Digital Scope for valve amp use

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PeteC
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#1 Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by PeteC »

Hi Folks

I'm very glad to be returning to the forum and to building stuff after a 6 year(ish) break !

I'm sure this haas been asked before but having just lost/broken my old CRT scope in a recent house move, I am on the hunt for a decent digital scope to use for signal checking in my ( mainly guitar) amp builds.

I have seen a couple of Youtube videos where folks have used digital scopes for the signal tracing and such ( not the HT measurements )

There seem to be plenty like Hantek for around £200 and I am thinking a modern digital scope may be just the thing I need - light, portable, easy to use etc

Any suggestions or things to look out for ?

cheers
Pete
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Nick
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#2 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by Nick »

Well, as posted before, I use a Chinese digital scope, and its been great for at least 5 years now. The only thing I miss from the analogue scope was the better resolution of the screen, but in reality thats irrelevant given the storage and other abilities it has that lets you zoom into the trace and get better resolution.

Mine is one of these

https://www.rapidonline.com/uni-t-utd20 ... hz-85-4007

A current equiv would be

https://cpc.farnell.com/multicomp-pro/m ... 7dEALw_wcB
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ed
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#3 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by ed »

I have the original 50mhz uni-t version which would be this today:

https://cpc.farnell.com/multicomp-pro/m ... dp/IN08385

I'm pretty sure that I bought mine at the same time as Nick, which has got to be over 10 years ago now...and although it doesn't get as much use these days, it's been faultless in all that time....recommended

the only function I miss from the old 40mhz Farnell is the ability to put the input on chanel 1 and the output on channel 2, level them and subtract to display the error signal....modern pc software adequately covers this nowadays though.
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PeteC
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#4 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by PeteC »

thanks both - CPC website seems too have been down all evening , but I will try tomorrow
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izzy wizzy
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#5 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by izzy wizzy »

I recently bought the hantek dso5012p after looking at reviews and YouTube videos. It was around the £200 mark. Can't vouch for its longevity yet.

Had a USB scope before that but found it an exercise in frustration although I'm sure they can be good. I prefer the one box solution of a scope.
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jack
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#6 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by jack »

I mostly use an Analog Discovery 2 unit from Digilent (now part of National Instruments).

It's a USB unit, but enormously powerful and includes a load of digital capabilities plus signal generators etc.

It uses the Waveforms software suite for control. I find it all very impressive.

I do also have a decent Analog scope but that doesn't get as much use as it once did.
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PeteC
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#7 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by PeteC »

Following your various recommendations a shiny new digital scope arrived a couple of days ago from Farnell’s.

What was quickly apparent was that my old battery powered signal generator is no longer working properly

Any recommends for an accurate yet simple audio sig gen ? DIY would be fine too.
Are the cheap Chinese kits any good ?

Cheers
Pete
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izzy wizzy
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#8 Re: Digital Scope for valve amp use

Post by izzy wizzy »

I did this recently and bought a JDS6600 after looking at many reviews. It works well. I think it was about £80 delivered or thereabouts. The screens on these scopes look like a small oscilloscope display but they aren't. It's just a way of showing the settings and although very small (my worry initially), they are easy enough to read IMO.
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