Looking good! ?

So, yesterday (my first day on holiday) was rather successful. Some progress pics:


All chassis components fitted and soldered



Turret board wired in


Valves installed



ITS ALIVE!!! :bopping:

Maybe I should give some background on the components, the resistors are carbon comp, capacitors are electrolytic and orange drop and Alpha pots.
The PT & OT are locally wound and was supplied by JP as well.
The rectifier is 5Y3
The pre-amp toobs are ECC83's. I've swap the the original 12AY7 with the ECC83 to achieve toob drive earlier.
The power toobs are 6V6's

There no words that can describe the feeling when you play something you've build yourself. This amp sounds like the components are making sweet love inside the amp and mojo kids are flowing out of the 212 (I played through my Marshall 2061CX cab). I've been playing her for a good part of today and I cannot really find any fault with this amp, except it can get a bit bassy on the LP playing on the neck pup. It take pedals well. With the strat direct into the amp, I can get Stones tone, (think honky tonk woman) and with the LP, pure billy gibbons tone ? ?.

I have some spare pine in the garage and I will channel my inner wood working skills and try my hands on building a head and cab. I'm still deciding on either a tweed finish or a cream finish.

So all in all:

Well Done! That looks awesome ?

Playing your own amp is great. I bet the 5E3 is really loud through that cab (I have a cab like that too).

If all goes according to plan I'll start my own 5E3 build next week, I also must build a cabinet (mines a combo).

ez wrote: Well Done! That looks awesome ?

Playing your own amp is great. I bet the 5E3 is really loud through that cab (I have a cab like that too).

If all goes according to plan I'll start my own 5E3 build next week, I also must build a cabinet (mines a combo).

Dankie, :-[

It is a great feeling playing something you spend so much time on. Yip, it is farking loud, my ears are actually bleeding now ?

Good luck on your build, any modifications you're going to do?

Blues Brother wrote:

ez wrote: Well Done! That looks awesome ?

Playing your own amp is great. I bet the 5E3 is really loud through that cab (I have a cab like that too).

If all goes according to plan I'll start my own 5E3 build next week, I also must build a cabinet (mines a combo).

Dankie, :-[

It is a great feeling playing something you spend so much time on. Yip, it is farking loud, my ears are actually bleeding now ?

Good luck on your build, any modifications you're going to do?

I'm going for a stock build with one exception, mine will have a 4th knob, where the power switch is, which controls the power on/off and the power scaling. If it is too farty/bassy with the LP I'll put in some other coupling caps to control that to some degree, I don't want to mod it too much and I don't think I'd want more clean headroom (that seems to be the thing most 5E3 owners want), although I have never played a 5E3 so I'll see what I want to do after I've heard it ? I'm getting a Weber 12A125A (Something like a Jensen P12Q I think) for it. Should deliver fairly authentic Tweed tone according to some sources.

ez wrote: If it is too farty/bassy with the LP I'll put in some other coupling caps to control that to some degree, I don't want to mod it too much and I don't think I'd want more clean headroom (that seems to be the thing most 5E3 owners want), although I have never played a 5E3 so I'll see what I want to do after I've heard it ? I'm getting a Weber 12A125A (Something like a Jensen P12Q I think) for it. Should deliver fairly authentic Tweed tone according to some sources.

I will play a bit with the tone controls on the guit and amp, would also like to keep her as standard as possible, also I still need to play her through the Jensen and see what the verdict will be.

This is really such a great amp, but I'm already planning my next build... I think I need to go to an AA meeting and get help, I'm addicted to this

Blues Brother wrote:

ez wrote: If it is too farty/bassy with the LP I'll put in some other coupling caps to control that to some degree, I don't want to mod it too much and I don't think I'd want more clean headroom (that seems to be the thing most 5E3 owners want), although I have never played a 5E3 so I'll see what I want to do after I've heard it ? I'm getting a Weber 12A125A (Something like a Jensen P12Q I think) for it. Should deliver fairly authentic Tweed tone according to some sources.

I will play a bit with the tone controls on the guit and amp, would also like to keep her as standard as possible, also I still need to play her through the Jensen and see what the verdict will be.

This is really such a great amp, but I'm already planning my next build... I think I need to go to an AA meeting and get help, I'm addicted to this

Haha. Its fun init? I'm building one amp now, for a friend, then next week mine. That should keep my building GAS at bay for another year or two.

ez wrote: That should keep my building GAS at bay for another year month or two.

Fixed.

Your amp looks amazing Blues Brother. I'm sure it plays great. Nothing like a straight-up, medium powered tube amp. Makes you realise what playing electric guitar is really about.

One night of wiring and you started her up?? Impressive!!!
You have epic amps now!!!
Wish i had more to play........

bottledtone wrote: One night of wiring and you started her up?? Impressive!!!

Agreed! You, Shaun and EZ are giving me building GAS, but I know I really shouldn't.... ?

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:

bottledtone wrote: One night of wiring and you started her up?? Impressive!!!

Agreed! You, Shaun and EZ are giving me building GAS, but I know I really shouldn't.... ?

Whaddaya mean you shouldn't? Of course you should......

PS: am I the only one whose mouth starts watering at the sight of these HUGE Orange Drops. I've become addicted to the sight of them and other pretty caps. Like candy to me!

shaunf wrote: Whaddaya mean you shouldn't? Of course you should......

Heart... and electricity loves me so much it seeks me out... ?

Trust me, I'd love to do it - the tweakiness of a high-end build appeals to my nature. I just can't risk it.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote:

shaunf wrote: Whaddaya mean you shouldn't? Of course you should......

Heart... and electricity loves me so much it seeks me out... ?

Trust me, I'd love to do it - the tweakiness of a high-end build appeals to my nature. I just can't risk it.

That's a poor excuse Alan. I reckon most of our hearts don't like high voltage DC.

All that is required to work safely is a few simple rules, and a few even simpler tools, and if the rules are followed, and the tools used properly, there is no reason for you to even come close to dangerous current.

I'm not helping, am I ? ?

Very well done! Great success indeed!

All these builds are turning up the gas bigtime!!

Looks awesome! ?