Teaser: Lama Kazu 12PP

It may be a while before concrete evidence of the next electronic project shows up here, but here's a little teaser and progress schematic for the next amplifier, the Lama Kazu 12PP. It will be a 15-ish watt push pull with 6CM6s for the output (they're 6V6s in noval bottles). The preamp will be:

Input -> 6AU6 -> Gain control -> 12AV7 gain stage (DC-coupled between sections) -> Tone stack (Probably BM-Π) -> Volume control -> Sunn/Dynaco style 6AN8 pentode recovery dc coupled to cathodyne.

I'm going to use a gain control that rolls off the bass as drive is increased to smooth out the distortion.

Coming soon: Repairing my friend Ray's Pearl King concertina.

Foray Into Furniture: Studio Desk

Have you ever seen a piece of furniture for the home recording studio that meets the following criteria?

1. Compact footprint for use in a small room.
2. Work surface elevated for comfortable use of keyboard & mouse while standing (with guitar strapped on).
3. Computer CPU elevated so that a vacuum cleaner can go under.
4. Enclosed sides to help contain CPU fan noise.
   
5. Includes a storage drawer.
6. No particleboard.
7. Looks nice.

Well, I'd never seen anything like that either, and we even had one of our equipment dealers hunting for it. Even relaxing requirements 6 and 7 left us with nothing. This means I have to build it.

I chose cherry wood and decided to do a simple rail, stile and panel construction for the sides and back, with an edged plywood top. The CPU shelf will be thin solid lumber.

A gap at the back will allow cables out to items at the floor level (power, audio monitors) and a grommet at the top will allow cables up to the video monitor (wall-mounted) and Digi 003 interface.

I've drawn it in CAD and started construction. Right now, all that's left to build is the drawer. Photos will follow soon.

Search for Tubes

You already use Duncan Amps and NJ7P to find tube datasheets. Here are a couple browser search plugins I made to make it easier:

• NJ7P plugin.
• TDSL plugin.