Introducing: The Creampie reactive load box.

[Humbug]

Quick update; I assembled the load in a new box yesterday, a 3U steel rack enclosure from Thomann, and finally got to test drive it properly with a couple of loud tube amps. I'm happy! The current configuration of the coils seems to be a success, as the low end dynamics are noticeably improved from the previous prototype and the mysterious damping of high frequencies is gone (which means it measures little bit extra in the very high frequencies now, but it's not noticeable in use) . Now to work on the Post Load Clarity module (balanced and unbalanced active line out) and the Plan B (amplifier module).

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Post Load Clarity, Plan B...

Giving Dave Friedman a real run for his money!

 

[Humbug]

Post Load Clarity, Plan B...

Giving Dave Friedman a real run for his money!

Dave's naming scheme has gone really boring lately (IR-load???), so Two notes and I have picked up the ball

 

[Chocol8]

Pictures?

 

[Frodebro]

Pictures?

Just do a search for “Brown Eye with a Creampie.”

 

[Humbug]

Pictures?

https://thegearforum.com/attachments/20260312_183624-jpg.60181/

 

[Humbug]

Just do a search for “Brown Eye with a Creampie.”

No! Unlesss you're into that sort of thing. Im not judging....

 

[Chocol8]

https://thegearforum.com/attachments/20260312_183624-jpg.60181/

Very nicely done! No messing around with the heatsink.

 

[Humbug]

Very nicely done! No messing around with the heatsink.

Yeah, it's a little excessive. The resistor pack is 4*150W, so I can bypass the reactive part and use it as a dummy load when I'm working on bass amps and such. With a 50W amp it barely gets warm

 

[Humbug]

I got some better pictures of how it's actually assembled in the box.

The chassis ground lead is soldered to the top of the board for airier and more open grounds, it's NOT because I forgot to do it before I screwed the board in. Twice.

The inductor/board keeper is built parametrically (or, at least, as much as my limited skills allowed) in FreeCad and its measurements are calculated from the box and coil dimensions to keep the three coils on the same plane and equidistant (sp?) from the walls of the box. The inductors are held in place with cable ties and the keeper is bolted to the chassis with M4*25 (also parametric - the model adjusts the height of the attachment points from the bolt length) bolts, washers and locking nuts. As this is only going to leave my studio on very special occasions I chose to use PLA instead of one of the more engineering friendly filaments. We shall see how it holds up to time and heat.

Both the two air core inductors and the resistor pack are unnecessarily big. The resistor pack because I plan to bypass the reactive components and use it as a resistive dummy load for servicing bigger amps, and the coils because I wanted the resistance to be as low as possible in the development phase. Why waste a perfectly good coil... They look pretty good, too, which is the most important thing.