JOE WALLACE: We’re talking with Brad Jolly from Plitronics on the floor of AES 2006. I’m Joe Wallace for Gearwire.Com and we’re wanting to know about do-it-yourself amp design.

BRAD JOLLY: Right. Well Plitron is one of the few manufacturers in the world of toroidal transformers that are used in output as output transformers and tube amps. It’s very rare that you have a transformer this geometry that’s used in tube amps. The frequency response of ours is from 2 Hz up to 200 kHz and it’s an incredibly flat and wide frequency response that you can’t get otherwise. Now, they’re a bit more expensive but they are the best you can get.

JOE WALLACE: Now, when you’re talking about DIY amp construction, there are a lot of people who are interested but they’ve never done it before and maybe they don’t really know where to start. Have you got any advice for people who are going to get their feet wet a little bit?

BRAD JOLLY: There are actually a number of great books available and from companies like from Old Colony Sound. There are hard-cover books at [INDISCERNIBLE] Jackson that are relatively easy to deal with for the do-it-yourselfer.

JOE WALLACE: Now, when you’re talking about transformers and current, you got -- you obviously got a safety issue, a major safety concern right off that bat. Can you address that a little bit?

BRAD JOLLY: Well, certainly there are lethal voltages especially in tube equipment. Some of the voltages required for the plates might be 300 volts or so, so certainly it’s dangerous and shouldn’t be undertaken by anybody that doesn’t understand that, but that it’s still I’ve never heard of anybody that died from making a tube amplifier, so I’m fairly hopeful.

JOE WALLACE: Any advice for people who are starting to venture into do-it-yourself territory especially in the safety end of it?

BRAD JOLLY: Well, I mean reading the books, I’ve read a few of them and they seem to cover those issues fairly well. There’s a number of resources and links so you can get at our home page through our home page and through the audio products section of our web site that will lead them to the resources that they need to build the products, and of course transformers.

JOE WALLACE: Now, when it comes to transformers, what’s the most important thing to keep in mind when you’re building your own amp setup?

BRAD JOLLY: Well, transformer performance, you want to start with a transformer that is going to obviously do what you want but also long term be quiet and useful. There are a lot of transformers out and available in the market that aren’t that great frankly, and a lot of people tend to buy surplus and, you know, you really get what you pay for.

JOE WALLACE: We’ve been talking with Brad Jolly from Plitron. I’m Joe Wallace on the floor of AES 2006 for Gearwire.Com.