Nelson Pass and his $327 DIY Class A amp

Steve, I just finished building the Pass DIY Audio Amp Camp Amp yesterday! I bought the kit on whim to see if it could comfortably drive my Tekton Double Impact speakers. Well! It not only worked perfectly right off my work bench, the sound is shockingly good! My Tektons never sounded better with deep fast bass, involving soundstage with depth, width and height AND PACE. My deepest thanks to Nelson Pass for his simply brilliant amp design and to DIY Audio for offering this easy to build amp kit with really good online build instructions, videos and support. I aso want to thank you, Steve, for the wonderful Nelson Pass YouTube videos of this self effacing audio genius! Cheers!

I'm 41 years old. I work in the science and education fields. I feel like my generation and those younger could do with more guys like Steve and Nelson. The lack of arrogance and bullshit is so refreshing. Especially in HiFi. The focus on getting as many people into the best experience they can have is what it's all about.

I love that Nelson is active in the DIY community. He’s so willing to share his immense knowledge. Thanks!

If you had to describe Nelson Pass in a single word it would be fun. He genuinely seems to be having fun with his craft.

I built the Amp Camp Amp as well. It was my first amp building experience. I had no idea how good that amp sounded prior to building it. For anyone who might be interested, the performance out of that little box is truly amazing. It's well worth the effort and expense. It's easy to build and doesn't cost a great deal of money.

Have been a fan of Nelson Pass since the '80s. Never would have dreamed I would get a nod of approval from him directly of the ACA I built from a pair of the available circuit boards on diyaudio site. Hat's off to Nelson Pass for being directly involved and being so open source with his knowledge. Not to mention all of the other bright minds he has managed to drag out of the woodwork with his thinking out loud on these topics.

I bought and built one of the stereo versions. It was tons of fun and sounds great. I liked it so well that I bought a second one and am using them in mono, one for each channel. I already own a Pass Labs Aleph 3 amplifier (great amp) and it’s amazing how much the Amp Camp Amp sounds like the Aleph 3. All are great amps. Nelson Pass is the genuine article!

DIY = 😀 - Thanks for posting Steve. Time to order parts and warm up the scope & soldering iron. Please pass along a thank-you to Nelson P.

I built one of these a couple months ago. It simply sounds amazing. It's the best bang for your buck in the amp world IMO.

Really short one today. I just want to say thank you to Steve and Nelson. The more I hear both of you speak, the more I like you, both. That little amp case actually looks pretty nice. I'm tempted to get one just to try building it. Maybe my kids would be interested in building one.

I built the Zen amp years ago. Great little project. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us Nelson.

I have built a total of three of these little gems - both the original mono-blocks, and a pair of the more recent stereo kits from DIY Audio store. I have built a fair number of solid state and tubed kits before - going back as far as Hafler from the late 70's / mid 80s, before a bit of a hiatus until the late 90's and early '00's . These are about as drop dead simple a kit as I can imagine, and within the operational limits of their modest ow power ratings, quite a delightful sounding little piece. Within the applications to which they were used - low 90db range sensitivity full range drivers, as the budget couldn't afford high efficiency exotica such as Lowthers, Tannoys, etc (or the physical space required for enclosures to do such drivers justice) - they punched way above their price class. That said, his higher powered, and substantially higher priced First Watt designs are on another plane altogether, something with which - as I think you now include a SIT3 in your electronic harem - you are quite aware. The DIY Audio world owes papa more plaudits than we can deliver. Thanks Steve for sharing these short interviews with those of us who are familiar with his work since the days of Threshold, but who've never been fortunate enough to interact with him directly - these come across with such genuine intimacy that we feel like we've just sat down for a coffee or beer with him.

Using his ACA since the last 2 months with a B1 buffer and Frugal horns :) mesmerized what few watts can do!

Thanks Steve and Nelson. All I need is my eyesight back, or brighter lights on my headset magnifier. I haven't built an amp in nearly 30 years now, but am definitely feeling the urge. Those SITs look fascinating...

Nelson is such a cool guy. Just so laid back and seems like a simple man. Who’d know this man builds and designs some of the finest audio equipment in the world. I wished I could afford his stuff. I may have to build myself and Amp Camp Amp though. Merry Christmas, All!

Just wonderful, thank you for making the video

Another home run...awesome!

Been waiting for this video! A whole bunch could be devoted to all the projects nelson has designed for the diy audio folks! About to hopefully put together both of my monoblock amp camp 1.6 class a amps soon. And also my whammy class a heaphone amp/preamp, which was designed by Wayne (nelson passes assistant designer at pass labs) and a aleph j class a amp nelson also designed that I have been collecting parts for. Thanks for the shout out to diy, nelson, Jim timmerman, Wayne, burning amp and many other brilliant folks that have made this happen in their spare time over the years😀 nelson needs to show of some of the many amps be has in his collection😀 maybe even some of them rare Sony vfet 40th anniversary ones😀

Mr pass pleaze live for ever!

👍👍The best 🙌 🙌 legendary designer this will be a legendary interview oh and oh and let's not forget legendary reviewer👍👍💪💪😍😍