Bottleneck 6V6 competition update

[RayP]

Steve and I have set the date of the competition for Sunday, April 11. The cutoff date for entries will be February 1. Please visit http://829b.com/6V6.aspx for the updates and rules.

Towards the end of the document under the judging process, I have a link to a proposed scoring system at http://829b.com/6V6competitionscoringsystem.aspx. Please feel free to suggest improvements. Again thanks to all who have suggested improvements.

ray

[JC]

What a great contest!  I hope you will post a full report here, including whatever pictures you can.  I happen to like this little tube quite a bit from work on guitar amps, so I love to hear about people using it for DIY HiFi.

[RayP]

Certainly, there will be a report with pictures. You can see some from of our other more recent meets at http://829b.com/bottleheads.aspx

I am at the breadboard stage now and I have my Ikea container ready so I will start putting it all together soon.

ray

[Paul Birkeland]

Man, I sure wish you guys would take shipped submissions, but I can totally understand why you wouldn't.  Be sure to post pictures when you can!

[RayP]

I sympathize with you.

So far, I only know of three entries. The Dowdy Lama is bringing his entry, Steve has a design and partial build and mine will hopefully play some music tomorrow for the first time.  If we don't get a few more entries by the end of the month, we may have to reconsider the rule limiting to 'carry in'. Ideally I would like to have about 10 entries so if you are in the Mid Atlantic / DC area or somehow could make the trip to DC, please think about submitting an entry.

ray

[2wo]

I'm in, I got to tell you the V-caps are killing my budget..John

[RayP]

We still need a few more entries so if you are thinking of entering, please let me know asap.

After a few iterations, I've got my breadboard mostly done except for deciding on the coupling caps. There is a picture of it posted all the way down at the bottom of the '6V6 Rules' website. I've also included a couple of details about it.

http://www.829b.com/6V6.aspx

By the way, other entrants are not required to post details of their design at this stage. I've opened the kimono to generate some interest.

One more point, I've been contacted by a Gary Gill of Capital Audio Fest which will be held in June in the Rockville, MD area. He is interested in letting us have a table to show our amps if we wish to do so.
http://www.capitalaudiofest.com/

ray

[dbishopbliss]

That's pretty cool.  How did Gary hear about the competition?

[2wo]

I think you have me beat for clip leeds...John

[RayP]

I don't know how Gary found out but he mentions that he will try to attend our April event. It will be interesting to see how his big event in June goes.

ray

[rock4016]

Count me in!

[RayP]

It looks like we will have 5 or 6 entries. So far, all are single ended. To add a bit of interest, I will bring the Poinz Music Machine PP 6V6 amp that my daughter built and have it as the ringer though it won't be eligible for the prize. It will be interesting to find out if we can consistently pick it out from the SE amps. It has Edcore transformers so should be competitive. I will change the coupling caps to something cheaper, probably whatever I end up with in my amp.

ray

[castlesteve]

It looks like we will have 5 or 6 entries. So far, all are single ended. To add a bit of interest, I will bring the Poinz Music Machine PP 6V6 amp that my daughter built and have it as the ringer though it won't be eligible for the prize. It will be interesting to find out if we can consistently pick it out from the SE amps. It has Edcore transformers so should be competitive. I will change the coupling caps to something cheaper, probably whatever I end up with in my amp.

ray

   That`s great. I was looking at Poinz`s amp for my next project. I am looking forward to doing a push pull next.

[RayP]

I was just thinking about the coupling caps and how it plays such a large part of the 'flavouring' process. I was trying a 716P orange drop and just for fun, bypassed it with a russian silver mica SSG-2. What a difference but then again, not allowed under the 'no Ebay' rules.

Perhaps if we do another competition we can specify what the coupling cap should be. Actually, in the back of your minds, think about what the next competition could be. Perhaps a 'salvage' amp? In many ways, the constraints are what makes this interesting.

ray

[RayP]

David and I went to Steve's place for a mini meet last Sunday to talk a bit more about the competition and see how an actual entry would work with the JBL / waveguide speakers. I brought along my breadboard version and fortunately it worked and seemed to handle the proposed music.

I have updated the website http://829b.com/6V6.aspxwith a bit more about what will happen on the day. Please note the timing, we can't run late because I am flying off to London later that evening.

Entrants, also note that you need to think of a name for your amp.

So how did my amp sound? Well we also played David's fully tricked out Sex amp and his sounded better, particularly in the midrange, but I was still pleased with mine considering the $200 limit. We tried bypassing with the SSG-2 silver mica caps later in the day and that really helped my amp.

My breadboard has now been dismantled and it is being reassembled in its container. If you are entering and haven't got too far with your building, you need to get cracking.

ray