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Here’s the final photos of the finished amp. This is the Stewmac Deluxe Reverb kit (which is a rebranded Mojotone kit). I got a repro faceplate but I decided not to get a “Fender” corner grille badge as a tribute to the “no logo” 1964 Deluxe Reverb (since the faceplate has the pre CBS “Fender Elect Inst Co”). Plus then it doesn’t look like every other DRRI out there. Speaker is a Weber 12A125a. Sure it’s not the archetypal DR speaker but wow does it sound great in here! Also pictured is my 1967 Mustang.
The amp's tone? Awesome! I'm not one to argue hand wiring makes any difference in tone, but there's definitely a difference between this and a production DRRI. I'd always been turned off of the Deluxe Reverb from the DRRI's I've played through. They sound "nice" but always flubby in the low end and the reverb is so splashy that it gets out of hand above 3. Not so here. Rich, full bass response. No harshness whatsoever in any of the frequency ranges. Reverb is gorgeous! Even turned up to 5 or 6 it's deep and lush. Tremolo sounds great with no ticking or any other oddities too. I've got a bit of 60 cycle hum in it at idle and from everything I've seen online that's probably one of the tubes so I have a bit of tube rolling to do to see if I can run that down. It's not intrusive though. It came with a full set of brand new EHX tubes and I've yet to try anything else in it. I used it at band practice last night and it was AWESOME!
This is the third amp I've built and the first Stewmac kit I've tried. The instructions were very thorough, however at times I didn't follow their method of doing something or the order because I knew from experience I'd rather have it a different way (for example I did a ground bus bar across the pots and grounded to the input jacks rather than just run all the ground leads to the backs of the pots). It was certainly different being told what to do and where to do it as opposed to the Mojotone kits where you get a layout diagram and a schematic and that's it. There were times I appreciated the instructions but also I did somewhat miss the "puzzle" aspect of figuring it out for yourself. I have to say that Stewmac customer service was outstanding. I had a couple issues with the kit as a few parts arrived damaged and they immediately had replacements sent to me and paid for the return shipping for the unsatisfactory parts. They took care of it 100% with no questions asked.
Pictured with my 1967 Mustang.
The amp's tone? Awesome! I'm not one to argue hand wiring makes any difference in tone, but there's definitely a difference between this and a production DRRI. I'd always been turned off of the Deluxe Reverb from the DRRI's I've played through. They sound "nice" but always flubby in the low end and the reverb is so splashy that it gets out of hand above 3. Not so here. Rich, full bass response. No harshness whatsoever in any of the frequency ranges. Reverb is gorgeous! Even turned up to 5 or 6 it's deep and lush. Tremolo sounds great with no ticking or any other oddities too. I've got a bit of 60 cycle hum in it at idle and from everything I've seen online that's probably one of the tubes so I have a bit of tube rolling to do to see if I can run that down. It's not intrusive though. It came with a full set of brand new EHX tubes and I've yet to try anything else in it. I used it at band practice last night and it was AWESOME!
This is the third amp I've built and the first Stewmac kit I've tried. The instructions were very thorough, however at times I didn't follow their method of doing something or the order because I knew from experience I'd rather have it a different way (for example I did a ground bus bar across the pots and grounded to the input jacks rather than just run all the ground leads to the backs of the pots). It was certainly different being told what to do and where to do it as opposed to the Mojotone kits where you get a layout diagram and a schematic and that's it. There were times I appreciated the instructions but also I did somewhat miss the "puzzle" aspect of figuring it out for yourself. I have to say that Stewmac customer service was outstanding. I had a couple issues with the kit as a few parts arrived damaged and they immediately had replacements sent to me and paid for the return shipping for the unsatisfactory parts. They took care of it 100% with no questions asked.
Pictured with my 1967 Mustang.
