One small step at a time OR my 18 watt Marshall build

ezietsman · 2011-04-06T21:41:41+00:00

So I've decided to build an amp. A twin channel 18 watt amp based loosely on the 1974x Marshall from the 60s. The first channel will be more or less the same as the original 18 watt's, just a volume and tone knob and very little gain from the preamp, all the drive will come from the two EL84s in the power section. The second channel will have Gain, Treble, Mid, Bass and Master Volume. This will be a higher gain channel with more preamp drive than the normal channel. Befiore you ask, the gain knob and pot will go into the lo input on the second channel, as I won't be needing that input ? Instead of having a power switch like all other amps (design flaw), mine will have a switched pot that switches it on and off (duh!) as well as control the loudness of the amp by varying voltages to the power amp and phase inverter. So I'll be able to get proper power section drive at any volume. To get things rolling, I present the first component of my amp, its also the only one I have at the moment. THE PLEXIGLASS FACEPLATE! more to follow...

ezietsman

joel wrote
8) , Hey EZ , Your dreams come true ! ....... ? Enjoy !

Karma for you Joel, Thank you, you played a massive role in the realisation of some of my geetar dreams ?

singemonkey

If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?

I remember in the mists of time your first time with the band... the monkey saunters into the venue when we're all on stage already, plonks himself right in front of me, turns and says,"this where I stand?"...

singemonkey

Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?
I remember in the mists of time your first time with the band... the monkey saunters into the venue when we're all on stage already, plonks himself right in front of me, turns and says,"this where I stand?"...

That was like, the end of last year.

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?
I remember in the mists of time your first time with the band... the monkey saunters into the venue when we're all on stage already, plonks himself right in front of me, turns and says,"this where I stand?"...
That was like, the end of last year.

Feels like 100 years... :?

?

singemonkey

Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?
I remember in the mists of time your first time with the band... the monkey saunters into the venue when we're all on stage already, plonks himself right in front of me, turns and says,"this where I stand?"...
That was like, the end of last year.
Feels like 100 years... :?

?

Well, no hair grows on the back of my neck any more with you breathing down it. ?

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?
I remember in the mists of time your first time with the band... the monkey saunters into the venue when we're all on stage already, plonks himself right in front of me, turns and says,"this where I stand?"...
That was like, the end of last year.
Feels like 100 years... :?

?
Well, no hair grows on the back of my neck any more with you breathing down it. ?

:roflmao:

I have no response to that.

makepeace

Looks beautiful man! Will definitely come check it out soon.. Enjoy ?

ezietsman

joel wrote
singemonkey wrote If Cape Town folks want to hear this guitar and amp, come and see Hellfire do a set at the Rondebosch sports club tonight. Not only will I be playing the amp, but EZ's going to be doing his first ever live guitaring in front of angry, angry, hostile audiences and I'm sure he'd enjoy the friendly faces... judging him. ?

Hey guys , so how was the amp & cab ?..........how was the gig ?.........full report please , or it didn't happen ?

Unfortunately I had a family emergency hours before the gig so I didn't make it there. Alas, next time...

singemonkey

Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹

[deleted]

singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹

It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...

Jack-Flash-Jr

MoreCowBell wrote
singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹
It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...

I don't know, we haven't heard his pipes yet!

singemonkey

Jack Flash Jr wrote
MoreCowBell wrote
singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹
It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...
I don't know, we haven't heard his pipes yet!

Aren't you supposed to be off pretending you're not ogling Aye-talian women? *sigh* There's not going to be that period of peace I was hoping for, is there?

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
MoreCowBell wrote
singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹
It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...
I don't know, we haven't heard his pipes yet!
Aren't you supposed to be off pretending you're not ogling Aye-talian women? *sigh* There's not going to be that period of peace I was hoping for, is there?

Venecia and Hellas on Thursday. But I'll monitor your posts by android just so you don't miss the glare on the back of your monkey head.

singemonkey

Alas for Hellas, is all I can say. Bring me a pebble from the Parthenon.

Jack-Flash-Jr

singemonkey wrote Alas for Hellas, is all I can say. Bring me a pebble from the Parthenon.

Look for me in the protest pics on reddit ?

Edit: I'll be the one sipping tea.

[deleted]

Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
MoreCowBell wrote
singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹
It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...
I don't know, we haven't heard his pipes yet!
Aren't you supposed to be off pretending you're not ogling Aye-talian women? *sigh* There's not going to be that period of peace I was hoping for, is there?
Venecia and Hellas on Thursday. But I'll monitor your posts by android just so you don't miss the glare on the back of your monkey head.

Venecia and Hellas? I officially hate you Jack Flash... any space left in your suitcase? hehe

ps. @the Monkey - where are those glamour shots?! You're writing exams - surely you've got PLENTY of time to process them? lol!

Jack-Flash-Jr

MoreCowBell wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
MoreCowBell wrote
singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹
It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...
I don't know, we haven't heard his pipes yet!
Aren't you supposed to be off pretending you're not ogling Aye-talian women? *sigh* There's not going to be that period of peace I was hoping for, is there?
Venecia and Hellas on Thursday. But I'll monitor your posts by android just so you don't miss the glare on the back of your monkey head.
Venecia and Hellas? I officially hate you Jack Flash... any space left in your suitcase? hehe

ps. @the Monkey - where are those glamour shots?! You're writing exams - surely you've got PLENTY of time to process them? lol!

?

The reason Singe is taking so long with the glamour shots is that he really struggles to photoshop the stars over his nipples. Be patient, it's worth the wait.

singemonkey

Jack Flash Jr wrote
MoreCowBell wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
singemonkey wrote
Jack Flash Jr wrote
MoreCowBell wrote
singemonkey wrote Next time indeed. Looking forward to using that thing live - even if EZ's skills get me replaced ☹
It's ok singe - no matter what, EZ can't sing as well as you, so you'll still have a job...
I don't know, we haven't heard his pipes yet!
Aren't you supposed to be off pretending you're not ogling Aye-talian women? *sigh* There's not going to be that period of peace I was hoping for, is there?
Venecia and Hellas on Thursday. But I'll monitor your posts by android just so you don't miss the glare on the back of your monkey head.
Venecia and Hellas? I officially hate you Jack Flash... any space left in your suitcase? hehe

ps. @the Monkey - where are those glamour shots?! You're writing exams - surely you've got PLENTY of time to process them? lol!
?

The reason Singe is taking so long with the glamour shots is that he really struggles to photoshop the stars over his nipples. Be patient, it's worth the wait.

It's not the nipples I'm struggling with...

ezietsman

So, its been little over a month since I finished building the amp and I guess an update is in order.

Firstly, the 'problem' on the Superlite channel turns out to be rather normal hiss coming from the valves. That channel is very gainy and when you turn the preamp and master volume up to 10 all the valves are giving it their all and the hiss can be heard. This can be minimised by carefully selecting low noise valves for the preamp and phase inverter positions (V2 and V3 for this channel). Something to try in future maybe.

Secondly, these 18 watts are prone to something called the 'Paul Ruby Buzz' is a kind of fizziness that can be heard when you turn the volume up to make the EL84s drive a lot. The fizz changes it's frequency depending on the signal strength so on long sustained notes it can be heard as a phasing type sound. Mine did this too and seeing I play it highly driven all the time I fixed it by installing a Zobel filter on the speaker side of the Output transformer. Simple R10 mod consisting of a Resistor and Capacitor in series between the two wires going to the speaker jack. Now its a bit darker sounding and the fizz is only just audible. IF you don't know what to listen for you won't know its there. It has something to do with blocking distortion and grid currents and some cap charging when its not supposed to. Magic. I fixed it.

Thirdly. The amp has now been used at a couple of Hellfire's gigs by Singemonkey. Unmic'd it has not been used at more than about 8 watts at any of the gigs. If 18 watts is not enough for you to gig with there's something wrong somewhere (with your band/drummer/ears....), unless you play funk, but thats another thing. Having a non-master-volume amp of 20 watts or more without the power scaling option is a complete and utter waste of time. You will have to resort to pedals to get the amp to drive at a reasonable volume and that would be a very sad thing indeed. The guy that got me into building this amp warned me that this amp ruined many other very good amps for him, and I can honestly say the same thing happened to me.

The simplicity is a joy. I put two channels onto the amp because I was afraid that a simple channel with only two knobs will not be versatile enough and you will be severely limited in your options, not so, thus far I and Singemonkey have used this amp only on the Lite IIB channel, put the Tone on 8, Volume on 8, do the rest from the guitar. Need more drive? Step on the tubescreamer. Need clean? Turn the guitar down a bit. Although, on its own there's quite a hefty amount of overdrive with humbuckers. Setting it up at gigs involves plugging it all in and turning the VVR knob until the desired volume is reached. No mess no fuss.

Although only 18 watts and with the VVR installed the amp is still too loud for night playing. It really wants to run loudly, the speakers are happy then and so are the valves when they get proper voltage to work with.

Singemonkey can tell you more, he has more experience playing it in a live setting (He sure had lotsa fun with it on Wednesday night!)

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