Above we see the TA-10 in all its glory. Like the Sonic Impact and the Super-T it is based on the TA2024 amplifier chip. That's where the similarity ends.
The first thing you will notice is that almost all the components are thru hole, not surface mount. Only the amp chip and the diodes are surface mount. According to the designer of the amp, this was done to make modifying easier for the DIY community. How about that? An amp designed with us in mind! So modifying this amp is much easier than an amp with all surface mount (SMD) components.
You will also see, at top center, metalized film input caps. That's a nice touch. Plus, there is plenty of room to mount larger caps, if you choose to. We will be doing so. The amp has aircore inductors on the outputs. I'm not a huge fan of the aircore inductors, but they do see to take the edge of the top end of the spectrum. Smoother highs. More on the inductors later.
The amps has DC offset trimmers, seen on the bottom left. The power caps (tank caps) are high quality Elna 220uF 16V. This is much better than the Sonic Impact, but we want bigger caps! Bigger caps at this point help the bass, the dynamics and even crosstalk.
Just above the volume pot you will see jumpers. These can be used to bypass the volume pot if you are using an external volume control, e.g., a preamp. We will use these as our new input point.
