Can watt build a Slagle AVC?

[rogerfederer]

It works.

View attachment 19249

Just connected it to a chip amp (that rogerfederer might recognize) to test, and HEY YOU GUYS IT WORKS!

I'm gonna try my hand at making some wooden knobs, and I still need to wait for the shaft extensions to arrive, but at the moment I'm just happy that I can hear a signal.

A sincere thanks to everyone who posted advice. I look forward to spending some time listening.

is that the wardsweb built gainclone? nice work with the AVC!

 

[watt]

is that the wardsweb built gainclone? nice work with the AVC!

Yep, that's the one. I rotate it in and out of my office setup. It was on a shelf, so I used it as a test amp here.

Not a great match with the AVC and Minimus 7s, but I still like it a lot with the right speakers. (And I have enough wardsweb-built gear here that it feels right at home. )

 

[watt]

Installed the shaft extensions, buttoned it up, and put on this first swing at a pair of simple knobs.

Let’s see if I can keep up my string of bad photos:



Seriously, everybody—thanks for the help along the way. It sounds great (thanks Dave Slagle!) and I might think that I can build some other stuff now. Ha!

 

[S0und Dragon]

Someone will be along shortly to compliment your knobs....

 

[ejfud]

Nice work.

I’ll just leave the talk about shaft extensions and knobs alone.

 

[thin_ice]

Very nicely done. Now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come. Nothing like homemade/hand built.

 

[marantzfan]

Whatever happened with this preamp @watt? Are you still listening to it?

 

[watt]

I was using it until I switched to a cool-running solid state amp about four weeks ago. I do that in the summer (though people who live in AZ might say it doesn’t actually get that hot here in NC 🙂). The Slagle itself runs totally cool (how could it not), but these days I don’t have a stand-alone solid state power amp.

I thought about building a pair of ncore monos to see how they’d do with the Slagle, but never really followed through. I've really enjoyed the Pass stuff that I've had over the years, and considered one of the First Watt builds, but that doesn't really help with heat.

Looking forward to getting back to the Slagle when it cools down a little, though. The Musical Fidelity integrated that I’m using now brings more power (and it has a pretty nice built in phono stage, and a remote!), but I miss the Slagle's dimension and clarity.

 

[JohnVF]

I was using it until I switched to a cool-running solid state amp about four weeks ago. I do that in the summer (though people who live in AZ might say it doesn’t actually get that hot here in NC 🙂). The Slagle itself runs totally cool (how could it not), but these days I don’t have a stand-alone solid state power amp.

I thought about building a pair of ncore monos to see how they’d do with the Slagle, but never really followed through. I've really enjoyed the Pass stuff that I've had over the years, and considered one of the First Watt builds, but that doesn't really help with heat.

Looking forward to getting back to the Slagle when it cools down a little, though. The Musical Fidelity integrated that I’m using now brings more power (and it has a pretty nice built in phono stage, and a remote!), but I miss the Slagle's dimension and clarity.

The Slagle -does- work well with a solid state option. Like a good tube preamp it adds a bit of tonal color, of the good and not too sugary kind, while letting the solid state amp do what solid state amps are good at. Impact, scale, etc.

While digging through storage last week I stumbled across my Pass Aleph, which I, um, totally forgot about. Someday I hope to pair it with the Slagleformer, but like you I'm in cool-running mode for a bit with the hard-to-argue-with Luxman integrated.

 

[watt]

The Slagle -does- work well with a solid state option. Like a good tube preamp it adds a bit of tonal color, of the good and not too sugary kind, while letting the solid state amp do what solid state amps are good at. Impact, scale, etc.

While digging through storage last week I stumbled across my Pass Aleph, which I, um, totally forgot about. Someday I hope to pair it with the Slagleformer, but like you I'm in cool-running mode for a bit with the hard-to-argue-with Luxman integrated.

Speaking of forgetting about amps (I had the Aleph 30 once, and really liked it), it just occurred to me that I do have a Quad 405, but it's in my office at school, which I can't get into for awhile now.

 

[marantzfan]

I was using it until I switched to a cool-running solid state amp about four weeks ago. I do that in the summer (though people who live in AZ might say it doesn’t actually get that hot here in NC 🙂). The Slagle itself runs totally cool (how could it not), but these days I don’t have a stand-alone solid state power amp.

I thought about building a pair of ncore monos to see how they’d do with the Slagle, but never really followed through. I've really enjoyed the Pass stuff that I've had over the years, and considered one of the First Watt builds, but that doesn't really help with heat.

Looking forward to getting back to the Slagle when it cools down a little, though. The Musical Fidelity integrated that I’m using now brings more power (and it has a pretty nice built in phono stage, and a remote!), but I miss the Slagle's dimension and clarity.

That makes sense. I live on the surface of the sun and everything I own is either tube or class A solid state. That doesn't make sense.

The reason I asked is that I had pulled mine out my Slagle AVC based preamp for a while since I never really finished it (miissing top and bottom covers). The original plan was to have the top plate powder coated to match my Simple 2A3 which I'm still planning to do.

It seems most people are really impressed with the Slagle. I thought it was nice, but i'll be honest, I think I actually prefer the Bottlehead BeePre (el84/300b) active preamp a little more. Maybe once I put the covers and attach ground to the bottom plate that will change? We'll see...

 

[watt]

That makes sense. I live on the surface of the sun and everything I own is either tube or class A solid state. That doesn't make sense.

The reason I asked is that I had pulled mine out my Slagle AVC based preamp for a while since I never really finished it (miissing top and bottom covers). The original plan was to have the top plate powder coated to match my Simple 2A3 which I'm still planning to do.

It seems most people are really impressed with the Slagle. I thought it was nice, but i'll be honest, I think I actually prefer the Bottlehead BeePre (el84/300b) active preamp a little more. Maybe once I put the covers and attach ground to the bottom plate that will change? We'll see...

I think you're allowed to prefer another preamp to the Slagle. I'll allow it, at least.

 

[JohnVF]

I think you're allowed to prefer another preamp to the Slagle. I'll allow it, at least.

My experience with it is largely based around only two amps, a VAC PA-100/100 and this obscure modern German solid state amp I use. I imagine that, given what it is, there are a host of factors involved that would affect how it interacts with any given amp. I'm a bit wary of how its going to interact with the Pass Aleph 30, as its been a very picky amp in the past (by design... and not a surprise).

 

[Redboy]

I think you're allowed to prefer another preamp to the Slagle. I'll allow it, at least.

You guys are dead to me.

 

[Ski]

Great looking build Watt. I recently took mine out of service and will get it back in the system when I get a better phono pre.

 

[old_borg]

About to wire up some I just ordered, thanks for the build log!

 

[watt]

Neat! Good luck, and enjoy 'em. 👍