Built a 5F2A Princeton clone!
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:42 am
I recently bragged about this on the TDP, but thought you guys might be interested too.
It's a clone of a late-1950's Fender Princeton amp, built (mostly) from a Weber kit. ~5 watts from a 12AX7, 6V6, and 5Y3 into a 10" alnico speaker. Features include Volume and Tone controls. I was so eager to hear this amp, I got it done in about four days!
I love to use old stuff where possible -- Sprague signal caps, carbon comp resistors from a local radio supply store I'm trying to keep in business , Mallory filter caps, cloth-covered wire from a 1958 Baldwin organ, a smooth-cone alnico speaker that I got (cheap!) from an antique store in Nebraska, and of course, used tubes far older than myself. Dad got the smoked-glass "AC Delco" branded 6V6GT out of a radio from a '49 Plymouth, and since it was too leaky for his standards, he let me have it. Seems to behave in my amp...
The whole thing together:
Oh, and here's the variac I used to form the caps. My process was to use the Weber Copper Cap for B+, but leave out the signal tubes, to save wear and tear on their heaters. I worked up the caps to their voltage limits over the course of two hours, and since none of them popped, I'll consider that much a success.
All in all, it's a good-sounding amp. It can get a little bright with the tone knob most of the way up, but that may be my fearsome speaker with its 7/8" voice coil. The cleans are a little wooly over "3" on the volume, and I'm loving it. Perfect for some grungy tones without annoying housemates or neighbors!
For anyone thinking about building one of these, I highly recommend using the lower-voltage taps on the power transformer. The unit Weber supplies with the kit is the same as used in the BF Champ and Princeton, which puts a lot more voltage on the tubes than is really *correct" for a tweed. Even using the lower-voltage taps, the 6V6 in my amp has about 350-360V on the plate, and dissipates about 12-13 W.
Speaking of BF Champs, here it is, chilling with my friend's '66 Champ. I'm really happy with the larger cabinet and speaker of the 5F2A -- it truly sounds better.
Thanks for looking.
- Scott
It's a clone of a late-1950's Fender Princeton amp, built (mostly) from a Weber kit. ~5 watts from a 12AX7, 6V6, and 5Y3 into a 10" alnico speaker. Features include Volume and Tone controls. I was so eager to hear this amp, I got it done in about four days!
I love to use old stuff where possible -- Sprague signal caps, carbon comp resistors from a local radio supply store I'm trying to keep in business , Mallory filter caps, cloth-covered wire from a 1958 Baldwin organ, a smooth-cone alnico speaker that I got (cheap!) from an antique store in Nebraska, and of course, used tubes far older than myself. Dad got the smoked-glass "AC Delco" branded 6V6GT out of a radio from a '49 Plymouth, and since it was too leaky for his standards, he let me have it. Seems to behave in my amp...
The whole thing together:
Oh, and here's the variac I used to form the caps. My process was to use the Weber Copper Cap for B+, but leave out the signal tubes, to save wear and tear on their heaters. I worked up the caps to their voltage limits over the course of two hours, and since none of them popped, I'll consider that much a success.
All in all, it's a good-sounding amp. It can get a little bright with the tone knob most of the way up, but that may be my fearsome speaker with its 7/8" voice coil. The cleans are a little wooly over "3" on the volume, and I'm loving it. Perfect for some grungy tones without annoying housemates or neighbors!
For anyone thinking about building one of these, I highly recommend using the lower-voltage taps on the power transformer. The unit Weber supplies with the kit is the same as used in the BF Champ and Princeton, which puts a lot more voltage on the tubes than is really *correct" for a tweed. Even using the lower-voltage taps, the 6V6 in my amp has about 350-360V on the plate, and dissipates about 12-13 W.
Speaking of BF Champs, here it is, chilling with my friend's '66 Champ. I'm really happy with the larger cabinet and speaker of the 5F2A -- it truly sounds better.
Thanks for looking.
- Scott