Gutar Amplifier Project Thoughts

[ledhedsymbols]

Hiya Wolf! I'm definitely interested. Not sure exactly what you have in mind. I've got a few cool tubes... Magic eye indicators? Maybe a cool radio from the 30's?

[jmp81sc]

Another option is to make a dual single ended amp. I think early Gibson's and Vox's were designed this way. This is not a common design but it would allow you to use both of the power tubes without adding a 12ax7.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt as I am just learning about this stuff, however I can attest to the Tweed Princeton 5F2A as a wonderful guitar amp. A little more clean than a Tweed champ and a easy to dial in tone knob. I am biased towards the warm midrange woody sounds of the tweed amps versus the mid scooped blackface fenders.

[ledhedsymbols]

Originally Posted by jmp81sc

Another option is to make a dual single ended amp. I think early Gibson's and Vox's were designed this way. This is not a common design but it would allow you to use both of the power tubes without adding a 12ax7.

Take everything I say with a grain of salt as I am just learning about this stuff, however I can attest to the Tweed Princeton 5F2A as a wonderful guitar amp. A little more clean than a Tweed champ and a easy to dial in tone knob. I am biased towards the warm midrange woody sounds of the tweed amps versus the mid scooped blackface fenders.

I did consider that, but it would again prevent me from using existing components. The Ouput transformers for PP vs Single End are different and I would have to replace that.

I'm not saying that I WON'T do that, but I think I want to try some other things first. I f I go that route, I have the "two-stroke" plans from this book that I'll probably start with.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/148039288X?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

Maybe a similar dual triode tube that has a lower current draw? Any suggestions? It could really be any basing too, octal whatever.

The 5F2A circuit would be really easy to build in the chassis I have if I decide to strip everything out and start anew. I'll keep you posted. My pedal preamp kit should be here Friday, and I'm going to try a couple other variations of tone controls to see what combination works best.

I promise a video, complete with lousy guitar playing by yours truly when I get it dialed in.

I also picked up the wood for a cabinet. I think I'm going to add a cover plate, and wire cage to the chassis and build a cabinet for the 1X12 speaker with 1X12" Pine boards and 3/4" birch ply for the baffle and back. I'll get to that once I get the amp itself tweaked.

[jmp81sc]

The Dave Hunter two-stroke looks like a great amp, I think it is similar to the 5F2A, but more versatile. I used the 15 watt Classictone OT for my build. I like this OT because you can use different cabs, 4,8,16 ohms selectable. I have a 4ohm 2x10 cab and an 8ohm 1x12 cab.

40-18031

I also built my cabs from inexpensive 1x12 pine boards from Lowes. I think a 1/2 inch birch ply is more common for the baffle and that is what I used. Based on what I have read I made mine oversized to get more resonance, and used a "floating baffle" like the fender tweed amps.

I used an Eminence Cannibis Rex speaker for the 12" and Copperheads for the 10's they sound great. The Weber speakers also get a lot of great reviews.

I have heard great things about the old octal preamp designs from Gibson, but you would need a source for the old NOS tubes and I think they are hard to find and expensive.

[ledhedsymbols]

Nice tip, thanks for the heads up about the OT you used. I like the multi-tap secondary.

I have a Jensen MOD 12-70 that I will start with and then try some different things from there.

I buy most of my tubes from Bob at findatube.com or at radio swap meets. I've also been known to buy junker radios to pull the tubes and transformers. Bob's prices are great, and if you buy his "used" tubes I find that they test new. I've bought a few and then sorted out matching pairs for some of my PP radios.

[ledhedsymbols]

Whelp... Looks like the amp project needs a reboot. I built the boost pedal last night and it isn't doing what I need it too. Looks like I'll be ordering a new OT for single end and stripping the chassis for parts to build a two-stroke in.

In the interim, I picked up one of these for now. I'll build my 1X12 cabinet, and the output from this will match the 4 ohn speaker I already have.

It has nothing but a volume knob, but the Persuader does a great job of giving me distortion at low volume. The combination sounds really sweet for a little Epi Valve Junior I bought for $100!

[ledhedsymbols]

BTW This is the Persuader pedal. I really like this pedal, the deluxe comes with a few different tubes for different sounds and varying distortion. Fun little project!