My amp build UPDATE: 8/10

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:32 am

This is the amp I'm building in the class at Guru Guitars in Raleigh, NC. It is a variation on the Fender Tweed deluxe 5e3 circuits. There are a ton of different 5e3 kits out there that are exact copies of the Tweed Deluxe, but with PCB boards, this is a slightly varied circuit and is completely point to point and built from scratch, not from a kit.

Week #1 - Front of the chassis with volume and tone pots and input jack mounted and Power and Output tansformers on top.

Week #1 - Back of chassis with tube sockets and fuse holder in place

Week #1 - Inside of the chassis with the terminals mounted and wires and everything.

Week #2 - Inside with all the soldering for the power transformer and the LED light done

Week #2 - Inside (Closeup)

robroe · Post by **robroe** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:53 am

rad.

are they teaching you what all this shit does? or just telling you where to put it ?

i would be contempt with paying someone to tell me where to put it

LIKE DUDE I DON'T GIVE A FUCK IF ITS CERAMIC OR GERAMANIUMNUM OR IF THAT SHIT IS MADE OF TUNGSTIN

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:06 am

It's soooo tiny!!!

Looking awesome. Is this going to be a head, or stuck in an appropriately tiny cab?

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:23 am

Rob, yea they're teaching us how everything works so that we can mod, repair and build our own amps when we get done with the class.

Will, It is going to be a 1x10 combo amp. This is one that someone in a past class did:

Will · Post by **Will** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:09 am

Those 3 bass ports or whatever down the side need some 4" speakers like Gretsch, Gibson, and Magnatone used to do to coax some sparkle out of smooth-cone speakers:

Sounds like shit but looks AWESOME.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 4:24 am

I thought about putting speakers there, but the guy teaching the class says the cab is designed that way to push more air and make it louder, and also since it is a closed back cab.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 12:50 pm

Thats awesome, I'd love to go on some kind of course like that!

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 1:33 pm

mrperson wrote:Thats awesome, I'd love to go on some kind of course like that!

+1

hotrodperlmutter · Post by **hotrodperlmutter** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 3:50 pm

robroe wrote:i would be contempt with paying someone to tell me where to put it.

LAL on two different levels.

Skip · Post by **Skip** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:24 am

man, i would love a class on that

matt.dines · Post by **matt.dines** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 4:14 am

hotrodperlmutter wrote:
robroe wrote:i would be contempt with paying someone to tell me where to put it.
LAL on two different levels.

hahahahahahahahahaha!
Iv been watching this and it's got me interested in building an amp

iv been looking at these this week

http://www.ampmaker.com/wf-55-4w-tweed- ... 832-0.html

iv heard a few bad things about torres builds but I like the look of dans stuff and iv got his book inside tube amps. It's really easy to understand and the layout is clear. Does anybody have any other recommendations?

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:59 pm

Thom wrote:
mrperson wrote:Thats awesome, I'd love to go on some kind of course like that!
+1

+2

This looks pretty sweet. I'd love to learn this stuff.

Hey, if you're building the same cabinet, you could still pop a single small speaker in one of those ports... three ports that size with a cabinet/driver that small is a little overkill. You'd still get plenty of air movement with 2 ports, or even just one. Never know, that small speaker could make a world of difference.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 6:15 pm

Ankhanu wrote:
Thom wrote:
mrperson wrote:Thats awesome, I'd love to go on some kind of course like that!
+1
+2

This looks pretty sweet. I'd love to learn this stuff.

Hey, if you're building the same cabinet, you could still pop a single small speaker in one of those ports... three ports that size with a cabinet/driver that small is a little overkill. You'd still get plenty of air movement with 2 ports, or even just one. Never know, that small speaker could make a world of difference.

Yea I've thought about it. That might be something that I'll mod on it after the class is over with.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:27 am

Week #3 - Front of the amp with LED and blue and white chicken head knobs in place.

Inside of amp with output transformer completely wired and started on wiring for the tube sockets.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:35 am

Week #4 - finished wiring the power section and did all the capacitors and resistors to the power tube socket.

Post by **Mike** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 7:29 am

Funkyfresh!

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:25 pm

Didn't realize that I forgot to update this thread last week! So this is two weeks worth of updates!

Week #5 - Wiring for the phase inverter and preamp tubes done

Week #6 - All the wiring is DONE! This tuesday we'll be putting it all together in the cab and everything and powering them up! I'm so psyched about this! In this picture you can see the new terminal we put in to wire the speaker out from the output transformer as well as the wiring for the power cable.

Week #6 - Input, Volume/power pot, and tone pots wiring done. Also, my dog sneaking his way in to the picture.

week #6 - TUBES! Also, the power cable and speaker out jack, and my dog approving of the work done on this amp.

Justin J · Post by **Justin J** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:34 pm

can you explain why point-to-point is preferable to a terminal board layout? it looks like so much potential for shorting out.

Vis · Post by **Vis** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 6:37 pm

Man I dunno about approving. Your dog looks guilty.

Sloan · Post by **Sloan** » Sat Jul 24, 2010 7:00 pm

Justin J wrote:can you explain why point-to-point is preferable to a terminal board layout? it looks like so much potential for shorting out.

I've always thought that too, but a ton of stuff from the 40's-60's is completely point to point. looks like fucking spaghetti, but that shit lasts - change out the old capacitors and your gold!