I think that last post may have been my first at diyAudio. I lurk here. Hi I'm Sam BTW.
The Tolex was from some distributor or other (My father has an upholstery shop). Orange Tolex is readily available however. The suitcase handle is from Mojo. The corners were part of the original Minx 110s. I trashed the Minx 110 heads (keeping the transformers for another project). I used a Weber Champ tranny set. The circuit is based on the 5F1, I increased the power filtering (those really beautiful blue Vishays), added a negative supply, and played around with the tone stack a fair amount while 'tuning'. The board is some extra perforated that I cut down. I mounted turrets to complete the board and went town. I will have to open it up now and get a gut shot. Its really like a tiny Marshall/Fender hybrid. There is a Marshall-headcab-style top vent. That seems to suffice, but a back vent would be be even better. I run it with the back off most of the time, but I think the top vent covers most of the dissipation needs. This amp is one of the most fun since it wasn't meant to be an accurate replica. The low wattage is great for in the house with thee family. I play through 100W Marshalls of one flavor or another in the bands I am in (I play a Fender VI), and going to the Champ on occasion helps reset my ears and get volume back to reality.
The Tolex was from some distributor or other (My father has an upholstery shop). Orange Tolex is readily available however. The suitcase handle is from Mojo. The corners were part of the original Minx 110s. I trashed the Minx 110 heads (keeping the transformers for another project). I used a Weber Champ tranny set. The circuit is based on the 5F1, I increased the power filtering (those really beautiful blue Vishays), added a negative supply, and played around with the tone stack a fair amount while 'tuning'. The board is some extra perforated that I cut down. I mounted turrets to complete the board and went town. I will have to open it up now and get a gut shot. Its really like a tiny Marshall/Fender hybrid. There is a Marshall-headcab-style top vent. That seems to suffice, but a back vent would be be even better. I run it with the back off most of the time, but I think the top vent covers most of the dissipation needs. This amp is one of the most fun since it wasn't meant to be an accurate replica. The low wattage is great for in the house with thee family. I play through 100W Marshalls of one flavor or another in the bands I am in (I play a Fender VI), and going to the Champ on occasion helps reset my ears and get volume back to reality.
Tubes | Amp Parts | Pedal Parts | Allparts.com
I've got a fair bit of stuff from here, and i know a few people that use them to get everything, they sell a few transformers aswell (as replacement parts) they also sell tolex, corners, turret boards, components etc.
(i think thats the american part of the site, ive always used allparts.uk.com)
I've got a fair bit of stuff from here, and i know a few people that use them to get everything, they sell a few transformers aswell (as replacement parts) they also sell tolex, corners, turret boards, components etc.
(i think thats the american part of the site, ive always used allparts.uk.com)
Tubes VS transistors
I came in this thread very late, but read where you play jazz and blues and small clubs.
You have 2 eminence speakers that are 102 DB efficient. You really shouldn't need more than 10- 20 wattts to rock the house with those. I use a cheap buggera 5 watt tube amp with a pair of 10s sometimes and it can get very loud. I think you need to do a little research on preamp VS output tube distortion because you will never get output distortiion from a transistor, that sounds like output tube distortion without modeling programs. If I was you I would get the biggest bestest output transformer for a pair of 6L6S with a power transformer to run the tubes with lots of heater current, that combo will let you start out with 6v6s or EL84s for output tubes and use 2-3 preamp sections with a decent tone stack and see if you like it. If you need more, you can then rebuild the output section to use the 6L6s or whatever to get more power.For a first time amp, I would make a head amp not a combo. make the speakers good and they will work with anything, and be a lot lighter/ smaller than a combo to tote around. When was the last time you picked up a fender twin? All that said I think a 18 watt running EL84s would fit the bill or change it around to use 6550s if you just gotta have more for bragging rights. You don't have to run output tubes right at the ragged edge all the time but thats the exact reason small amps running hot sound so good without the volume driving you out. Learn to use the preamp sections to vary the volume and let the outputs distort, or the other way around and don't forget all guitars have a volume control too that lets you have some degree over what you ask the preamp/amp sections to do. Or you can do what I do, use small all tube 5-10 watt combo amps. Then Mic them and put it thru a PA for the extra volume if you need it. 60-100 watt PA transistor amps are a dime a dozen .and unbelievably reliable. Volume is easy to get and for a beginner builder, you will have plenty to do just making a small amp.Maybe get a used tube Bogen or something PA amp and modify it for guitar use and play with that till you learn what sounds right for you within your abilities for building. Some very good sounding amps have been made and experimented with just screwing everything down to a piece of plywood and point to point wiring it all, till you get it right, then stuffing it all in a box with some vents !
.
I came in this thread very late, but read where you play jazz and blues and small clubs.
You have 2 eminence speakers that are 102 DB efficient. You really shouldn't need more than 10- 20 wattts to rock the house with those. I use a cheap buggera 5 watt tube amp with a pair of 10s sometimes and it can get very loud. I think you need to do a little research on preamp VS output tube distortion because you will never get output distortiion from a transistor, that sounds like output tube distortion without modeling programs. If I was you I would get the biggest bestest output transformer for a pair of 6L6S with a power transformer to run the tubes with lots of heater current, that combo will let you start out with 6v6s or EL84s for output tubes and use 2-3 preamp sections with a decent tone stack and see if you like it. If you need more, you can then rebuild the output section to use the 6L6s or whatever to get more power.For a first time amp, I would make a head amp not a combo. make the speakers good and they will work with anything, and be a lot lighter/ smaller than a combo to tote around. When was the last time you picked up a fender twin? All that said I think a 18 watt running EL84s would fit the bill or change it around to use 6550s if you just gotta have more for bragging rights. You don't have to run output tubes right at the ragged edge all the time but thats the exact reason small amps running hot sound so good without the volume driving you out. Learn to use the preamp sections to vary the volume and let the outputs distort, or the other way around and don't forget all guitars have a volume control too that lets you have some degree over what you ask the preamp/amp sections to do. Or you can do what I do, use small all tube 5-10 watt combo amps. Then Mic them and put it thru a PA for the extra volume if you need it. 60-100 watt PA transistor amps are a dime a dozen .and unbelievably reliable. Volume is easy to get and for a beginner builder, you will have plenty to do just making a small amp.Maybe get a used tube Bogen or something PA amp and modify it for guitar use and play with that till you learn what sounds right for you within your abilities for building. Some very good sounding amps have been made and experimented with just screwing everything down to a piece of plywood and point to point wiring it all, till you get it right, then stuffing it all in a box with some vents !
.
helpful sites
Hi, I also am also seeing this thread late. I've looked it over, but apologize if I mention things already discussed. I find a couple of sites very helpful in building and repairing guitar amps. Weber vst - https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits.htm Has many amp kits; Fender & Marshall style as well as some others. I don't build their complete kits, as I like to modify and I don't like some of their parts choices. But they have schematics with matching layout drawings - very helpful to refer back and forth between the two. Also Turretboards.com I like because I make up my boards from their supplies. I have built a bunch of amps - for what you are looking for a Fender 5F4 tweed super would be hard to beat and would work well with those speakers. Also, you might want to check out Dave Hunters tube amp book. It is the easiest to read of all the tube amp books and has good descriptions of the signal paths. I have built his two-stroke (Weber Maggie is about the same). It is a cool amp, but does not do clean real well. Mac
Hi, I also am also seeing this thread late. I've looked it over, but apologize if I mention things already discussed. I find a couple of sites very helpful in building and repairing guitar amps. Weber vst - https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits.htm Has many amp kits; Fender & Marshall style as well as some others. I don't build their complete kits, as I like to modify and I don't like some of their parts choices. But they have schematics with matching layout drawings - very helpful to refer back and forth between the two. Also Turretboards.com I like because I make up my boards from their supplies. I have built a bunch of amps - for what you are looking for a Fender 5F4 tweed super would be hard to beat and would work well with those speakers. Also, you might want to check out Dave Hunters tube amp book. It is the easiest to read of all the tube amp books and has good descriptions of the signal paths. I have built his two-stroke (Weber Maggie is about the same). It is a cool amp, but does not do clean real well. Mac
also, wainemaine, I decided to go with a pretty much exact copy of a fender champ first, its simple and will let me get used to tubes, then once i have that under my belt im going to try to build *my* amp. Thanks for the tips though. I will keep them in mind when starting my next build. Rick, I actually did look at allparts, but amazon was cheaper for the tubes i was using, i will look into them for other stuff though!
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