Benjamin Tan, The Tube Prodigy
analoguefellowship.com recently met up with a hugely talented young man from Melaka called Benjamin Tan.
Currently studying sound engineering in Singapore, Benjamin started having an interest in all things electronic at the age of 11. His father introduced him to a wonderful world of robotics, schematics etc but what finally caught his eye and imagination was the audio amplifier, specifically the tube variety.
He quickly did his own research and consumed volumes of writing on tube amplification while observing his father building a kit solid state amplifier. Out of his own curiosity, the inner workings of the vacuum tube design and how it works really fired up his imagination.
Benjamin had a bit of help from his grandfather, a tube amp enthusiast who’s been tinkering with names like Coopersmith and Quad from the 1950’s. Benjamin found a dusty tube amplifier lying in the store room and got his father’s permission to fix and rebuild the unit.
In no time at all, after doing some research on the internet and sourcing for parts, Benjamin got the amplifier to start singing again.
And by 14 years old, Benjamin started to build and design amplifiers for friends who also ended up as his regular customers. His passion grew and he devoted more time and effort into developing more interesting designs.
At 19 years young, Benjamin had confidently built 6V6, 845 triode, 211 triode, PP KT88, PP KT66 power amps and a few units of 6SN7 tube pre amps. He also managed to help a friend rebuild a 300B tube amp just for the fun of it.
Of course, our young man loves his music, too. His current set-up consists of PP KT66 with a custom made 6SN7 (retro fit 7n7) with his grandfather’s Garrard 301 turntable.
Benjamin plans to develop and create more impactful, breakthrough components in the near future while he finishes his studying.
“My philosophy is Go Big or Go Home!”, says Benjamin.
We, at Analogue Fellowship, would like to applaud this young man and wish him all the best in keeping the analogue passion burning for a long, long time. Bravo!
(Prepared by JK)