Another Kit Question

astro · April 10th, 2003, 01:01 PM

Lance's post got me thinking maybe a kit is the answer to my amp dilemna.

I see all of these 5e3 kits you can get for anywhere between 300 and 500, but are there any kits for high gain english style, ala Marshall, Soldano, etc.

I saw one for around 400 for a complete kit but the description said something about a dual rectifier and I just cringed..

Anybody have any other suggestions for a starving musician.

halouis · April 10th, 2003, 01:09 PM

dude ... i am no amp builder, and would like to try a similar project as Lance one day, but i am pretty sure to tbuild a higher gain amp like you are speaking of will b e quite a task. much more complicated, and I bet you'd end up spending a ton more $$ than finding yourself a used high gain head.

still think you should look for somethign along these lines:
used jcm900, 800 heads, or a bassman head, or a 5150 head.

astro · April 10th, 2003, 01:13 PM

I know you are right but Gamp won't get off his butt and get another amp so I can buy his.

Maybe in NYC next weekend. Think any music stores will be open on Easter?

Lance · April 10th, 2003, 01:44 PM

There's a pretty active 18 Watt Marshall community out there, but that's hardly a high gain amp.

Work's been pretty slow and I've been doing a lot of surfing on this....so far, I've only seen Champ and Deluxe kits...and the ones by Allen which seem to be Deluxe/Virbrolux Reverb type amps.

astro · April 10th, 2003, 01:48 PM

But I would be very reluctant to try it our without hearing anything about it.

http://www.diyguitaramp.com/j50.html

Lance · April 10th, 2003, 01:58 PM

That's got to be an order of magnatude more difficult than a 5E3....just compare the guts:

http://www.firebottle.org/~deluxe/build.htm

Plus...that's no kit. He's built that from scratch. I'm sure after you've done it a couple of times it wouldn't seem so intimidating but I'm not ready for that yet!

JDO · April 10th, 2003, 02:11 PM

astro,
have you visited the ax84 forum? it's a site that is dedicated to homebrews and there are quite a few guys overthere that like and have built higher gain amps. you might post something there and see what kind of results you get.

http://www.ax84.com/bbs/

astro · April 10th, 2003, 02:19 PM

I'll definitely check it out. I'll probably lurk around there a bit before I start making a fool of myself right away.

JDO · April 10th, 2003, 02:28 PM

ah, just jump in. it's a pretty fun group. the guy who started it i believe started it just to be able to learn how to build a tube amp. there are guys who know tons and there there are guys like me who only wish they could remember how to tie their shoes. i don't know that you could ask dumber questions then i have already.

Dacious · April 10th, 2003, 10:04 PM

Hoffman amps sells the parts, has the board making equipment and tools and runs a tech layout, info, discussion for homebrew nuts. Lotsa guys built them, they're the biggest selling kit. He doesn't sell the board kits anymore, but has links to those that do. He also has pictures and info on his own Plexi hybrids he built.

http://www.hoffmanamps.com

Roger Alburn · April 11th, 2003, 06:34 AM

I'm thinking about building a high gain amp too. The ax84 group has a Plexi-style amp called November which is powered by EL84 tubes. There are some mp3s on the site. One of the nice things about the ax84 schematics is that all the trannies and voltages are specified. An outfit called House of Jim sells boards for November. But, I wish it had 6V6 tubes instead.

Dacious · April 11th, 2003, 10:04 AM

6V6s are functionally interchangeable - they have virtually the same voltage limits and plate-plate impedance as EL84s. On a fixed bias amp you might need to vary the bias resistor value. 6V6s filled the same function in the US as EL84s did in Britain - moderate power audio tubes for radios, stereograms and the like. Wire your amp with octal sockets and have at it.

MJ Harnish · April 11th, 2003, 10:10 AM

High gain amps are indeed an order of magnitude more difficult and notoriously difficult to trouble-shoot; this is particularly true if you want something the involves channel switching; that's probably why you don't see any kits out there. Most of the truly high gain amps (JCM900's, Dual Rectifiers, etc.) are all PCB-based amps b/c a hand-wired version of these types of amps would be a nightmare to wire and would be very prone to all kinds of noise and oscillation problems.

The other reason is that there's probably more of a market for vintage Fender type amps than anything else.

The AX84 November is probably a good choice for a simple, high gain project.

John E · April 11th, 2003, 12:27 PM

I didn't build it though, it was built by Winnie Thomas. It is my main gigging amp right now. It is small, light, and aggressive sounding, and LOUD. It's a 1x12 and sounds great, but thru a 2x12 cab it kicks some serious booty.

[/img]

astro · April 11th, 2003, 12:31 PM

Someday you should convert your rar's to mp3's. I would like to hear your stuff but I jusy hate, hate, hate, real player.

Nothing else seems to play them. I guess of course I could just buy your stuff.

tweeddeluxe · April 11th, 2003, 12:37 PM

There's a JTM45 plexi group on yahoo as well. Most of the guys there are also in the 18watt group. I'm sure they'd be most helpful.

Tom

John E · April 11th, 2003, 12:46 PM

My singer had a friend of hers build the site, she wanted streaming music only as she didn't want people to be able to download it; he went with Real server I think because that's what was available where we hosted it. Hey, why don't we trade CD's? Honestly I'm not thrilled with the way our 2nd CD came out, it loses a lot of the "zip" we have live... the dynamics are just not there. Well it's not horrible but you get what you pay for I guess...

Quote:

Someday you should convert your rar's to mp3's. I would like to hear your stuff but I jusy hate, hate, hate, real player.

Nothing else seems to play them. I guess of course I could just buy your stuff.

April 10th, 2003, 01:01 PM	#1 (permalink)
astro Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Shoa, MA Posts: 872	Another Kit Question Lance's post got me thinking maybe a kit is the answer to my amp dilemna. I see all of these 5e3 kits you can get for anywhere between 300 and 500, but are there any kits for high gain english style, ala Marshall, Soldano, etc. I saw one for around 400 for a complete kit but the description said something about a dual rectifier and I just cringed.. Anybody have any other suggestions for a starving musician.

April 10th, 2003, 01:13 PM	#3 (permalink)
astro Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Shoa, MA Posts: 872	Oh Hal I know you are right but Gamp won't get off his butt and get another amp so I can buy his. Maybe in NYC next weekend. Think any music stores will be open on Easter?

April 10th, 2003, 01:44 PM	#4 (permalink)
Lance Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 2,086	Not that I've seen.... There's a pretty active 18 Watt Marshall community out there, but that's hardly a high gain amp. Work's been pretty slow and I've been doing a lot of surfing on this....so far, I've only seen Champ and Deluxe kits...and the ones by Allen which seem to be Deluxe/Virbrolux Reverb type amps. __________________ Lance "not very good...but I make up for it by playing loud"

April 10th, 2003, 01:48 PM	#5 (permalink)
astro Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Shoa, MA Posts: 872	I found this one But I would be very reluctant to try it our without hearing anything about it. http://www.diyguitaramp.com/j50.html

April 10th, 2003, 01:58 PM	#6 (permalink)
Lance Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 2,086	Forget the sound....looks like it might be hard to do That's got to be an order of magnatude more difficult than a 5E3....just compare the guts: http://www.firebottle.org/~deluxe/build.htm Plus...that's no kit. He's built that from scratch. I'm sure after you've done it a couple of times it wouldn't seem so intimidating but I'm not ready for that yet! __________________ Lance "not very good...but I make up for it by playing loud"

April 10th, 2003, 01:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
halouis Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Virginia Posts: 1,403 7 Photos	dude ... i am no amp builder, and would like to try a similar project as Lance one day, but i am pretty sure to tbuild a higher gain amp like you are speaking of will b e quite a task. much more complicated, and I bet you'd end up spending a ton more $$ than finding yourself a used high gain head. still think you should look for somethign along these lines: used jcm900, 800 heads, or a bassman head, or a 5150 head.

April 10th, 2003, 02:11 PM	#7 (permalink)
JDO Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Pittsboro, NC Posts: 597	astro, have you visited the ax84 forum? it's a site that is dedicated to homebrews and there are quite a few guys overthere that like and have built higher gain amps. you might post something there and see what kind of results you get. http://www.ax84.com/bbs/ __________________ clean as a whistle

April 10th, 2003, 02:19 PM	#8 (permalink)
astro Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Shoa, MA Posts: 872	Thanks JDO I'll definitely check it out. I'll probably lurk around there a bit before I start making a fool of myself right away.

April 10th, 2003, 02:28 PM	#9 (permalink)
JDO Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Pittsboro, NC Posts: 597	ah, just jump in. it's a pretty fun group. the guy who started it i believe started it just to be able to learn how to build a tube amp. there are guys who know tons and there there are guys like me who only wish they could remember how to tie their shoes. i don't know that you could ask dumber questions then i have already. __________________ clean as a whistle

April 10th, 2003, 10:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
Dacious Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Godzone Posts: 2,601 35 Photos	Hoffman amps sells the parts, has the board making equipment and tools and runs a tech layout, info, discussion for homebrew nuts. Lotsa guys built them, they're the biggest selling kit. He doesn't sell the board kits anymore, but has links to those that do. He also has pictures and info on his own Plexi hybrids he built. http://www.hoffmanamps.com

April 11th, 2003, 06:34 AM	#11 (permalink)
Roger Alburn Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: West Chester, PA Posts: 114	ax84 November I'm thinking about building a high gain amp too. The ax84 group has a Plexi-style amp called November which is powered by EL84 tubes. There are some mp3s on the site. One of the nice things about the ax84 schematics is that all the trannies and voltages are specified. An outfit called House of Jim sells boards for November. But, I wish it had 6V6 tubes instead.

April 11th, 2003, 10:04 AM	#12 (permalink)
Dacious Friend of Leo's Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Godzone Posts: 2,601 35 Photos	6V6s are functionally interchangeable - they have virtually the same voltage limits and plate-plate impedance as EL84s. On a fixed bias amp you might need to vary the bias resistor value. 6V6s filled the same function in the US as EL84s did in Britain - moderate power audio tubes for radios, stereograms and the like. Wire your amp with octal sockets and have at it.

April 11th, 2003, 10:10 AM	#13 (permalink)
MJ Harnish Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Hattingen, Germany Posts: 457	High gain amps are indeed an order of magnitude more difficult and notoriously difficult to trouble-shoot; this is particularly true if you want something the involves channel switching; that's probably why you don't see any kits out there. Most of the truly high gain amps (JCM900's, Dual Rectifiers, etc.) are all PCB-based amps b/c a hand-wired version of these types of amps would be a nightmare to wire and would be very prone to all kinds of noise and oscillation problems. The other reason is that there's probably more of a market for vintage Fender type amps than anything else. The AX84 November is probably a good choice for a simple, high gain project. __________________ MJ Harnish Suburbs: Where they cut down all the trees and then name the streets after them.

April 11th, 2003, 12:27 PM	#14 (permalink)
John E Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,396	I have a November... I didn't build it though, it was built by Winnie Thomas. It is my main gigging amp right now. It is small, light, and aggressive sounding, and LOUD. It's a 1x12 and sounds great, but thru a 2x12 cab it kicks some serious booty.[/img]

April 11th, 2003, 12:31 PM	#15 (permalink)
astro Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: North Shoa, MA Posts: 872	John Someday you should convert your rar's to mp3's. I would like to hear your stuff but I jusy hate, hate, hate, real player. Nothing else seems to play them. I guess of course I could just buy your stuff.

April 11th, 2003, 12:37 PM	#16 (permalink)
tweeddeluxe Tele-Holic Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: MD Age: 51 Posts: 703	There's a JTM45 plexi group on yahoo as well. Most of the guys there are also in the 18watt group. I'm sure they'd be most helpful. Tom