With the invisible Zombie apocalypse upon us, i officially welcome you to my tribe, Bravo, if you get stuck and don’t have infectious snot running freely, you can call upon me for a respite.
Talk about multi-talented, bravo, bravo! Stay safe buddy, it’s getting worse out there. Happy listening for as long as it all lasts.
Ok so update, uhh, this is gonna sound kinda funny, but uhh, I ran out of space. Like, I kinda ran out of space in my amp.-.
I mean, kinda of a setback, but it just means I need to reorganize some of the components to better fit inside the AMP portion.
The Power Supply is Working Great and Ready to Go tho, already tested it to see for any shorts, and I can gladly say that it works perfectly and supplies everything the amp needs without any issues.
I kinda just need to redistribute things inside the AMP portion so stuff can fit inside without issues essentially, once I do that the amp is officially “Done”. It’ll take mostly 2 days to do hopefully, since it’s just moving stuff around rather than a Full Revamp or making something new for the amp.
I’ll post more when I’m done and can actually close the damn thing.
Also the Amp works, it turns on and Sounds . . . well I’ll leave that for later, but I had to test it open since I can’t actually close it since I ran out of space due to the wiring, essentially this is to make sure the wiring doesn’t get in the way of the heat sinks for the boards or other things in the amp, as well as make the wiring MUCH shorter (kinda got a bit impatient and just finished the thing to listen to it since it’s been a while since I’ve listened to something other than the Magni Hersey).
I will say this however, from the hour the Amp was operational and I was listening to it, I can say that it has quite a bit of power (About 4x what a Stock Darkvoice has when pushing the HD600s) and it sounds better than what I expected. Also it was able to push the Aeons to worrying levels of loudness at just about half volume using 5998s. I have a Gain switch for this either way so I can tame the power a bit.
You know, kinda of a side note, but the DV Stock that my Dad got is actually much louder than my Modded Darkvoice, like my Modded DV could break an HD600 by about Half Pot, maybe a bit past that, but the Stock one essentially just needs the pot to be anywhere but at the start, anything past start is essentially listening volume/ear breaking volume.
Idk why my Modded DV was quieter, maybe has something to do with the Heaters being at a reduced voltage in mine? Or maybe the LEDs on the Cathodes in my Modded DV somehow made it less loud (Which is weird but idk).
A Few Minutes Later: Ok so I just realized why mine is “Quieter”, it’s not so much mine was quieter, but that the pot on mine (Which I changed out for a Mini DACT-Style Attentuator) essentially had more range, where maxing out the pot is essentially Max volume, with the stock pot on a Stock DV, the pot essentially reaches Max output by about a quarter of the way, and kinda doesn’t increase much if at all afterwards, which is odd, did they use a Linear Pot instead of a Logarithmic Pot? Or is it the other way around? Sometimes I can’t remember.
A Bit Later: Ok So I guess it’s a Linear Pot and that’s why it doesn’t increase as smoothly? Idk ima go with that. Sounds great tho, but has the background hiss/hum the stock one tends to have.
Hum-Fitz should help but I have to imagine that swapping the transformer will essentially eliminate the issue entirely like it did with my Modded DV. Later tho, pops doesn’t want me fiddling in his amp until he’s gotten a chance to listen to it stock for a bit.
Nope, doesn’t jive with my DV, i have no issues turning up the volume and do so plentifully, I think maybe the pot on your dad’s DV may simply not be attenuated/calibrated correctly OR your source is a very high whatchamacallit. Even w/ my Fitz mod which supposedly provides more gain due to the type of thingies i added no issues turning up my volume. Unless there is a problem w/ my pot and your dad’s is the normal… 
Well, the Darkvoice’s big brother La Figaro 339i (latest revision?) is back on Drop.
Well from what I can tell, the Transformers look like they might be higher quality and larger, and it now has a Pre-Out similar to the Darkvoice. Also the Chasis has WAY more holes. (Might be lighter now though since they removed some external stuff?)
Oh also, it had nubs on the front, idk why but it’s compelling me to buy it for the nubs.
Also kinda curious why they made the Pre-Out without a switch, with the DV, there was loading due to this since the Pre-Out and the HP Out are always active even when not in use. A switch might have resolved this, but then again they are using the same faceplates as the original so it’d be hard to make new ones without some noticeable cost since they might have to discard the old ones, and the symmetry would be off if they only had one switch anyhow.
Other than that, seems to use the same tube types, the transformers, while larger and nicer looking, are similar to the original transformers in placement and I guess function, Idk, looks like the original La Figaro with a different asthetic design. Idk if the internals have been revamped though. Might have better parts/different parts, maybe different resistances for a different sound?
Yeah, that’s my chief worry and made me apply the brakes. Then again, it could be as simple as cutting wires leading to the pre-amp outs: Darkvoice and Crack Mods | Super Best Audio Friends
I mean if you really want to get DIY, maybe drill a hole somewhere on the amp and add a switch, that way you keep the Pre-Outs, but doesn’t have to worry about having both active at the same time.
Also the Coupling caps are supposedly higher quality than the Older Model.
Hey @Schizoid it’s been a while, you OK? Out helping mankind survive The pandemic? You were so close to finishing Tube-Zilla hope you come back to us safe and sound buddy. Looking forward to see how this beast works out.
50 pound sound… Gotta nice ring to it !!.. Ok now somebody needs to patent that for sure!!!
Is it worth replacing the Darkvoice 3x 1000uf and 4x 220uF “snap in” style capacitors, the two on each side and the three large ones in the rear? I figure the 10W 200Ohm wirewounds would be worth replacing… thank you.
