Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

I voted 18watter....but I have a question:

I was looking at some kits & was surprised that they cost up over $1000.00 !!!

For that kind of money, is it really worth the aggravation & time....spend a little more & rock on???!!!

I know it must feel great to jam on something you built, but for those of us that have a lot of parts laying around from "Projects Past" (The Island of Misfit Parts) that never found a home, it seems like just another clump in the corner.

I know...in reading that, I answerred my own question: it would be lack of dedication on my part to not finish a started project.

Just ramblings 'cause I've thought of trying this myself, but was surprised at the kit costs....or am I looking in the wrong places???

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

I voted 18watter....but I have a question:

I was looking at some kits & was surprised that they cost up over $1000.00 !!!

For that kind of money, is it really worth the aggravation & time....spend a little more & rock on???!!!

The kits are expensive for two reasons: most of those guys really know their stuff, and include the absolute best components, and they've taken a lot of the hassle out by pulling all the parts together for you.

There's a HUGE time/money tradeoff just in obtaining parts. If you want to spent the time, you can build a small amp like the 18 Watter for much less. Just buying new components, you'll proabably have to deal with 3 or 4 separate vendors, vs. one for the kit.

If you can stand less-than-boutique quality stuff, you can obtain a donor amp from eBay, that's what I did. It gave me the chassis, tube sockets and transformers, all for $35. I got my speaker used off eBay, too; really cheap because it had a small cone tear that I had to patch.

Time is money, and kits are sort of the halfway point betwenn full DIY and buying a complete amp.

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

I voted 18 Watter, just 'cauz I LOVE mine. But the real answer depends more on what you already have. Build something different.

Scott: Texas is a pretty big place, so your "Location:" isn't very specific. Where in Texas are you?

 

[LesStrat]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

Scott, with your back troubles, you need to give up and go DIGITAL :laugh2:

Let someone else cart around the PA...:burnout:













:joke:
A while back a guy at church showed up with a Melody amp...about 8" x 8" for the total package...tube power with about a 5" speaker. This thing sounded GREAT. I'd like to find a kit for something like THAT!

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

I voted 18 Watter, just 'cauz I LOVE mine. But the real answer depends more on what you already have. Build something different.

Scott: Texas is a pretty big place, so your "Location:" isn't very specific. Where in Texas are you?

College Station, you?

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

I voted 18watter....but I have a question:

I was looking at some kits & was surprised that they cost up over $1000.00 !!!

For that kind of money, is it really worth the aggravation & time....spend a little more & rock on???!!!

I know it must feel great to jam on something you built, but for those of us that have a lot of parts laying around from "Projects Past" (The Island of Misfit Parts) that never found a home, it seems like just another clump in the corner.

I know...in reading that, I answerred my own question: it would be lack of dedication on my part to not finish a started project.

Just ramblings 'cause I've thought of trying this myself, but was surprised at the kit costs....or am I looking in the wrong places???

rich hit it on the parts quality and time.

Weber has taken this kit idea to the WalMart level of pricing. YOu can get an 18 watt kit for 550 complete. You give up the highest quality parts and you give up the personal support that I got on my two Mission Amp kits.

I'm talking to Bruce right now about an 18 watt kit. I just like dealing with him.

So far, I've built a Tweed Deluxe and a Tweed Pro and modded my 68 silverface to blackface specs. I'm about to slap a new Mercury Magnetics bassman OT into it, give it a bit of a beatchslap.

Then on to the 18 watter. It appears the forum bros have spoken. :dance:

 

[Rich_S]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

College Station, you?

Loverly League City, SE of Houston, a little slice of Nirvana within easy commuting distance of of the toxic-stench-producing capital of the universe that is the gulf coast petrochemical industry.

 

[PUCKBOY99]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

rich hit it on the parts quality and time.

Weber has taken this kit idea to the WalMart level of pricing. YOu can get an 18 watt kit for 550 complete. You give up the highest quality parts and you give up the personal support that I got on my two Mission Amp kits.

I'm talking to Bruce right now about an 18 watt kit. I just like dealing with him.

So far, I've built a Tweed Deluxe and a Tweed Pro and modded my 68 silverface to blackface specs. I'm about to slap a new Mercury Magnetics bassman OT into it, give it a bit of a beatchslap.

Then on to the 18 watter. It appears the forum bros have spoken. :dance:

Yeah, I've bought speakers from Bruce & he was a great guy to chat with....very helpful!

Maybe one of these days I'll sit down & try my hand at it.....right now, finding playing time is hard enough nevermind building something that won't get played!!!! :yell: :yell: :laugh2:

 

[pac112]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

500 watt tube amp. squish the fender MH and show those fender guys what Metal Head means.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

Even in preamp circuitry, they say that the difference between a warm sounding preamp and a sterile sounding pream is typically the quality/size of the transformer.

you dont want tube warmth or distortion in a preamp circuit, so it's ultimately up to the transformer to make the big tone difference. EDIT: I'm talking mic preamps and such. Since you're running the tubes clean in this situation, it's the transformer quality that accounts for tone.

bigger soft iron cores and higher quality OT's on amps mean that you get a better reproduction of the tone your amp produced on the speakers, so you get a bigger bass response and more headroom. Since your amp is running more efficiently though, and less power is getting lost in the OT, you'll need to check that and bias the amp. When i first installed my Mercury OT, it ran fine for a few hours, but one of my power tubes started lighting up. that's when i realized that the tubes needed to be run colder.

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

18 Watter Scott, for something different in your herd of amps.

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

jump, off topic, but what amp do you have those two Emi speakers in?

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

jump, off topic, but what amp do you have those two Emi speakers in?

I have them in a Crate Vintage series 2x12 closed back cab and I'm running my Vox head through it. Love that Texas Heat for mids and highs and the Swamp Thang rocks the low end. Sounds great clean or under gain, but I would almost say that the Swamp Thang has too much low end but that may be due to the small room that I am playing in. I played my head through an open back Avatar with V30's and it was almost perfect.

 

[lastwinj]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

..doggone it Jeremy, no fair posting while I'm typing... :laugh2:

how's it going bro?

Jeff Seal

s'lright. just chilling trying to sell off some of the cap purchase. 70,000 .022/600v roundabouts is alot to get rid of, plus the 10k or so .012 i have. heheh

that single channel schem, high gain or no?

germ

 

[Curly]

Re: Help Me Decide my next Amp Construction Project

Double Deluxe