If you've been following the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe thread, and Greg's informative postings, you'll see where this one is coming from. Thought it might be useful posted as its own thread.
Wondering who out there has gone the amp kit route? Could you share any experiences/reactions about the process, the product, etc. (realizing that results would vary between different kits).
Amp Kits
Moderator: jingle_jangle
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skeeterbuck
- Junior Member
- Posts: 165
- Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 5:00 am
Bill,
I have built 3 amps from kits. They all have turned out fine and worked the first time I fired them up. The 3 kits were...
Allen Accomplice based on a Fender Princeton Reverb
A Clark Tyger based on a Fender Tweed Bandmaster
and a Mission Amp Which is based on the 5E3 Tweed Deluxe
With the Accomplice and Tyger the cabinets were already built and finished. The 5E3 came with the cabinet built but I had to clear coat the tweed.
The Allen amp kits are great for beginners because they come with general building instructions and a detailed wiring layout. Plus if you have any questions you can contact Dave Allen and he is great to deal with and he will gladly help you.
With the Clark I had to use a wiring layout of an original Fender Tweed Bandmaster amp. It is my understanding that Clark doesn't make kits anymore.
The Mission 5E3 Tweed Deluxe is a rather simple amp and was the easiest to build...just 2 volume knobs and a master tone knob. The neat thing about the Deluxe is that the volumes controls are interactive. Say that you are using input 1, the volume control for input 2 will alter the tone of the amp in addition to the master tone control.
If you are handy with simple tools and a soldering iron, I think they are great project to do yourself. You get a lot of satisfaction from building it yourself. All 3 kits were a very positive experience and I learned a great deal about basic tube amp circuits.
I have built 3 amps from kits. They all have turned out fine and worked the first time I fired them up. The 3 kits were...
Allen Accomplice based on a Fender Princeton Reverb
A Clark Tyger based on a Fender Tweed Bandmaster
and a Mission Amp Which is based on the 5E3 Tweed Deluxe
With the Accomplice and Tyger the cabinets were already built and finished. The 5E3 came with the cabinet built but I had to clear coat the tweed.
The Allen amp kits are great for beginners because they come with general building instructions and a detailed wiring layout. Plus if you have any questions you can contact Dave Allen and he is great to deal with and he will gladly help you.
With the Clark I had to use a wiring layout of an original Fender Tweed Bandmaster amp. It is my understanding that Clark doesn't make kits anymore.
The Mission 5E3 Tweed Deluxe is a rather simple amp and was the easiest to build...just 2 volume knobs and a master tone knob. The neat thing about the Deluxe is that the volumes controls are interactive. Say that you are using input 1, the volume control for input 2 will alter the tone of the amp in addition to the master tone control.
If you are handy with simple tools and a soldering iron, I think they are great project to do yourself. You get a lot of satisfaction from building it yourself. All 3 kits were a very positive experience and I learned a great deal about basic tube amp circuits.
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soundmasterg
- RRF Consultant
- Posts: 1923
- Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:06 pm
I'll let others comment on the actual kits, because I've never built a kit per se. I started by restoring and then modding several vintage amps (a 1970 Sunn 200S bass amp, a 50's Silvertone 1484, and others), restoring to stock some other vintage amps (1956 Fender tweed deluxe 5E3, 1958 Gibson GA-20T Ranger, and others) and then started working on my own designs. I could do a kit I suppose, and it would be easy for me due to my experience, but I like doing my own designs more than someone else's.
There are tons of kits out there, and more and more people are providing them. Ted Weber at webervst has probably the cheapest cost-wise, with decent parts. His don't come with instructions though, so for a beginner they can be hard. Mission Amps, as I've already mentioned, Mojo, Allen, all the different kits on the 18 Watt site, and gobs and gobs of others. Its kind of like the 50's and 60's hi-fi market with Dynaco and Heathkit in a way, but now being done with guitar amps.
Some of the circuits, like the 5E3 are quite easy, and if you can solder and follow directions, you can build one pretty easily. The main thing to be concerned with is safety considerations, both in working on the amp so that you don't shock yourself, and in building the amp so that it isn't unsafe when you plug it into power.
Hopefully some others who have built kits can comment on the actual building process. If you don't get much in the way of replies here, then I'd suggest to mosey on over to the 18 watt site, the webervst site, the ampage bbs sites, or the hoffman forums, and read up and look at pics and ask questions. If you're interested, there are lots of good books out there too. I can specify some good ones to get if you want.
http://www.18watt.com/
http://www.firebottle.com/ampage/
http://www.webervst.com/vstbbs/bbs.html
http://www.hoffmanamps.com/
There are tons of kits out there, and more and more people are providing them. Ted Weber at webervst has probably the cheapest cost-wise, with decent parts. His don't come with instructions though, so for a beginner they can be hard. Mission Amps, as I've already mentioned, Mojo, Allen, all the different kits on the 18 Watt site, and gobs and gobs of others. Its kind of like the 50's and 60's hi-fi market with Dynaco and Heathkit in a way, but now being done with guitar amps.
Some of the circuits, like the 5E3 are quite easy, and if you can solder and follow directions, you can build one pretty easily. The main thing to be concerned with is safety considerations, both in working on the amp so that you don't shock yourself, and in building the amp so that it isn't unsafe when you plug it into power.
Hopefully some others who have built kits can comment on the actual building process. If you don't get much in the way of replies here, then I'd suggest to mosey on over to the 18 watt site, the webervst site, the ampage bbs sites, or the hoffman forums, and read up and look at pics and ask questions. If you're interested, there are lots of good books out there too. I can specify some good ones to get if you want.
http://www.18watt.com/
http://www.firebottle.com/ampage/
http://www.webervst.com/vstbbs/bbs.html
http://www.hoffmanamps.com/
I'm going to build a 5E7 (tweed Bandmaster) clone from a Weber kit pretty soon. I'll post a link here once all the parts arrive and I can start. 
In the meantime, here's the Audion, a ~10 watt amp* my Dad sketched out and we built together:
* More specs: 6SL7 preamp, 6X5 rectifier, 2x6V6 in cathode bias with an 8" Alnico speaker.
In the meantime, here's the Audion, a ~10 watt amp* my Dad sketched out and we built together:
* More specs: 6SL7 preamp, 6X5 rectifier, 2x6V6 in cathode bias with an 8" Alnico speaker.
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soundmasterg
- RRF Consultant
- Posts: 1923
- Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:06 pm
Ask and ye shall receive. I chose not to resize these, as a couple are fuzzy enough:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/sstulken80/pre.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/sstulken80/power.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/sstulken80/supply.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/sstulken80/pre.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/sstulken80/power.jpg
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e26/sstulken80/supply.jpg
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soundmasterg
- RRF Consultant
- Posts: 1923
- Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:06 pm
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soundmasterg
- RRF Consultant
- Posts: 1923
- Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:06 pm
There ya go, thats what I was looking for! The quality of construction looks very good, so I bet the amp performs well. Those brownish filter caps look old though...are they NOS caps? If so, you should have used new production as even reformed electrolytic caps are not a good idea and will wear out much sooner than new caps. If they were new and not NOS, then nevermind.
If I can dig up the files, I'll post some pics of my brother's Silvertone that I modded. When you see those pics you'll wonder that the amp even works it is so crazy! But I made do with what was there and it sounds very nice indeed. I'll see if I can find them tomorrow night if you want to see them for a comparison.
If I can dig up the files, I'll post some pics of my brother's Silvertone that I modded. When you see those pics you'll wonder that the amp even works it is so crazy! But I made do with what was there and it sounds very nice indeed. I'll see if I can find them tomorrow night if you want to see them for a comparison.
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soundmasterg
- RRF Consultant
- Posts: 1923
- Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2002 1:06 pm
I can't think of any new caps that look like those brown ones in your amp, but they used to make them that way 20 years ago, which is why I think they're old stock caps. If they were unused and 20 years old, having sat on a shelf, thats just as bad if not worse than being used and old because the electrolyte inside the caps dries out and eventually leaks out of the cap into your amp, and it is corrosive.
PTP is a robust style of construction, but can be quite a nightmare too. Take a look at these pics of my brother's Silvertone. Stock it has a poor layout, and I redid the layouts for the preamp, and decoupled each stage, so there are a lot more caps in mine than a stock one. It looks sloppy and haphazard, but aside from the parts that are stock Silvertone like the transformer layout and the vertical board, the amp is actually laid out pretty well, and works well and doesn't hum that much more than your typical Fender with reverb. I hate working on it though, as you can probably see!
PTP is a robust style of construction, but can be quite a nightmare too. Take a look at these pics of my brother's Silvertone. Stock it has a poor layout, and I redid the layouts for the preamp, and decoupled each stage, so there are a lot more caps in mine than a stock one. It looks sloppy and haphazard, but aside from the parts that are stock Silvertone like the transformer layout and the vertical board, the amp is actually laid out pretty well, and works well and doesn't hum that much more than your typical Fender with reverb. I hate working on it though, as you can probably see!