5E3 from scratch?

[Larry F]

I'm thinking about building a 5E3 from scratch. I'd use turrets instead of eyelets, with the idea that it would be easier for me to experiment with different brands and values of components. Three questions:

1. Pro/cons of eyelets versus turrets?
2. Pro/cons of different grounding schemes?
3. Ideas for mods involving changing the values of components?

I'd like to use this amp to experiment with changing things around, so any ideas or references would be appreciated.

[jhundt]

I built a couple of amps from scratch. I used turrets because I got a bag full of them from the surplus shop. I didn't find them any easier to use than eyelets.

I don't know about grounding schemes; I know there's a lot of different systems, but I always figured that old Fenders sounded good the way they made 'em, and a little bit of buzz just adds to my reputation. My Bassman copy was known as the Three-Mile Island amp, and my Vox copy was called the Buzz-Bomb.

As for changing components, there again I'd say my old Fender '55 5E3 sounds pretty good and I don't know what I'd change to improve it.

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by Larry F

I'm thinking about building a 5E3 from scratch. I'd use turrets instead of eyelets, with the idea that it would be easier for me to experiment with different brands and values of components. Three questions:

1. Pro/cons of eyelets versus turrets?
2. Pro/cons of different grounding schemes?
3. Ideas for mods involving changing the values of components?

I'd like to use this amp to experiment with changing things around, so any ideas or references would be appreciated.

1. Eyelets are sort of SLIGHTLY easier in some ways since the hole for the components is so large... not by much though. They're all good.

I like Double Turrets a lot of times pretty much becasue they look cool... but I've used Eyelets, Turrets, and Double Turrets in my builds.

2. Make sure any power amp section or other sections' groundings are in a different location than the preamp and input sections.

3. Deluxes sound great as-is.

[MGR]

I am also building a 5E3 from scratch ( sourcing parts from different venders)
Any ideas as to using shielded wires in the circuit? Do you ground one end of the shield and cap the other end, or ground both ends. What part of the circuit do you use the shieding?
Mike

[Larry F]

I hadn't thought of using shielded wires, but I'll look into it.

[JohnnyCrash]

Originally Posted by MGR

Any ideas as to using shielded wires in the circuit?

I haven't shielded on some in the past and they have no noise trouble, but NOW, I ALWAYS shield.

Originally Posted by MGR

Do you ground one end of the shield and cap the other end, or ground both ends.

You only need to ground one end of the shielding. The foil or mesh shielding then saps noise out through ground... so this means one end is fine.

The other end doesn't need to be capped off or anything. Just trim any exposed shielding off. Once you have that tiny little shielded wire in your hands and you strip it, you'll know what I mean.

Originally Posted by MGR

What part of the circuit do you use the shieding?
Mike

On the input jacks, right off the bat.

If you want to get super @n@l retentive about it, you can shield the leads going to and from the first preamp tube and the board, but it's not super necessary.

Also, along with shielding:
1. Make ALL preamp and input jack wires as short as possible.
2. Make sure any wires from the input and preamp are routed away from noisey parts of the circuit. 90 degree wire crossings if they have to cross another wire.

Good lead dress can even mean an unshielded preamp can remain noise free. Really old Fenders didn't use shielded wire in the amp's front end, but then again they didn't have microwave ovens, cell phones, ET phoning home, satellite TV, and all of that whatnot.

[CancerLeoCam]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

...ET phoning home

[Dacious]

If you don't like the gnarly Neil Young sound (and there's nothing wrong with it if you do) use a 12AY7 in the first slot. I have some Raytheon 6072s and they are stellar, but the EHs AY7s also don't sound half bad.

The 'Paul C' mod to the phase inverter keeps the amp a little cleaner 1-2 points higher up the scale and possibly lets it put out a little more power - only a little. Still sounds great and you can hear barely restrained sonic mayhem. Seems to improve the touch sensitivity slightly.

Don't run the heater to ground like Leo did - keep it separate and use the twin 100-watt fake-centretap to reduce the heater 'bbuzzzzzzzz'.

I ground the pot backs and jacks to the ground rail on the board and then to a transformer bolt and have no noise issues. I don't use insulated pots or jacks.