What the heck is a "loafin' shed"??

Well, a loafing shed (the 'g' is never pronounced) is generally a long, low building that houses dairy cattle. It's used for shelter and nearly always has a feed trough incorporated. If you're really curious you could google pictures.

Our old loafin shed used to house our dairy herd. Nowadays I use it to work on all sorts of things, including bending the aluminum for the amp chassis. It's where I repaired my first amplifier - an old Harmony 415 - and also built my first amp. I had my components sorted into pint deli containers, and my soldering iron was an old Radio Shack that I bought when I was in my teens; probably to fix the wiring on one of my cars.

Repairing that old Harmony gave the itch to build an amp from scratch. I did that, but without taking pictures of the insides. It was pretty nasty. Amazing how much stuff you forget to plan for. That project taught me the importance of using the computer to lay out and fit everything. Now, once I get the layout on paper, the actual building goes pretty easy.

This is strictly a hobby of mine, at least up to now. I am by no means an electrical engineer or an "amp tech". I've repaired some things & some amps, and built a few custom jobs as well, charging for parts and a goodly .50 cents/hr for my time. I prefer using the older style octal tubes in the preamp (tone) part of the amp even though they tend to be a little noisier, just because I think they have a smoother sound. And the big sockets are easier to wire. ;)

I started this website because frankly, Facebook gives me headaches trying to keep the page organized with pictures. If you have any kind of question, shoot me an email and I'll answer the best I can, or most likely steer you to Hoffman's Most Excellent Amp Forum.

Hoffman's Amp forum is populated by the best bunch of guys you'll find anywhere, and always ready to help. Every single thing I know I've learned there, either by asking or simply by reading. Don't waste their time by not posting a schematic along with your question, and you'll get along great. And knowing how to read and write schematics is the most important skill you can learn if you're messing with electronics of any kind, in my opinion.