, and several places to get help. After a little bit of research I considered these hybrid amp designs:
- The NP-100v12: 12AU7 (ECC82) / IRF510 Headphone Amp was referenced on this instructable.
- Starving Student
- Millett MAX (more info at diyforums
- MiniMax
I decided on the NP-100v12 due to its low part count and availability of the 12AU7 tube. The photo above shows a finished build from Rogers Gomez. I think this will give me a good introduction to tubes and amps. If I had a bit more experience, I’d probably lean towards one of the Millett Max amps.
Stay tuned for more…
The plan with this headphone amp is to build it on a breadboard first. Partly to make sure it works, and partly because I’m still hesitant to etch my own circuit board.
Since the tube wasn’t going to fit on the breadboard, I was looking for something to attach it to, temporarily, so it won’t flop around. I found a cigar box in my small junk collection, which I think will do nicely. I mounted the tube socket on the cover and soldered in some hook up wire.
Even though it is meant to be temporary, this little cigar box could function as a permanent enclosure. It will need some ventilation holes though.