I recently completed this little 6CL6 SEP project. This is the highly regarded kit from Gerald Curtis and is available here: https://spudkit.com
Jerry has clearly taken a lot of care putting this kit together. All parts are high quality. The build is straightforward and the kit comes with exact and easy-to-follow instructions. The Huon Pine (from Tasmania) wood side panels are my own and as you can see are attached with plywood cleats. The finish is just a flat poly coat for protecting metals from tarnishing, as that's what I had in the shed. The quality chassis is beautifully made, quite thick and heavy with a luxuriously textured paint job. This is certainly no pressed steel jobbie. The transformers are by Edcor, with the output transformers having been specially commissioned by Jerry.
His support was outstanding when I needed to debug the power supply due to an error I had made. If anyone is looking to build something simple as a first project, this is it. With Jerry's support, you will not be alone either if you run into a snag. You will be rewarded with an amplifier that will blow your socks off. It really took me by surprise. There is zero hum, even when the volume is turned up to max.
How does it sound? I have compared it directly with my Decware SE84ZS, which runs EL84 or SV83 high-bandwidth triode video tubes. My Decware runs a Russian military version of the EL84, ie. 6P15P-EV. The Spud amp kit comes supplied with GE 6CL6 tubes, also a type of high bandwidth video tube, but these are pentodes. Both amps are simple single-ended designs, both use video tubes, and both put out around 2.3WPC, so a direct comparison is fair enough. However, I really had no expectation that the Spud would be in the same league as the SE84Zs. That it did indeed jump into the ring and whup the Decware was a total surprise. Both amps have gloriously smooth mids and highs, but where the Spud really stood out to be separated was in its bass. There is oodles of bass.
Well, there you go. A simple little project without compromising anything. I love it to bits.
Sorry about the resurrection. New here and this is my first post but glad to see the spudamp still around. I heard the original 6197 amp this was based on built by Jef Larson (abraxasaudio) back at the Great Plains Audio Fest in 2004-5 or so before you started seeing the kits on then Hawthorne Audio. Jef was notorious for designing amps around less "desirable" tubes although I don't know if he still builds anymore. He helped me design my first and only scratch build (1626 Darling) around that time too. I owned a 12B4 amp he built that was very impressive for its size and I wish I hadn't of sold it.