My VTA ST 120 Mods

My VTA ST 120 Mods

Good morning everyone.... I hope all of you are having a good day and that all of you are safe.

First I wanted to say a few very important words that some of you that are just now getting into kit amp building for the first time.

When you buy a electronic kit or tube amplifier kit they come with all the necessary parts, chassis and hardware that you'll need for a
complete working Amplifier. If you want to change a few components here in there and make a few changes or updates on your own that's up to you, that's what kit apps are for to build the kit as they come or to make some updates and modifications to suit your taste.

One thing that I will say here in this forum is that Tubes4hifi offers some of the best highest quality kits that I have come across in many years. All of their components, resistors and capacitors, chassis and transformers, are of the highest quality something you will just not see in other kits. This makes it possible for you to focus your attention on modifying your kit if you decide to without having to worry about other things failing or that may go wrong with your kit as you're building it.

With that said, let me get to the purpose of my post.

I am going to do the "yellow sheet" rectifier modification on the rectifier tube so it doesn't get any stress from AC feedback and other things. This will help prolong the life of the rectifier tube and keep things stable.
I'm going to use the 10A10 10A diode's because from what I have heard and read using the smaller diodes you will get a little bit of heat being generated on those smaller diodes so I want to avoid that.

10A10 diode: https://www.ebay.com/itm/264978051798

Here is the datasheet of the 10A10 diode: https://www.rectron.com/data_sheets/10a05-10a10.pdf

I have also decided not to powder coat my transformers and I'm going to use a piano black/jet black lacquer paint to get a very high-quality gloss shine out of those beauties.

Jet Black (Goss): https://tcpglobal.com/products/rsp-ae1901-qt

I have also considered painting the chassis but I haven't made up my mind yet one way or the other but if I do decide to paint the chassis it will be the color that you see below.

Burgundy Kandy - Shimrin: https://tcpglobal.com/products/hok_kbc06-pt

I have also bought a new power switch for the back of the chassis that will handle 6A that has a very low profile that will work really well in the power cord socket that is provided directly behind the power transformer.

Power Switch: https://www.ebay.com/itm/122019924765

Plus as all of you know from a previous post I'm also going to install a 3 prong AC power entry module on the back of the chassis where the original power switch is.

3 prong AC power entry module: https://www.ebay.com/itm/233183864590

As for the fuse holder it will remain in the same place.

I'm also thinking about a nice faceplate for the front of the chassis but I haven't seen one that I like yet.
Any suggestions are welcome.

All of you have a good day and clear skies and stay safe my friends.

Tom

Hi Tom,

Those color choices should look nice; post some photos when you are ready.
For front panels, you could even use a site like https://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
to design your own from scratch. I have no experience with them myself but other folks have said good things.
Good luck!

colin86325 wrote:Hi Tom,

Those color choices should look nice; post some photos when you are ready.
For front panels, you could even use a site like https://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
to design your own from scratch.  I have no experience with them myself but other folks have said good things.
Good luck!

Thanks colin86325 for that website.... I have been looking for a place that may do a little work for me on the face plate but I may just end up doing the work myself.

I have also added a few other components to the list.

I have decided that I am going to put a face plate on the front of the amp and I'm going to put some rack mount handles on both ends of the faceplate so it will be easier to carry and have something to grab a hold of when I decide to carry or move it.

Here is the 3/8' x 2 ½’ x 18" aluminum flat bar I have ordered that’s on it’s way: https://www.ebay.com/itm/352130656965

I have also decided to add some RCA inputs in the back of the chassis and not worry about installing the ones in the front.

Here are the RCA jacks that I ordered that are on the way: Copper Red and White
https://www.ebay.com/itm/203095261898?var=503441680016

Since I am installing a nice face plate for the front I am also thinking of installing two bias analog meters in the front that is also lighted so when the amp is running it's always giving me an output of where the bias is set on the amplifier.

Also I'm looking for some fusible resistors that I can put in the voltage line in between the bias meters and the source of the voltage so the resistor will act like a fuse if there's an overload so to keep from shorting out or burning out the meters.

Fusible resistors are really handy because they act like a fuse when they're overloaded and when they cool off they reset back to a resistor.