Tube preamp

ok, I've been reading a lot about building tube preamps, but all the stuff I've found have been really complicated. I was wondering if anyone could help me out and give me some simple circuits as examples of what to start with. I just want to get the basic circuits. Any help?

I'm not sure, but >this< might be of some help to you. They have a bunch of amp kits with schematics.

Is there a prticular design circuit you're looking for, i.e. Marshall like, Fender like, Boogie like, etc...

That's cool, but not exactly what I'm looking for. And I found some sites with a bunch of popular amps, and even found the exact amp that I hope to buy one day, the Rivera Knucklehead. Those things are sweet. Anyway, I'm looking for something like this. 5 (I bet three or four would probably work, but I'm looking for overkill distortion, :D ) 12Ax7 tubes, with gain and volume controls. No tone controls or anything like that, I can deal with that later. And I only need a preamp. Power amp I've got taken care of (not building one myself, though). I want to build a very simple but functional circuit. I hope that's enough detail for you to get the idea what I'm looking for. I just really love the sound of 12ax7 tubes and want to get more into building these things myself, just for the experience. And don't worry about the danger, I've done loads of research and I'm going to make sure to take proper precautions. I've seen what can happen when you don't take those precautions.

(by the way, I am in NO way planning to attempt to build a knucklehead. That'd just be massive stupidity, with my lack of experience)

I mean, I don't know that much myself, but 5 tubes? I don't know how all that works, but I know how my amp works. It has 4 preamp tubes. V1- input stage (effects all 3 channels) V2- Channel 2 and 3's gain stage, V3- Half drives the active eq and the other half drives the effects loop, V4- phase inverter.

I also have a 3 channel tube preamp that uses 4 tubes in a similar way (minus the phase inverter). IIRC (LATS you may have to correct me on this) V1- input stage, V2- channel 2 & 3's gain stage, V3- drives the active eq, V4- buffer for the effects loop.

I'm am very interested in knowing how you plan to use 5 tubes in a single channel preamp with no tone controls.

Why don't you start off with a distortion pedal with 2 tubes. 1 being the input driver and the other being the gain stage?

Hm... I am very interested in amp circuitry as well... 5 preamp tubes.....? Are you planning on going with a single channel?? Most amps have multiple tubes because they run multiple channels... I'm not sure of all the schematics of amps because I've never really worried about it. I am going to do so research into this topic...I wish you luck however!!!

Keep in mind I'm lookin for seriously hi gain stuff. A lot of Mesa Boogie's amps have 5 preamp tubes. Gain>tone>gain>gain>gain>gain. Instead of the tone, I plan to have volume, then at the end, I'll have master vol. I have other EQ's and things for the tone, so I'm not worried about that. Again, I know the gain is a little over the top but hey, I'm a metal head, what did you expect? Also, with more tubes, there's more compression. Though fewer tubes could probably get the gain job done, it won't compress as much.

And yeah, single channel

If you're talking about... say a Triple Rectafier, the you have the tube layout wrong. It will be very similar to the layout of my amp, listed above.

ok, the Pignose, for instance, has three 12ax7, the tube I want to use. It doesn't have nearly enough distortion. Do you think it was just designed that way, are the tubes just not saturated to the potential? And how would the Rectifiers use only one gain stage and get that ammount of distortion? Did I do bad research? :confused: :eek:

ok, PRSplaya, I'm sure you're right. haha, I guess I just didn't look up the stuff I really needed to. What I DID find just now is the Randall Recto module, which is basically what I'm looking to build, minus the tone controls. Hell, even with it, though I'd rather use a 15-band EQ. More control that way. Anyway, it has two tubes, so I was obviously wrong there. Ok, so I can probably find schematics for that module to help me out... anybody have any input on any of my current stupidity? :) :p