H&K EL34 6L6 6V6 Poweramp only?

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dibble
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H&K EL34 6L6 6V6 Poweramp only?

Post by dibble » Thu Dec 05, 2019 2:32 pm

I've always wanted to built an amp for myself. But, in the past couple of years I've moved over to amp modelers and profilers. IMO the preamp sections are quite well reproduced in software with today's state of the art.

However, (IMHO) the poweramp section, FRFR and speaker modeling is still a ways off when you are after that in-the-room-with-an-amp sound. For a while, I've been plugging my preamp modeler in to the return of my EL34, 6L6 and 6V6 amps, and then in to an appropriate cab for what I consider to be dead-on "real amp" sound that I could never get with several FRFR attempts.

The problem with this approach is while I can still get a ton more preamp options, I still have 3 amps and multiple cabs to deal with. Then I had an idea for my first build--build a multi-tube poweramp section (and later a cab with multiple speakers for different amp sounds). But, it may be too ambitious. So, I thought I'd ask here first.

Hughes & Kettner already makes an EL34 and 6L6 amp. It's $3K. And, I'm not interested in their preamp section anyway. How tricky would it be to build just the power section of an amp like that--more importanly--on a $1000 budget? I was under the initial impression that I'd essentially be building 3 separate amps in one box (for my EL34, 6L6, and 6V6 idea) which would essentially triple the price of just building one poweramp section. I don't have the schematic, but I assume H&K have somehow used the same transformers and shared a lot of the same circuitry to get their 2-amps in a box. If so, then a 3-in-a-box would be > cost of 1 poweramp but <3.

So, my question:

Is it possible (worth attempting--worth the effort--sensible for a first build???) to build 3 power amp sections: one for EL34 (2), 6L6 (2) and 6V6 (2) sharing the same box and a lot of the same hardware? Ideally, I'd just like to flip a switch on the front to toggle between the 3 sections. If this pans out, then the next plan is to build a 4x12 cab with two Eminence speakers and two Celestion speakers so I can go 2x2 depending on which tubes/preamp I'm using.

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