DIY Amp help, unsure about where to start

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I see no reason the Princeton Reverb would be too challenging. Yes, it is like two amps in one, a low powered one and a high powered one. But like eating an elephant, eat one section at a time. As
Gnobudy has outlined, start with the power supply and check it out, if ok, move on to the next step. Once the amp is up and running move on to the reverb section. I do wonder if it may be a good idea to populate the whole board first. it is much easier to do outside the chassis, mind you if you have a large chassis it is less of a issue. You could solder the parts in, the sockets, then add tubes from the back end forward. Then add the reverb.
 
Maybe not for you and many others of us. But for a beginner? My first tube amplifier was a multi-staged, though simple and straight SE design with parts and tubes from old, scrapped TV's, my 2nd one a silverface Twin Reverb (the one with a push-pull master volume potentiometer) clone ;).
Best regards!
 
But for a beginner?
It's so difficult to judge, especially remotely, over the Internet.

My own electronics hobby started with a crystal radio I built when I was maybe 8 years old. After some months and several rebuilds it was never loud enough, so I learned about amplification, and added one transistor to amplify the audio, then two, and over the course of a few years, eventually built several TRF ( tuned radio frequency) radios, then a few superheterodyne radios, and so on. By the time I was in my teens, I was building push-pull transistor power amps, an entire record-player, then cassette playback preamps, eventually an entire cassette tape deck, et cetera, et cetera.

That was a normal progression a few decades ago. But in the Internet era, most people are no longer willing to take their time to gradually learn a complicated subject. On the plus side, with online help and easy access to information, it is indeed possible to build complex things without taking the time to build a foundation. On the minus side, if taken too far, we end up with "monkey see, monkey do" builds, where the builder doesn't actually understand what she is building.

Alex1238, who started this thread, does not seem to be a raw beginner - this is how he described himself in post #4:
Alex1238 said:
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
This is why I think Alex can probably pull off the build he really wants to do, if he takes his time, builds it step by step, and tests and trouble-shoots as he goes. And, this cannot be overstressed, learns how to do it safely first, before ever picking up a soldering iron.

In an ideal world, I too would recommend starting with something much simpler. But if a simpler project means losing all enthusiasm for electronics, then I think it's better to instead work on the project you really want to build.


-Gnobuddy
 
We do not get too many beginners here building amps. At the Telecaster website there has been so many first time guitar amp builds. Do they all start up without a glitch? No, but with help from the members they get done. So strip the reverb from the amp, a cathodyne P-P amp. A design that has the documentation for, Fender schematic and voltages that should be seen.


https://www.thetubestore.com/lib/th...nder/Fender-65-Princeton-Reverb-Schematic.pdf


As long as there is some kind of load we can calculate current and voltage drops in the power supply. If the wiring of the board and to the sockets is correct adding the tubes as Gnobuddy says should not blow up anything in the first second (note, make a light bulb limiter), tubes are more forgiving that way as compared to sand). I actually troubleshot live in a forum for someone building a new amp. We got it running, I won't be doing live help after that experience. Strung out over days is ok. Anyway, given how he describes himself, the community that builds those amps, posted pictures of the build, I think he can get through it.
 
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