DIY 5E3 Build

[teleamp]

Well, all of the parts have been gathered for my 5E3 Kit Instuction Manual build.


This build will do a couple of things different from he original, first it will have a stanby that doesn't have B+ on the standby switch, and, it will use a turret board instead of an eyelet board.

I had a replacement Champ/Princeton/Deluxe PT laying around and decided to use it for this build. I also had a MM FTDO-M59 OT that I hadn't used yet. I had a local shop make me an .125 aluminum chassis that I drilled and punched myself. The turret board is G10 Garolite with Hoffman turrets.

A friend of mine is going to loan me his original 59 Tweed Deluxe so that I can use for lead dress pics for this build and the manual.

[JohnnyCrash]

This will be fun to watch!

Did you stake the board yourself too?

Will you be using a faceplate on top of the aluminum chassis?

I'm hoping for more pics... they almost make me feel like I built it too, so it helps me with my own DIY GAS/addiction HAHA :)

[teleamp]

The PT & OT have been mounted and I have the turret board in place so I can measure for the leads.

[teleamp]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

This will be fun to watch!

Did you stake the board yourself too?

Will you be using a faceplate on top of the aluminum chassis?

I'm hoping for more pics... they almost make me feel like I built it too, so it helps me with my own DIY GAS/addiction HAHA :)

JC, yes I staked the board, I followed the stock 5E3 layout drawing.

I decided not to use a faceplate, I hand swirled the chassis top with steel wool to hide the scratches somewhat.

I'll be posting plenty of pics.

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by teleamp

JC, yes I staked the board, I followed the stock 5E3 layout drawing.

I decided not to use a faceplate, I hand swirled the chassis top with steel wool to hide the scratches somewhat.

Are you planning on labelling the controls, or are you going "hotrod" blank?

Originally Posted by teleamp

I'll be posting plenty of pics.

Coooooooll! Amp pr0n, ah yeah!

[teleamp]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

Are you planning on labelling the controls, or are you going "hotrod" blank?

I guess I'm going to leave it blank. Kind of a low budget ratrod look.

[Scott S]

What are those labels called -- the ones where you have the stiff black adhesive tape, and you have to punch out the letters one by one... you should do that.

- Scott

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by Scott S

What are those labels called -- the ones where you have the stiff black adhesive tape, and you have to punch out the letters one by one... you should do that.

- Scott

Ah, like one of those old label makers? That might me cool... the adhesive never lasts though, so maybe SuperGlue or something would work.

Then again, the unlabelled hotrod look is cool too.

[sjhusting]

Go to a shop that does vinyl flames and stuff for cars. A friend of mine runs my stuff at the end of real jobs; the lettering for an amp is so small it fits easily on the waste from a big job. It looks good, sticks forever, and is robust. I give him a PDF with whatever I want, tell him what colors I want, and he does it. You could probably get a shop to do that for you for little money

I also saw shots of an amp where the guy used individual letter punches. It wasn't straight, but it had something. I kinda liked it. Real primitive.

steven

[teleamp]

I've decided to challenge myself on this build. I'm going to do all of the wiring with the turret board in place.

[tbradshaw]

Now you're venturing into the world of masochism and I'm going to feel a little dirty watching. So don't tell anyone....

[Scott S]

Nah, masochism would be doing an eyelet board in situ.

- Scott

[emu!]

Just don't solder in the nude...trust me on this one.

[milocj]

Weren't those label makers called Dymo or something like that? We always used to steal it out of the drawer when we were little and make all kinds of goofy labels. Then mom and dad didn't have any of the "tape" left when they needed it.

I like this thread...it's going to be fun to watch. I built my Clone on a turret board but I still had a few runs underneath instead of using the uprights of the posts.

[Dacious]

Letraset are the ones you pencil over to transfer. If you clear lacquer over them they are pretty good. I personally like the 'plexi' method. What you do is print your labels on the inkjet on clear stickers, backwards with all the colours and leave the white clear. Then stick it on some thin plexiglass and paint the back white.

You'd be amazed how good it looks, literally like the Marshall Plexi layout. I did an old Goldentone that was missing the faceplate like this:



if you leave the bit with the power light clear, you can even get this effect where the Rose Morris logo lights up from behind!

I drew teh whole thing in Coreldraw including little concentric 1-10 dials, and labelled the tone controls 'depth' and 'brilliance' and the presence control 'ambience'

It had the gold lines and little cello - fooled many people into thinking it was original. You coudn't hardly even notice the join where they overlapped.

[Scott S]

Originally Posted by milocj

Weren't those label makers called Dymo or something like that? We always used to steal it out of the drawer when we were little and make all kinds of goofy labels. Then mom and dad didn't have any of the "tape" left when they needed it.

Yeah, Dymo! I went and looked at my Dad's labelmaker, and saw it was a Dymo, but I still cannot find a generic name for this type of label. Doesn't seem like they make the old-style daisy-wheel thingy anymore...

- Scott

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by teleamp

I've decided to challenge myself on this build. I'm going to do all of the wiring with the turret board in place.

Ouch. Why the hell would anyone do that? If Leo ran a brutal sweatshop he wouldn't even do that! HAHA

Originally Posted by tbradshaw

Now you're venturing into the world of masochism and I'm going to feel a little dirty watching. So don't tell anyone....

+1

If I build another 5E3 I will be making a cathode/fixed bias switch... any mods on this build?

PS
Your board looks great and your PT wiring is nice. You are an artist brother!! I feel like a crappy builder seeing your work so far :(

Keep them photos coming, it's always fun for me to watch builds in progress (albeit humbling).

[teleamp]

Thanks for the compliments JC. I wanted to challenge myself (its really not so bad with the turrets), and I wanted all of the "under" board wires on top, and will be using the center of the turret for the caps and resistors.

I am just building it stock with a few minor changes borrowed from the 57 Deluxe RI... diodes inline with the HV to protect the transformer incase the rectifier tube shorts, 470 ohm resistors on the power tube screen grids, and CT standby.

I've got a bit more done since the last pic, but my camera battery died.


I have decided against labels.

I'm going to put it in a large cabinet and have a WGS Black & Blue Alnico that I've been breaking in (great speaker).

[teleamp]

Progress report, the sockets are wired (excluding heaters, which I will run last over the top), and I have started loading the board.

[teleamp]

Its Done!

[teleamp]

And it sounds good, I loaded it with a Sovtek 5Y3GT, JJ 6V6S's, EH 12AX7, and an EH 12AY7. I usually go NOS, and this combination sounds almost as good (actually, just as good).

One thing I had not anticipated was how quiet this amp is at idle, I think that the conductuctivity of the aluminum helps, I didn't use a brass plate, so I bolted solder tabs near where the brass plate grounding would have been.

I used 22/500 filter caps and I didn't have a 500 pfd cap, so I used a 680 pfd. I used a false ct on the filaments and connected it to the cathodes to raise the filament ground voltage above chassis ground. I also put diodes on the HV leads before the rectifier and added 470 screen resistors to the power tubes ala the 57 Deluxe RI.

The PT I used was a small Heyboer Champ/Bronco/Princeton/Deluxe copy, I used a Mercury Magnetics FTDO-59M.

I am pleased with the sound and no tweaks or changes feel needed. I am using it with a WGS Black & Blue that I have been breaking in for about a month and it sounds every bit as good as a Celestion Blue.

[koen]

Originally Posted by teleamp

One thing I had not anticipated was how quiet this amp is at idle

That's the only thing that's not right yet with my build. When I move my guitar (Tele) close to the amp there's definitely an increase of hum. And when I open the volume pots, hiss increases. I am going to check/resolder all the input jacks and pots to make sure everything is fine.

Other than that, a great amp and a great project!!

[teleamp]

Originally Posted by koen

That's the only thing that's not right yet with my build. When I move my guitar (Tele) close to the amp there's definitely an increase of hum. And when I open the volume pots, hiss increases. I am going to check/resolder all the input jacks and pots to make sure everything is fine.

Other than that, a great amp and a great project!!

If your sending signal (guitar volume up) to the amp then the single coil noise is normal. The normal amp noise shouldn't be affected if the guitar volume is off when moving about.

[Scott S]

Originally Posted by koen

That's the only thing that's not right yet with my build. When I move my guitar (Tele) close to the amp there's definitely an increase of hum. And when I open the volume pots, hiss increases. I am going to check/resolder all the input jacks and pots to make sure everything is fine.

When your guitar is really close to the amp, it will pick up the magnetic fields given off by the transformers.

- Scott

[sjhusting]

Originally Posted by koen

And when I open the volume pots, hiss increases. I am going to check/resolder all the input jacks and pots to make sure everything is fine.

Other than that, a great amp and a great project!!

Did you use carbon comp resistors? Hiss is a fact of life with CC.

steven