VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by lemsteraak Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:18 am

lemsteraak: Posts : 3
Join date : 2014-12-08

Post n°1

VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by lemsteraak Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:18 am

VU meters are eye candy, kinda a steampunk thing. A cool look from a bygone era

Why they have never been incorporated in with a Dynaco amp? They look beautiful on McIntosh equipment, sitting there backlit in blue. Imagine this with beautiful tubes glowing in the background.

Seriously, I would think they would be a valuable instrument to have to determine how much headroom you have left, when you might be in danger of clipping and generally just determining volume levels. I'm a novice but I know that it isn't as simple as running a connection to the speaker outputs. Anyone know what would be required to put in a couple? Also, for extra credit, do they degrade the output?

by **Bob Latino** Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:45 am

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Post n°2

Re: VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by Bob Latino Tue Jan 27, 2015 11:45 am

lemsteraak wrote:VU meters are eye candy, kinda a steampunk thing. A cool look from a bygone era

Why they have never been incorporated in with a Dynaco amp? They look beautiful on McIntosh equipment, sitting there backlit in blue. Imagine this with beautiful tubes glowing in the background.

Seriously, I would think they would be a valuable instrument to have to determine how much headroom you have left, when you might be in danger of clipping and generally just determining volume levels. I'm a novice but I know that it isn't as simple as running a connection to the speaker outputs. Anyone know what would be required to put in a couple? Also, for extra credit, do they degrade the output?

Check out our forum links to VU meters at the two links below ..

Vu meter link 1

Vu meter link 2

Bob

by baddog1946 Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:07 am

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Post n°3

Re: VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by baddog1946 Wed Jan 28, 2015 3:07 am

This is a ST-120 clone I have been working on forever but is coming together shortly. There will be hand polished Cocobolo sides on this amp when finished. The bias meter is operated by the mini switches on each side of it.

ST120 w/bias meter photo ST-120 with bias meter_1.jpg

by lemsteraak Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:22 pm

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Post n°4

Re: VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by lemsteraak Wed Jan 28, 2015 12:22 pm

Nice links, thanks Bob and nice looking amp Baddog

It is more clear now. Probably dating myself but there used to be gorgeous precision VU meters in reel to reel recorders so we could adjust the output nice and high but not overload the tape to optimize signal to noise. It appears these old meters are a thing of the past.

I did come across this link in our forum. https://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.com/t2319-another-vta-st70-chassis-variation?highlight=another+vta+chassis+variation

VU meters for VTA ST-70? Tboprot1_zps4fcfcbc0

VU meters for VTA ST-70? Tboprot1_zps4fcfcbc0

MontanaWay did an beautiful variation on the theme incorporating a couple VU meters in the front panel. I saw that you could buy the buffer circuit and the meters on eBay direct from China. I would love to know if they are dampened enough to be useful and if they work on a log scale? In other words, how well do they work? It does look sweet.

Bob, my wife was wondering why I was spending evenings building one of your old obsolete tube amps. When I finished and had it burned in a little I told her to sit down right there, yes that exact spot and listen. Afterwards, she said OK, she understood. You get a very sweet holographic effect with my old speakers, thanks.

Last edited by lemsteraak on Wed Jan 28, 2015 1:07 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : added picture link)

by Guest Wed Jan 28, 2015 1:24 pm

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Guest: Guest

Post n°5

Re: VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by Guest Wed Jan 28, 2015 1:24 pm

lemsteraak wrote:Nice links, thanks Bob and nice looking amp Baddog

It is more clear now. Probably dating myself but there used to be gorgeous precision VU meters in reel to reel recorders so we could adjust the output nice and high but not overload the tape to optimize signal to noise. It appears these old meters are a thing of the past.

I did come across this link in our forum. https://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.com/t2319-another-vta-st70-chassis-variation?highlight=another+vta+chassis+variation

MontanaWay did an beautiful variation on the theme incorporating a couple VU meters in the front panel. I saw that you could buy the buffer circuit and the meters on eBay direct from China. I would love to know if they are dampened enough to be useful and if they work on a log scale? In other words, how well do they work? It does look sweet.

Bob, my wife was wondering why I was spending evenings building one of your old obsolete tube amps. When I finished and had it burned in a little I told her to sit down right there, yes that exact spot and listen. Afterwards, she said OK, she understood. You get a very sweet holographic effect with my old speakers, thanks.

thanks for the positive comment.
These VU meters actually work quite well, I use them on all my versions for the ST120 and M125's. There are a number of driver boards out there, but the one I use now is the best one I've found, if you want details, 'pm' me.
This is the latest version on my ST120 variation, still using the same VU meters.

by corndog71 Thu Jan 29, 2015 4:39 am

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Post n°6

Re: VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by corndog71 Thu Jan 29, 2015 4:39 am

MontanaWay wrote:

Man, that looks great! Those KT120s look badass! Are you using 2x 5AR4 rectifiers?

by Guest Thu Jan 29, 2015 10:02 am

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Post n°7

Re: VU meters for VTA ST-70?

by Guest Thu Jan 29, 2015 10:02 am

corndog71 wrote:

MontanaWay wrote:

Man, that looks great! Those KT120s look badass! Are you using 2x 5AR4 rectifiers?

thanks! Yes, gone away from the Weber Copper top and gone to two 5AR4/GZ34 in parallel, this way, those guys only work at about 50% or so and will last for a very long time. Tubes just look cooler!

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VU meters for VTA ST-70?