For those of you that have built an amp before...

[Scott_F]

There is only one better feeling in the world than to wire one up, put in the tubes, fire the beast up and have there be a super low noise threshold, normal voltages and musical sounds when you first plug in. In the early years, I spent a lot of time chasing gremlins.

Yesterday, I had just had that perfect planetary alignment happen and started to play my Tele when my wife came out and got my attention for something better. (I'm guessing she really hates my playing and has found the only way to shut me up!)

 

[LLL]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Wait 'til you start modding it... that's the real fun. (assuming PTP here) Everything's in place and it takes nothing to swap out a cap or resistor to try
different tones. Or switching NFB wire between taps to play with the amount of gain. etc

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

^ You, sir, obviously do not know to whom you are speaking. Scott is a master.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Whizzy got it right here...

Scott, that's exactly what happened when I fired my hiwatt up for the first time last week... That's indeed one of the best feelings in the world!

 

[LLL]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

^ You, sir, obviously do not know to whom you are speaking. Scott is a master.

I'm sure Scott does a fantastic job. Us amp builders/modders have to, after all, if we want to be able to hear the results!

(drumroll, please)

 

[Surgeon]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Do a search for "celtic amps" and you'll understand what we mean.
Scott's not a backyard mechanic, he's a pro...

 

[Scott_F]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

I'm just a mechanic. That's it. The values are actually fairly set. Kinda mixing and matching preamp tubes right now. That's about as much tweaking as I plan to do. Just gotta wait now 2-6 weeks for the cab and head enclosures to get here so I can ship it to Mississippi. That'll give me time to burn it in and play the snot out of it.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

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[LLL]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Do a search for "celtic amps" and you'll understand what we mean.
Scott's not a backyard mechanic, he's a pro...

Along the topic of "understanding" - I don't recall stating he was a backyard mechanic. Do you?

 

[Scott_F]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

It's all good fellas. If you have enjoyed that feeling of doing it perfect without screwing up, rejoice! It's what the thread was all about. It's such a fraking rush. God is in his Heaven and all is well. A certain satisfaction. Considering how much time I spent debugging in the early years, the rush is just the rush.

 

[Stratman]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

I'm just a mechanic. That's it. The values are actually fairly set. Kinda mixing and matching preamp tubes right now. That's about as much tweaking as I plan to do. Just gotta wait now 2-6 weeks for the cab and head enclosures to get here so I can ship it to Mississippi. That'll give me time to burn it in and play the snot out of it.

Scott_F is a master mechanic!..

Here are some amps that he has built for my use and pleasure!

 

[Surgeon]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Along the topic of "understanding" - I don't recall stating he was a backyard mechanic. Do you?

Don't take it wrong man it's all good. It's just that Scott has been at it a long time and built some amazing amps. While you didn't say backyard mechanic you did imply that he was new to this enough not to know how modding can be enjoyable... I didn't mean to sound defensive on his behalf (he's a big boy and doesn't need me for that), but he does have a lot of fans around here for his work on holis own line of amps and we wanted you to realize that he's much more than a beginner who doesn't know yet how much modding can be fun.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Oh and that's very very nice work scott, thanks for sharing the picture. What circuit of your is it?

 

[Scott_F]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

It's a lightning front end paired up with a clubman power section. Used JTM45 chassis and tyrannies. My Aedan model. Kevin posted some YouTube videos of it.


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[Scott_F]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Gray shielded wire and the 68K's mounted at V1 help the noise a lot.


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[treyhaislip]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Would love to build my own amp but would prob end up electrocuting myself lol

 

[Surgeon]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

It's a lightning front end paired up with a clubman power section. Used JTM45 chassis and tyrannies. My Aedan model. Kevin posted some YouTube videos of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice, I remember that model and the sound clips I heard were very impressive.

Would love to build my own amp but would prob end up electrocuting myself lol

Lots of folks say that and, while humility is great to avoid stupid mistakes that could cost you a lot healthwise, if you're meticulous and understand what you're doing it's not that hard...

After all, I'm a biochemist with no electronics background and I manage to get around it...

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

I'm just a mechanic. That's it. The values are actually fairly set. Kinda mixing and matching preamp tubes right now. That's about as much tweaking as I plan to do. Just gotta wait now 2-6 weeks for the cab and head enclosures to get here so I can ship it to Mississippi. That'll give me time to burn it in and play the snot out of it.

Humblebrag. ;-)

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Lots of folks say that and, while humility is great to avoid stupid mistakes that could cost you a lot healthwise, if you're meticulous and understand what you're doing it's not that hard...

After all, I'm a biochemist with no electronics background and I manage to get around it...

Ha! Well, I somehow find a way to get cut on anything and anywhere (in football I had to get stitches from an opponent's chinstrap clip) so with my luck if there's a way to get hurt it will happen lol That being said, I probably should give it a shot.

 

[LLL]

Re: For those of you that have built an amp before...

Ha! Well, I somehow find a way to get cut on anything and anywhere (in football I had to get stitches from an opponent's chinstrap clip) so with my luck if there's a way to get hurt it will happen lol That being said, I probably should give it a shot.

As long as those big can capacitors are discharged before you go poking around in there, you'll be fine.

And, if you should happen to need to poke around in there with the amp live (biasing, troubleshooting for examples), use *one* hand and sit on the other.

I treat it like I treat handling my .45ACP 1911 or other firearms - mind sharp, focused and alert... and never assume. Laziness and carelessness are what get you.