thinking about building a quickie

[Paul Birkeland]

I see from the delivery status page that orders thru 12-21 have shipped, how long does it usually take to gather the parts and send out a kit? 

Most outstanding Quickie orders are scheduled to ship in the next day or two (Josh and I were busy creating the new manual, hence the gap in shipping).

[earwaxxer]

IMO, the Quickie is a fantastic product to get more people involved in tubes, as well as the very satisfying hobby of DIY audio. Way more than $99 worth of fun.

[aragorn723]

Gain is the ratio of input voltage to output voltage. In the stock Quickie with a high load impedance, gain is about 2 - so for a 0.25 volt input, the output voltage is 0.50 volts. For an input of 1 volts, you get 2 volts output. Near the end of the battery life, the maximum output is around 2.3 volts RMS.

What is the output voltage with the PJCCS?

[Paul Joppa]

Like facebook sometimes says, "...it's complicated". If the operating voltage is where you want it, you should be able to get a bit more voltage out, compared to stock. But I haven't checked how the voltage tracks with varying battery voltage, and the difference between tubes and as the tube ages enters in as well.

If you want the biggest possible headroom, you should use a plate choke, and adjust the bias as well. The Hammond 156C has been popular; a 2K bias resistor will bring the current down for more symmetrical clipping - you might see 9v fresh, 6v depleted batteries.

This is a great way to explore the meaning of operating point analysis. Find the Sylvania spec sheet for the 3S4; it's the one than has the triode-mode curves. Since the voltages are so low, you can experiment all day with no risk of damaging the tube (which is cheap anyhow, if you get experimenter-grade tubes!).

[earwaxxer]

I do like the sound of the chokes. IMO, if your system is a bit more 'revealing' the chokes add a nice smoothness. If you already have tubes thoughout it may not be a good thing, the PJCCS may be a better choice. The cool thing is you can get both and experiment.

[Paul Joppa]

... The cool thing is you can get both and experiment.

I effin' love it! A major point of all the entry level kits, and in fact everything, is to enable those who wish to try stuff, trust their OWN ears, and have a little fun!

[aragorn723]

I do like the sound of the chokes. IMO, if your system is a bit more 'revealing' the chokes add a nice smoothness. If you already have tubes thoughout it may not be a good thing, the PJCCS may be a better choice. The cool thing is you can get both and experiment.

i'm definitely thinking about going the choke route.  My amp is a BIG solid state pro amp (Inter-m R500) that's 250W X 2, so its powerful, but handles detail pretty well too.  There aren't any tubes in the system now, so maybe that's a good way to go?  I'm a little confused about how the chokes get wired up.  Paul mentioned using Hammond plate chokes with a 2k bias resistor-the chokes don't have a positive or negative side, right?  Also, would the 2k resistors (one per channel??) replace the existing resistors in the kit?  Thanks

[Paul Birkeland]

I'm a little confused about how the chokes get wired up.  Paul mentioned using Hammond plate chokes with a 2k bias resistor-the chokes don't have a positive or negative side, right?  Also, would the 2k resistors (one per channel??) replace the existing resistors in the kit? 

Most off the shelf chokes have no polarity, though the Bottlehead chokes and the Magnequest chokes have one wire that should go to AC ground (not the tube plate).  In the Quickie, you remove each 4K plate load resistor and wire a choke in its place.

The 2K resistors would replace the 1K resistors in the kit.

[aragorn723]

ok.. so there are 2 sets of resistors in the kit-1K and 4k?? 

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, there is also a pair of 475K resistors in the kit, but these are not applicable to said modifications.