Ok, so I've been speculating a lot about diy amps, but never actually made anything. But now I'd like to do something for real.
Im thinking about something of the Fender Blackface variety, something not too complex, but none of the designs have the things I'm looking for, so I'd like to build these features based on an existing design.
I'd like an amp with Treb/Mid/High EQ, as well as Gain and Master controls, but as already mentioned i haven't found any designs that have all those things, so I'm unsure what to start with, and how I'd tack those things on, or if it's even possible, any pointers?
Im thinking about something of the Fender Blackface variety, something not too complex, but none of the designs have the things I'm looking for, so I'd like to build these features based on an existing design.
I'd like an amp with Treb/Mid/High EQ, as well as Gain and Master controls, but as already mentioned i haven't found any designs that have all those things, so I'm unsure what to start with, and how I'd tack those things on, or if it's even possible, any pointers?
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Tube-town has kits for this purpose ,
have a look at a mashall clone :
Tube-Town GmbH – TT JTM45 (engl)
Or a fender clone :
Blackface 45 Reverb AB763 Style Amp-Kit | Blackface Style | TAD Amp-Kits | TAD products | Tube Amp Doctor Onlineshop
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Quite experienced with electronics in general, somewhat familiar with tubes, never built anything but have up quite a solid understanding of their functions and applications
i was thinking something in the 15-30w range, i have a spare 12ax7 and a 12bh7,but I'll probably buy new ones and i don't have any of the other components except for an old cheapo Squier champ-esque practice amp that i was hoping to gut and turn into a small head, and use with existing cabs.
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12AX7 is a great pre-amp tube and 12BH7 is good for powering something with a high grid capacitance. They're both double triodes, so you've got four triodes to play with at the moment. The most expensive parts are probably going to be transformers (Power and Output).
I used the Hoffman 18W as a basis for an el84 stereo system I built recently. Cheap transformers are out there on eBay, mostly from places like Indonesia. But there are lots of other more expensive and reputable options as well.
Good luck!
I used the Hoffman 18W as a basis for an el84 stereo system I built recently. Cheap transformers are out there on eBay, mostly from places like Indonesia. But there are lots of other more expensive and reputable options as well.
Good luck!
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Subject is DIY Guitar amp help, right?
re: schematic post # 5:
If you want the phase invertor to be more balanced, then move the bottom of the right hand invertor grid capacitor to ground.
Keeping the right hand grid from moving will balance the amplitudes of the invertor outputs.
But . . . that will remove some of the 2nd harmonic, and you may not want that sound.
This is a guitar amp.
Or put a switch to select the cap connection, but do not change the switch setting while the amp is powered.
Just one more "tone" / sound control
re: schematic post # 5:
If you want the phase invertor to be more balanced, then move the bottom of the right hand invertor grid capacitor to ground.
Keeping the right hand grid from moving will balance the amplitudes of the invertor outputs.
But . . . that will remove some of the 2nd harmonic, and you may not want that sound.
This is a guitar amp.
Or put a switch to select the cap connection, but do not change the switch setting while the amp is powered.
Just one more "tone" / sound control
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The Trainwreck pages have a ton of great info on how to mod and optimize your amp. Lots of great info - Trainwreck Pages
Relocated to Instruments & Amps per forum policy.
Hopefully you will get more help here since tubes & valves is hifi oriented.
Oh, alright cheers, must've picked wrong when i made the post haha
Interesting! Where you often hear about successive stages having cold bias -> warm bias -> cold bias (a la Marshall 2204), the CJ13 preamp has cold bias -> cold bias -> colder bias.
The schematic looks like a kinda-Princeton with added switchable gain and colder-biased preamp stages. Sounds good!
(But the Tele was a bit out of tune, and neither guitar was intonated well. Pity.)
-Gnobuddy
It is a Princeton ripoff, or a branch off the tree if you will. There are some things that I would change but the quest was a guitar amp in the range with a master volume. Another option is an 18 Watt TMB. The problem with many of the vids on the amp is that they show the TMB channel in lots of gain but rarely clean and edge of breakup up to the gainy response.
http://www.rh-tech.org/public/Superlite_II/Superlite_IIb_2-7_Schematic_V4.pdf
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBvHr0YlFPA
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The OP specifically mentioned something in the Blackface family, and the CJ13 sounds to me like an improved Princeton.
I think this was an excellent suggestion on your part. I had never heard of this amp before, but I like the sound of it better than the "real thing" (i.e. my '65 Princeton Reverb reissue.) Thanks for making me aware of it!
-Gnobuddy
No problem, my hours and hours of curiously researching guitar amps might be good for something. The 18 Watt could also be an option, use the BF tone stack. Just wanted to give an EL84 and 6V6 option.
Would it be too pretentious to consider something like an AA164 Princeton, maybe with the tremolo deleted? RobRobinette has layouts and schematics for such an amp and i seem to understand what's going on in them.
Im thinking that with Gain, Mid and Master controls would be my absolute dream amp of all time, i just don't know if it's feasible for a beginner like me.
Im thinking that with Gain, Mid and Master controls would be my absolute dream amp of all time, i just don't know if it's feasible for a beginner like me.
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Can you solder well? Follow a layout? Read a schematic Know Ohms Law. Any troubleshooting experience? Are you building everything, chassis, board, cabinet? Buying a kit, sourcing the parts yourself? On a budget?
Have you been to, Shock Brother's DIY Amps | Telecaster Guitar Forum
Have you been to, Shock Brother's DIY Amps | Telecaster Guitar Forum
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I can solder, read layouts and schematics, and im familiar with ohms law, i also do have some experience with troubleshooting, i already have a cabinet, and i was planning on building the chassis and sourcing my own parts.
I'd also like to keep it under 400$
So you're at the beginning of your valve amp building career, Alex 1238? In this case I'd strongly recommend a simple, clearly laid-out design in the 15 to 20 watts range. The Phoenix Carmen Ghia comes to mind, just four active tubes plus the rectifier, a pair of 6BQ5/EL84's, easily to obtain iron and just two knobs. Google for it!
Guts like master volume call for issues like oscillations, due to their usually large gain. A multiple tone stack probably adds complexity that isn't really needed.
Remember: The tone primarily comes out of your fingers!
Best regards!
Guts like master volume call for issues like oscillations, due to their usually large gain. A multiple tone stack probably adds complexity that isn't really needed.
Remember: The tone primarily comes out of your fingers!
Best regards!
As you say, Rob Robinette has schematics and layouts for a simplified Princeton, with tremolo and reverb deleted. I don't think he added a master volume, but it isn't a very difficult thing to add, if there is space on the front panel for it.
Tremolo hasn't been very popular with guitarists for decades, and most guitarists won't miss it. Reverb, on the other hand, is as popular as ever, for good reason, because a little of it makes your guitar sound so much better. But these days you can get a decent-sounding reverb pedal without spending much money. I bought an inexpensive Donner "Verb Square" pedal for one of my projects, and I'm quite happy with it; in spring-reverb mode, it even makes the same "sproing!" noise as a real spring reverb does when hit too hard.
Here's the bizarrely named "Verb Square": https://www.amazon.ca/Donner-Digital-Reverb-Guitar-Effect/dp/B0719CBYXJ
As to the big question: can you successfully build this amp? You are the only one who realistically knows your own abilities. But it's also a fact that the way you choose to build can have a big difference in the chances of success; the most popular method - build the whole amp at one go, then power up and hope for the best - is also, IMO, the worst way to do it. It's almost a guarantee that there will be may mistakes to fault-find, and it's much harder to fault-find several mistakes in a relatively complex circuit. Chances of failure are high.
You can avoid this pitfall by building one stage at a time, and testing and fault-finding that one stage before building the next. By doing it this way, you're always working with a relatively simple circuit, and chances are there won't be many mistakes, so it's a lot easier to find and fix the mistakes you do make.
For a tube amp, I first build the power supply and test it, making sure it's working and putting out the right (unloaded) voltages. If a fixed-bias design, build and test the part of the power supply that provides the bias voltage to the output tubes as well.
Then I build the output stage - output transformer, output valve(s), screen grid resistors, dummy load or loudspeaker, etc. Once completed, you can set output tube bias and check DC voltages on all the tube pins and make sure they're correct. Applying an audio signal to the control grid (if SE), or to either control grid (if PP) should produces noises in the speaker at this point, though they will be quiet, and you'll need a bigger signal than just a guitar - an old phone playing MP3 files should work fine.
If you encounter problems, you know the power supply itself is okay, so you can focus on just the output stage that you built. Just two tubes and a handful of resistors, so it won't be hard to find and fix the problem.
Once the output stage is working, I build the stage that drives it; phase splitter if it's a PP amp, or whatever driver stage if an SE amp. Again, build, measure DC voltages, test with an audio signal.
If you work backwards like this, building and testing one stage at a time (and if it doesn't work, fault-finding it before proceeding further), you will almost always end up with a complete working amp by the time you work your way back to the input jack.
-Gnobuddy
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