Kit amps

ezietsman

I'm quite interested in building a kit amp, and I'm looking into this as a serious alternative to getting a mass produced amp for gigging. I've got my eye on a Marshall 1974x clone, the 18 watt combo. I've had a look at kits offered by Weber, Trinity, GDS and Tubedepot. The Weber kits are cheap but reports indicate that some of the parts/cabs aren't of excellent quality. It would be nice if I can get a decent quality kit which includes a cab from somewhere, or alternatively order just a kit and have a combo cab made locally.

Can anyone offer some advice? Local cab makers, please PM me.

guidothepimmp

im interested in this too..
please post in this threAd.

Manfred-Klose

have you had a look at ceriatone ?

i'm going buy a kit from them soon.

ezietsman

Manfred Klose wrote: have you had a look at ceriatone ?

i'm going buy a kit from them soon.

I have. Their stuff looks excellent, but the shipping from there to here is stupidly expensive. I think the 18watt kit is 10.5 kg and shipping amounts to 177 dollars. Thats about R5k in total, then I need a speaker and cab. So its an option but there's cheaper options I think.

Reinhard

Manfred Klose wrote: have you had a look at ceriatone ?

i'm going buy a kit from them soon.

I want one of their Dumble clones.

MikeM

ezietsman wrote:I have. Their stuff looks excellent, but the shipping from there to here is stupidly expensive. I think the 18watt kit is 10.5 kg and shipping amounts to 177 dollars. Thats about R5k in total, then I need a speaker and cab. So its an option but there's cheaper options I think.

Get used to it. Weber quoted me that much for 2 speakers.

TomCat

Kits are a great way to get into amp building....the only problem is the shipping costs to get them here so there is no real cost advantage in getting a kit over buying an off the shelf amplifier at the local music store.

I found that scratch building can be expensive as I found out when I built my TC-8W. However, the pleasure and pride of playing through one of your own creations far outweighs the cost involved.

RobK

Seems like a lot of the weight in the Ceriatone kits goes to the transformers, so wouldn't it be acheaper option to get the kit without transformers or tubes and then source those locally?
The cabined could also be built locally - lots of skilled carpenters, right here on this forum.

One day, when I have the workspace, I'd definitely like to order a kit to put together myself.

MikeM

Rather import the transformers. You get the right thing the first time usually.

ezietsman

Yeah, I think importing the transformers is important. Places like Trinity, GDS and Valvepower have lots of experience with the 18 watts in particular and their transformers are said to be as good as it gets. Hence my reasoning to buy a kit from somewhere.

MikeM

I am all for this!!! You shoud be able to hand it in your sleep man ?

RobK

MikeM wrote: Rather import the transformers. You get the right thing the first time usually.

Hehe, that sounds like "My plans always work, sometimes" ?

ezietsman wrote: Yeah, I think importing the transformers is important. Places like Trinity, GDS and Valvepower have lots of experience with the 18 watts in particular and their transformers are said to be as good as it gets. Hence my reasoning to buy a kit from somewhere.

I suppose if you're going to do this it'll be for the fun of doing it, and not as a cost saving excercise.

ezietsman

This isn't a kit amp but I'm told the kits are as good as this. Its preposterously cool.

Want...

singemonkey

Don't the sun look good,
Goin' down over the sea?
And don't that 18watt sound good, mama,
When it's cranking with a maestro-tailpiece SG.

?

Compare the price to the Marshall Branded one. And this one will be handwired too, right?

You should do it. Then let me borrow it ?

ezietsman

The Retro King goes for $1600 dollahs I think. Still less than a Mesa Express...

The Marshall Branded one is serious money.

They're definitely handwired.

ezietsman

Just for interests sake, the Marshall 1974x reissue is sold on Take2 for R30k. Ouch.

ezietsman

So I have some some more homework on this and the fact is, building even a fairly simple single channel 18 watt with good quality parts and a 2x12 cab with decent speakers will cost at least 8k or 9k ZAR. Obviously, one can get a mass produced amp with everything mounted on PCB and more features for this money. Sigh... Decisions...

Maybe you can help.

Pros:
1. It'll be something I made and can be proud of (if it works right, LOL)
2. Booteek tone for far less than booteek money
3. I can mod it the way I like. like add VVR and other goodies
4. I'll learn about the voodoo that goes into amps
5. An 18 watt amp with VVR is just right for playing blues/rock gigs as far as I can see
6. Easily repairable, unlike modern PCB fancy amps.

Cons:
1. Not as versatile as, say, a Blackstar Combo
2. Feature/price ratio not quite as high
3. No reverb, No effects loop
4. no channel switching (Although, I have 50s wiring in my guitar and these amps clean up really well because most of their drive comes from the power tubes.)
5. Upfront investment is quite high, IF I want 2x12 cab for it, which I do. However, future amp purchases/builds will be cheaper.
6. Can't test one of these easily as they're not really available, so I may or may not get on with it when its done.

AlanRatcliffe

It makes sense if you know exactly what you want. Otherwise, I think you're best served by doing the rounds and trying everything available locally and choosing what suits you best.

Gearhead

Depending on your timeframe you could think of building http://www.guitarforum.co.za/amps-speakers-and-valves/gearhead-studio-king-entering-phase-2

ezietsman

I've decided to build a 18 watt in head form. It'll be a two channel job but instead of a tremelo I'm going to put in a TMB channel, and have it such that one channel is is less gainy and the other will be more gainy than standard. I'm thinking along the lines of the 'Plexi' or 'TMB' model of Trinity amps (I'm not going to use their kit though). This is what they say about it:

The Plexi is voiced to sound period correct for a Marshall Plexi Lead. Screaming guitar lead tones at a much lower volume. The amp can thump and grind with less compressed tone than the other 18 watt variants. The Second Channel (Normal Channel) provides way more overdrive than most 18 watt normal channels while the Plexi channel is capable of the best clean sound we have ever heard come out of an 18 watter. With a pair of greenbacks, you'll be shocked how period correct it sounds. Crank up the gain and you are in crunch tone heaven. The clean boost just adds another dimension, it nails all those old AC-DC tones dead on and has way more gain on tap if needed.

The TMB amp is a high gain amp that does the 80s sound very nicely. It is intended for musicians who want plenty of grind. It does ZZTop very nicely. It is both responsive and aggressive. The second channel is the Normal channel from
the original 18 watt design. This amp does classic rock crunch to metal.

So that way I'll get an old-school channel and a higher gain channel and lose the tremolo. I'm going to pair it with a 2x12 closed back cab with Warehouse Reapers (G12H30 clones). Well, thats the idea anyway. I'm most likely going to order the kit from Valvepower in the UK, they make little kits for a single channel amp in a steel cage for little money, but I'm going for the traditional look, standard size head. I know a guy in JHB that has built two of these amps already and he says they're very good quality.