Zvex - Nano Head

Tube or solid-state, this section goes to eleven!
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analogguru
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Post by analogguru »

Ok, here you can see the original (including guts):
http://zvexamps.com/amp_view.html

and here you can see some similar (improved) units:

http://www.geocities.com/humbug64/

http://www.diokay.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=437

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Post by soulsonic »

This week, I am beginning my first experiments with 12 volt "space charge" tubes.

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Post by Torchy »

I've never played with tubes much (not since the '70s), the Nanohead is the only ZV toy I've wanted to try :shock:

Was going to try and RE one but dont know where to get the tubes from in UK/Europe.

Quite fancy building one if I could get a schem & tube supply. Will keep an eye on this thread for sure :)

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Post by analogguru »

Have a look for a Fender Twin-reverb schematic from the 70`s, the reverb driver transformer, a 12 AT 7 or ECC 81 and you should come close to your needs. At least it will produce 0,5W to 1W output power in Class A.

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Post by RLBJR65 »

soulsonic wrote:This week, I am beginning my first experiments with 12 volt "space charge" tubes.
12U7 is a good one to play around with.

Anyone needs any of these 12V tubes I can get them from my favorite surplus store. http://www.meci.com/
They have boxes of them, used and NOS. I paid less than $5.00 for an NOS Tungsol 12U7 :D

Not sure how helpfull they would be if you called but I get in there about once a month so if you are looking let me know.

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Post by soulsonic »

Oh, do you actually go into their place and get stuff not listed on the website? I wasn't aware they had all that. Yeah, I'll keep that mind and let you know if I'll be needing anything. Thanks!

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Post by RLBJR65 »

Soulsonic you have to go, your only about 3 hours away!

I assure you it will be well worth the trip! The web page does not even scratch the surface. The store has been there forever. Hell they don't even know what all they have.

Think of WalMart only it's full of all kinds of surplus stuff. Need a pizza oven? I know they have at least 1. Hardware by the pound, office furniture, household goods, lab equipment, etc.

The 3rd. floor is geek heaven! Computers, electronics and all kinds of mechanical stuff. On your first trip be prepaired to spend the better part of a day just on the 3rd floor. It's better organized than when I first started going in but you still got to dig around a bit to find what your looking for.

One time I unearthed a dusty old box that had over 5 hundred NOS RCA metal can CA3080A IC's :shock: I couldn't resist buying them but also couldn't afford to keep them all. Thats where SmallBear got their stock of them I traded / sold most of them to Steve.

Almost forgot to mention there is also a Parts Express store down stairs and another building with only store display stuff. Mannequins, shelving etc.

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Post by Torchy »

analogguru wrote:Have a look for a Fender Twin-reverb schematic from the 70`s, the reverb driver transformer, a 12 AT 7 or ECC 81 and you should come close to your needs. At least it will produce 0,5W to 1W output power in Class A.

analogguru
Thanks AG, I'd not thought of that. Maybe its time I got into tubes a bit more :oops:

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Post by analogguru »

Thanks AG, I'd not thought of that. Maybe its time I got into tubes a bit more
No problem at all.....
When you will have serviced so many Fenders like I did in my life, maybe you will think the same:
"Hey, where did I see this transformer before ?"
Hmmm... Yes .... here on the left:
Image

Here in detail:
Image
Image
"And how many wires I can see there....only 4 ?" ......hmmmm :roll: :wink:

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Post by briggs »

Oh, please someone build a project for this :wink:
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Post by soulsonic »

Well... there is sort of a kit available for it....
https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits_w ... #masspedal
I built the prototype. It sounds like total garbage. The layout is absolute rubbish. The "concept" for the thing is that it's a little 1/2 watt amp that drives a stationary speaker motor and has a line out - no speaker level out, just the line out. And it has a bypass relay. The idea is that you'd use it as some kind of overdrive pedal that's supposed to sound like a crunchy tube amp. Well, it doesn't; it sounds like total shit, and they know this, but I haven't seen any changes made to either the schematic or the layout to reflect any possible improvements, so I guess they don't care. But it is a decent collection of parts that could be used to possibly make a decent little amp - but the circuit would have to be completely different, at least the preamp section for sure. I also wouldn't be suprised if it sounds much better without that awful motor attached to the output. I love how they have it situated right next to the input jack.... I guess that explains why it squealed so much when you turned the volume up. Oh, and don't think about moving it to a better spot - they glue it in place!

At least you can see the possibilities for this kind of a circuit. You could easily purchase all the parts separately and not deal with that kit.

Well - forget that noise, I'm building a little low voltage amp today - we will see how it turns out.

Where is MECI located? I have to go! I think my dad has bought stuff from them in the past - he's really into radio surplus junk. Thanks for the tip!

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Post by dave_b »

soulsonic wrote:Where is MECI located?
Looks like they're in Dayton, Ohio. A ten hour drive for me. :(

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Post by RLBJR65 »

soulsonic wrote: Where is MECI located? I have to go! I think my dad has bought stuff from them in the past - he's really into radio surplus junk. Thanks for the tip!
I'm sure if your Dad is into Ham radios or has ever went to the Hamfest (Hamvention) in Dayton he has been to Mendalsons (MECI)

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Post by soulsonic »

Yes and yes.

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Post by analogguru »

The weber stuff looks like sh*t....whats the heck with the motor ?

Here some infos about the reverb transformer:
From: Dr.Distortio--(at)--bs.mhv.net (Dr Distortion)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.amps
Subject: Re: reverb transformer
Date: 13 Mar 1995 23:27:19 GMT
Organization: MHVNet, the Mid Hudson Valley's Internet connection
Lines: 29
Message-ID: <3k2kcn$n7--(at)--ver.mhv.net>
References: <3jl47d$7n--(at)--rime.mdata.fi>
NNTP-Posting-Host: csbh.mhv.net
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Mikko Oksa (oks--(at)--its.mdata.fi) wrote:
> Anybody have data on the 125A20B impedance matching transformer used in
> Fender reverb circuits ? What kind of a transformer would I need If I
> were to build a silmilar circuit ?


I don't have the data handy, but I can tell you how to figure it out.


1) All Fender reverb tanks have an 8-ohm nominal input impedance. So, the secondary winding must be 8 ohm.

2) Are you talking about the transformer that was used with a 12AT7 driver?
In that case, the primary impedance of the transformer would probably be chosen to more-or-less match the plate impedance of the tube, which gives you maximum power transfer with a triode. Since both halves of the 12AT7 are being used, the plate resistance is 1/2 that of the stated spec in the tube manuals. So, look up the plate resistance for a 12AT7 at the kind of plate voltage which it sees in the Fender circuit and divide it in half; that will give you the approximate primary Z of the transformer, assuming that they designed the xfmr to match the plate resistance. An even better way is to obtain the actual transformer and take measurements; feed a 1-volt, 1kHz sine wave into the secondary and read the AC voltage appearing across the primary. This will give you the turns (step-up/step-down) ratio. The impedance ratio is the square of the turns ratio.

__|__ Dr.Distortion __|__
----- STAUDCO -----
/~~~| New York |~~~\
So 8 ohm secondary ....can drive a speaker directly.... :wink:

Allenamps has the transformer for $12,--:
http://www.allenamps.com/images/ot91.jpg

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Post by briggs »

That looks great! Is it yours?
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Post by Goop_buster »

briggs wrote:That looks great! Is it yours?
Yes but it is just an old "prototype" and I will rework it when there is time.
I hope to stick in channel-switching (change of gain structure with a footswicth) and a little speaker emulator out for recording in the next version.

It was just fun to see if I could do it though :)


It is not a reverse on nano btw


Possibly I will make a DIY-kit of it someday
Last edited by Goop_buster on 07 Sep 2007, 22:38, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by analogguru »

So, okay.....

If you didn´t know it before, we are all clones that were cloned by the Anunaki as you can read here:
http://stargods.org/AlienInvasion.html
These new star god kings now began to manipulate the genetic structure of man through cross breeding and alterations. More and more we will see these alien star gods portrayed as the God of the Bible as evolution will come under more attacks. The straw man must go down. The Luciferian powers want to let it be known that the aliens created Adam and Eve from genetic manipulation. According to Zecharia Sitchin, these "good" gods were known in the past as the Anunaki. They created mankind in their own image and will one day return to save us. What they will save us from is the so called "bad" aliens.
Hey, what ..... Alien Invasion ?

Zacharya ..... who ?

Oh my God... I think now we are really lost in space.....

The only solution to this can only be also to play god, so lets do this.
As you know, the Nano-thing was "developed" on the kitchen-table.
So let´s take a Fender Twin-Reverb AA270 schematic, scissors and go with that in the kitchen, sit down at the table and wait what vanessa will cook today.

Mhhh...cooking takes really much time today.....
Ok in the meantime let´s cut the schematic and make a puzzle out of it.
Now lets take some parts and glue it together.
Oh this looks nice... but it is so nano now, looks like a clone of my "nano".
Nessie-darling, which "nano" you like more, mine or this one:


Image

Now that we have lost some parts we have to add new component values:
Input resistor 33k instead of 68k
Cathode resistor of the second tube 1k5 instead of 820 Ohm
New capacitor 22µ/450V

Yes, we are the champions....we can play god... we can clone.... like the anunaki.... and Zachieeee.

Don´t "smoke" too much this weekend and here especially for vanessa for her greatful help:

Image

Have fun,
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Post by soulsonic »

analogguru wrote:The weber stuff looks like sh*t....whats the heck with the motor ?
I told you it was a crap design. The worst part is that they're selling it even though they know it doesn't work as-is. Well, it works... it makes a sound - but that sound is absolute total garbage.

That motor is Weber's little gimmick they have to tack onto everything. It's just a speaker voice coil mounted in a little assembly with a pole piece and magnet. Basically, a speaker motor with no cone attached. They use it as a dummy load in their "MASS" attenuators and some other products. I've performed many experiments with them and found them to be really awful loads - the amp does not respond well to them at all..... very, very nonlinear, and NOT in the same way an actual working speaker is - it's a very poor representation. You'd be much better off using a resistor.

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