BK Butler Bluetube driver

[johnk]

i'd really like to see a good working (and hum free!) version of the bluetube driver (#903) with the treble, mids and bass controls. I really don't care about the bias mod. I've attempted and drew out two veros of them on my own and although one worked okay, it had too much hum. the other one doesn't hum much but it's definitely not working like my original tubeworks one.

[johnk]

nevermind. I drew up my own vero, reworked the powersupply and used 12VDC for the filament voltage and it works perfect, sounds great and is absolutely hum free.

[Stinger25]

Can you post your layout?

[johnk]

here's a couple of pics of my 903 build:






and here's the vero that I made for it:



I didn't try to make the vero smaller since  it needs a pretty large enclosure for it anyway just to mount the tube.

[Stinger25]

Wow, neat work!!!
I should try it soon, since i wait long time for my first tube build.
BTW, what do you mean by "star grounding"

[johnk]

star grounding means all grounds going to a single point.

[Stinger25]

Oh, cool,
Thanks!

[zosotone]

Nice project! So, 12v DC? I need a converter from 9v?

[johnk]

just use a 12VDC supply like the one that TC Electronics uses for their pedals. it would also be safer (and better) to use an LT1054 for the dual supply converter instead of an ICL7660s since 12V is the limit for the 7660 but the LT1054 can take up 15V.

[zosotone]

Nice, thank you men! It's similar to the BK Butler Tube Driver true? The copper tape under the tube it's for low noise?

[johnk]

not just similar, it's an exact clone of the BK butler blue tube driver. that's not copper tape, it's a brass plate that I used to mount the l bracket for the tube socket so I wouldn't have to drill holes in the face of the enclosure (the footswitch secures it to the enclosure), so it's not for shielding. to shield the tube I just use a fender 12AX7 twist-lock tube shield, but it's just as quiet without it.

[moerkb]

Hi!

where did you get the schematic? I am not able to find it on the interweb. Could you post it or a link to it, please?

Thanks!

[johnk]

just google it. there are tons of schematics of them.

[zosotone]

John, do you know how can I add the bias knob? I have read that it's a good mod. Which it's your second enclosure for the BK? it's nice... thank you men.

[johnk]

it's a pretty easy mod. I tried the bias mod in my first one but I didn't like it so I took it out.

[johnk]

I liked it so much that I built a second one

[GoranP]

Very cool!
No stickers this time? And is it polished or just sanded to a high grit?

[johnk]

polished and hand painted for a change.

I did a dam ezekiel like that too:

[GoranP]

Nice. Do you clearcoat it? I hand wetsanded down to 3000 once, it was nice and shiny for a while but it started oxidizing wherever there was a fingerprint on it.
Didn't have any clearcoat at hand so I just dropped it and it's all matte now, 6 months down the road.

[johnk]

nope. no clear coating.