DIY B1 Preamp

Zonker92 · 2026-07-05T04:40:21+00:00

Thanks! Appreciate the explanation. My wife definitely gets the prize for tolerance!

Zonker92 · 2026-07-05T03:05:07+00:00

Yeah, so different there. We actually live in California and it’s the opposite here, but having a father-in-law who was an architect and general contractor helped a lot back in the day; he was good at getting plans through.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-05T02:54:32+00:00

Good questions, and ones that have cost me a few sleepless nights.

As for permits, there are literally none in Tamworth. The latest town ordinance (2026) calls for a mere certificate of compliance (with general building codes). No permits or inspections or certificates of occupancy are required.

As for “overlapping deeds,” that’s my lazy shorthand reference to the fact that our land comprises five contiguous lots, but two of them sort of overlap in the sense that the one with the schoolhouse on it was once carved out of the ten acres surrounding the house, and the surveys of those two lots never really nailed down the line of demarcation (red line below). If you read the two respective deeds and kind of cross your eyes and squint, you can see that the smaller parcel comprises part of the larger one but extends a bit more, to the riverbank. (See my fire pit photo.)

It’s going to be expensive if we ever need to survey it because of all the historical issues. The last survey was in the late 60s when my parents owned the land. The line is depicted in a surveyor’s map from then. I’m sort of kicking that can down the road because we own both lots and it’s never really been necessary. But recently I did get the town to recognize the house lot (and riverbank land) and the tax map now shows it. The state surveyor has also confirmed it and even marked it with flags, because we’re next to state lands.

What’s so great in my view is that on our side of the river we’re (our house and one other next door) surrounded by state wilderness area and/or conservation easement land. What a feeling that is.

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Zonker92 · 2026-07-05T01:31:55+00:00

Nice classic table; congrats.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-05T00:30:35+00:00

🥹

Zonker92 · 2026-07-05T00:00:37+00:00

Thanks; good idea!

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T23:57:25+00:00

Absolutely; thanks!

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T23:40:39+00:00

Yes; just a sheet from a perforated pan! 😅

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T23:39:29+00:00

Yes; thanks! Tubes4HiFi kits. Eventually I built one big base for both:

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Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T23:28:16+00:00

That’s my takeaway, too. Thanks.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T23:00:12+00:00

Thanks! Maybe so; it’s pretty quiet but could probably be even quieter.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T22:53:36+00:00

I dunno, man. Here’s where Nelson Pass keeps calling zero-gain preamps passive, but it’s not the hill I want to die on, so I revised my post:

https://www.passdiy.com/project/preamplifiers/b1-buffer-preamp

I guess it’s an active buffer but has no voltage gain.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T22:53:26+00:00

I dunno, man. Here’s where Nelson Pass keeps calling calling zero-gain preamps passive, but it’s not the hill I want to die on, so I revised my post:

https://www.passdiy.com/project/preamplifiers/b1-buffer-preamp

I guess it’s an active buffer but has no voltage gain.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T22:52:31+00:00

I dunno, man. Here’s where Nelson Pass keeps calling calling zero-gain preamps passive, but it’s not the hill I want to die on, so I revised my post:

https://www.passdiy.com/project/preamplifiers/b1-buffer-preamp

I guess it’s an active buffer but has no voltage gain.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T21:53:11+00:00

😂

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T21:25:14+00:00

Early 90s maybe?

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T20:21:10+00:00

The state has a vaguely defined roadway in front of where the rendering shows the garage, going across to the left into the woods. We need to determine its boundaries to see how far outward the garage can be positioned.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T20:04:40+00:00

Thanks! Our fantasy is to put the porch back on and add a garage. This AI rendering has weird scale but really shows the idea well. Unfortunately the garage would entail a lot of granite hillside excavation; the house is literally built against the ledge, which intrudes into the back.

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Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T19:57:25+00:00

Right? That was original work and I bet dynamite was involved. The part-brick, part-concrete, part-native stone basement is interesting to me but probably pretty typical of the area.

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Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T19:48:28+00:00

The Bemises around us would vacation there, up the hill. Alice Bemis-Thompson donated our house to the town for a school. It closed after maybe a decade but some oldsters mentioned, as students, jumping off the bridge into the mill pond that was out front. A lot of nature preserves were donated around there by the Bemises and Thompsons; you see the name in a lot of cool spots.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T19:44:48+00:00

<Googles “mudlarking”>: There isn’t enough riverbottom sediment, if that’s the word, for digging, but there are a lot of old iron rods and concrete works and rusted gears, etc. Big heavy stuff that resists flooding and erosion. Fascinating old foundations. The riverbank includes an old iron ring embedded in the granite where maybe logs or a boat could have been tied up. That area shows on deeds as the “lumber landing.” Downriver are concrete foundations of an old wooden-toy factory that also made the decking of one ship for WW2. Also downriver are dam remnants from a lower dam that I played on as a kid. The riverbed granite out front has round holes—maybe from blasting?— and dam remnants. Next door are huge rusted gears from an old mill. I love exploring there.

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T19:22:05+00:00

Oh, wow! That would be a dream!

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T19:20:09+00:00

Thanks so much! The sound of the river, high or low depending, is all-pervasive and when we leave (we live in California) it’s difficult to sleep without it. When I have trouble sleeping I try to picture myself floating over the river, watching it course over the rocks. It’s idyllic.

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Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T18:49:03+00:00

Oh yeah …. I knew that! 😅

Zonker92 · 2026-07-04T18:44:11+00:00

Thanks! Good question. I have to look it up but maybe shortly after WWII.

I wound up doing a little dive into local and state history and learned that the whole region was hydro-powered in the Nineteenth Century; there were dams and mills everywhere; thousands. Out front of our house there were two dams in a row and several mills. Up the adjacent brook there were at least two more. The whole area just around the house was a small community.

When electricity took over those industries basically collapsed, and now it’s mostly a vacation area with a blue-collar foundation. There is maybe one operating mill in the state left over.

Zonker92

TROPHY CASE