5E3 Deluxe Owners Club

[Sterling Indigo]

Welcome all vintage, reissue, clone, kit and scratch builders to the 5E3 Deluxe Owners Club.

Here we will feast ourselves and ruminate on the savory delectable tones of the simple yet brilliant 5E3 amp circuit (tweed jackets optional).

[FiddlinJim]

I'll admit to being one! 5E3 scritch scratch build for me.

[Sterling Indigo]

All kinds welcome here, even the purple tolex variety. Don't forget pictures of the pretty twisty wires in back.

[petebradt]

Clay Hullett 5E3 clone. Still the best. Kitty not included.

[JohnnyCrash]

Still looking for leopard print upholstery to put onto mine...

I just used mine this morning for two guitar tracks... a garage punk type of a song and while it'll get a Marshall for a doubletracking, the 5E3 was the only fit for the song out of my dozen or so amps for this project.

LP junior and one rhythm track (the main character of the song), LP junior and two lead tracks. The LP Custom and Marshall will fill out the rest of the doubled rhythm tracks.

[telex76]

I've got one made by Vistaluxe in Fort Worth. I love the tone, and dynamic response.

[woodman]

mine's a clone of unknown origin ... bought it from a buddy who said he was told it was Custom Shop, but it's obviously not — not a serial number to be found anywhere. but it's a great-sounding workhorse. i've put a Weber 12A150 in it and stuffed it with some of the NOS tubes i've got laying around. it's sweet as honey both cranked and at acoustic volumes, and mikes quite well. i use it for all gigs except concert/festival type stages.

[Mike H.]

I have serial number 0001 from Corona Ampworks.

[Ricky D.]

Mine's a Mission kit build in a Mojo tweed cabinet, Weber alnico Sig 12 speaker. I just got an EH Holy Grail for some reverb, and I occasionally use an old Ibanez parametric EQ in front of it if I want more tone control.

[muchxs]

Originally Posted by JohnnyCrash

Still looking for leopard print upholstery to put onto mine...

Rare and nearly extinct Snow Snake, perhaps?

[Jammin'John1]

I play a Clark Beaufort.
Very nice build/tones !



JJ

[emu!]

Mission kit here w/lots of mods. Could be the best amp I've ever played tone-wise. IMO.

[Jammin'John1]

The Tweed Deluxe is my favorite "go to" amp.
That's why I play a 5e3 & a 5e3x2.

JJ

[red57strat]

I used mine a bbq last weekend and it was actually a bit too loud! Incredible tone though!

It was built for me a few years ago with a Hoffman chassis, handmade pine cab covered in tweed, a Weber 12A125 speaker and Weber trannies. I've got some great NOS tubes in it that and amp tech and I spent an afternoon auditioning. Other than the 3-prong grounded power cord, the only mods from the stock circuit are a 32uF filter cap and .047 coupling cap on the bright channel.

[sandman72202]

i love mine. mines a lil dawg D-lux built by jim. i was lucky to get one while jim was still building cabinets. sounds fantastic loaded with a 15 in jensen reissue. just encourages you to play.

[telechaser]

I don't have one but my friend's got a 5E3 Ceriatone Clone. Really impressed.

[Old Cane]

Mission 5e3 kit build.

[Chris S.]

5E3 clone owner here. Best. Blues amp. EVER. CS

[telechance]

I'm in... with a reissue.

[Steve McGinnis]

Love it. Sounds great with my nocaster thinline...

[maestrovert]

maybe it won't count, but i have one of STF's 5E3 Deluxe circuit heads
it's tasty sounding....

[the embezzler]

Im in.....

Mission Amps Tweed Deluxe.
Love it to bits!

[fenson]

Count me in as well I have a clone. Wonderful sounding thing.

[Yoni]

Hey owners, talk to me about why you like your amp, why you love it? What you play and how it handles pedals. I ask all this because I'm thinking about joining this club and am just really curious.

[muchxs]

Originally Posted by Yoni

Hey owners, talk to me about why you like your amp, why you love it? What you play and how it handles pedals. I ask all this because I'm thinking about joining this club and am just really curious.

Neil Young all over your playlist and you don't have a tweed Deluxe?!!

I don't use pedals. The tweed Deluxe is simple and it yields a wide palette of useful tones. The normal channel yields a nice clean tone that helped me kick my addiction to reverb. The bright channel keeps my Marshall cravings in check. The distortion tone is its own thing. It's a cathode biased amp so the attack is a lot softer than fixed bias. I sometimes miss the hard attack of a bigger fixed bias amp but I get over it pretty quickly.

A common 5E3 complaint is "flabby farty bass". I have my own simple recipe to tighten up the bass. I use a modern speaker with a ceramic magnet in my Deluxe which goes a long way towards helping the bottom end.

I should qualify that with what I use for guitars. I use Strats or Teles into the normal channel usually using the neck and middle pickup (Nashville Tele or SuperStrat.) I work the volume knob on the guitar. Bridge PU is too bright on the normal channel IMO. Neck and middle are oh so perfect. The bridge PU tends to drop the bottom end out and leave the top. That might work for slithery funk chording but I don't use it much.

Bright channel: I love it with a bridge humbucker. (SuperStrat.) Either way, singles or hums it's a great distortion tone. A hot humbucker pushes the sustain a little better, I have to work at it with single coils.

All of the above are merely my observations. Season to taste. It's just about a miracle that a simple amp with three knobs has that many tones in it. Leo didn't call it "Deluxe" for nothing!

[scottb1966]

I just finished my Mission 5E3 last week. Played it at the Blues Jam Sunday night. I love it. Got several compliments and questions about where they could get one. The only complaint, it wasn't loud enough! I will mic it next time.

It is in a Weber Cabinet with a Weber Vintage Series 12A125-O Alnico speaker.

[petebradt]

Originally Posted by Yoni

Hey owners, talk to me about why you like your amp, why you love it? What you play and how it handles pedals. I ask all this because I'm thinking about joining this club and am just really curious.

What kind of pedals, what kind of music? the only pedal I use with mine is a Bad Bob. I love it because it's a pure tone machine. I play roots music, blues/country/r&r...

But I only use the Bad Bob. Don't need anything else.

[red57strat]

I use delay, tremolo and sometimes fuzz with mine.

[Tarnisher]

You're all making me miss my Victoria 20112! It's stranded at the practice space- we've been on an unplanned hiatus for the past couple weeks due to one thing or another.

It's hard to describe why I love it- like if someone said, "What do you like about Van Gogh's Starry Night?" It just has a certain tonal quality that I can't get enough of. It has a choppy but sweet clean that makes you wonder what you ever needed a reverb tank for, but goes to nasty, spiky overdrive for leads with a flick of the volume pedal.

I also use a DOD Classic Fuzz through it when I want more sustain or grit, and it takes it well.

I really can't get a bad sound out of it without some work. Even considering that I haven't gotten around to replacing the Red Lace Sensor in my Tele's bridge!

[Yoni]

Thank you guys I didn't want to spoil the owners club aspect but there are so many 5E3 threads in the amp forum that I figured you guys would be able to help me the most.

And yes I love Neil but don't play like him.I play a lot of different music but it's easiest described as indie rock and blues, a little hard rock here and there but I love a good clean sound. Currently my only electric is a 335 copy but yes I will be getting a tele again soon because my life with out one isn't nearly as fun. My pedals are two od's, a wah, univbe, delay, trem, chourus, fuzz and a tuner. I currently run everything into the front end of my Peavey Valve king. At this stage I'm considering building a 5E3 as my first build but am kind of afraid of the idea or get the weber so watt. But If I can get a light clean sound and it will take od pedals well(my problem with a Peavey classic 30) then I'm all for the simple take.

[the embezzler]

Originally Posted by Yoni

But If I can get a light clean sound and it will take od pedals well(my problem with a Peavey classic 30) then I'm all for the simple take.

The main gripe about a 5E3 is the lack of headroom and/or volume.
However, having said that, after you use one for a while you will find it (at least I did) hard to go back to a loud and clean amp; something that doesn't break up.
They are kind of like a mini Marshall plexi in tone - the midrange and overdrive is incredible, and most people put a speaker with around a 100db spl rating for maximum volume and headroom.
They absolutely love single coil guitars, esp. Tele's, but my 69 SG standard sounds pretty good through it as well. Wonderful feedback!

I put a silicon fuzz, a light overdrive and a vibrato and analog delay into it and it sounds good.
I use the low gain input on the bright channel with volume just under 5 and the tone just over 9. I don't jumper the channels.

I played a Victoria Double Deluxe, which is like a 5E3 to the power of 2 - 4 6V6's, 2x 12, put's out around 30 watts.
Expensive, but a wonderful amp and has the 5E3 vibe with more than enough volume on tap so you could gig with it anywhere.

If you're playing a 5E3 at a show it helps to have it up high (on a roadcase or something) and away from you a bit so that you can really hear it.

[ce24]

I'm in also.. a Mission build and love it . Pedals...it takes my Boss GT-8 REALLY well. Because I can increase the output going into the amp from the boss it can get waaaay too loud for our trio. I jumper the channels but can only get them to about 2 before it gets loud...

Cheers
ce24

[koen]

I'm in too. Built my Mission Amps 5E3 a year ago, and am still amazed by its sounds. This weekend I am going to open it up and reflow *everything* since from the beginning I've having some occasional hiss and crackling noises. I use a few pedals, wah, chorus, tremolo and Bad Bob. That last one is on most of the time, the other ones I hardly use.

[GeorgiaHonk]

Originally Posted by sandman72202

i love mine. mines a lil dawg D-lux built by jim. i was lucky to get one while jim was still building cabinets. sounds fantastic loaded with a 15 in jensen reissue. just encourages you to play.

Same here, love those Lil Dawg amps.

[Jackie Treehorn]

Clark owner here - just use a Bad Bob and sometimes an OCD with some verb.

[Ron Garson]

I've had my 5e3 clone for about an year, and love it. It was built by the guy who does servicing work on my Pro Reverb.

Here's a shot I took of it one evening. Just ignore all the clutter around it!

[refin]

'57 retweed---

[MickM]

I just sent my deposit to Jim for a Li'l Dawg 5E3 head. Already have his 8W Champster 1X12 combo and a Prince head so I know what kind of quality I'm getting. If anybody knows of any sites that explain how how the controls interact or how to set it for differen't sounds, jumpering channels etc. please post a link.

Or, just post your particular settings for getting your tone(s). Many thanks!

[Marshall Thinline]

Can I join?? My 5E3 is in a 5E7 cab with a 5E7 transformer.

[Ricky D.]

Originally Posted by MickM

I just sent my deposit to Jim for a Li'l Dawg 5E3 head. Already have his 8W Champster 1X12 combo and a Prince head so I know what kind of quality I'm getting. If anybody knows of any sites that explain how how the controls interact or how to set it for differen't sounds, jumpering channels etc. please post a link.

Or, just post your particular settings for getting your tone(s). Many thanks!

Mick, there's just not much to set. FWIW, I set the tone wide open. Using Fender OV's or Don Mare Supersports with tone and volume wide open on the guitar, the amp is starting to overdrive around 3 on the volume. I normally use the bright channel and set the amp volume about 5, tone wice open. I use the guitar tone and volume from there on. The roll-off on the amp tone control is pretty similar to the roll-off on my guitars (.047 uF tone cap).

What make the amp such a blast to play is a really nice touch sensitive sweet spot - clean with a light touch, gritty when you dig in. The cleans with the neck PU are big and fat, just gorgeous. I'll roll back the guitar tone about 30% for a good jazz tone with nice definition. Cleans on the bridge PU have plenty of cut. Cranked, you've got vicious overdrive, this is the amp that sets the standard IMO.

The channel interaction is a subtle effect. Turn up the volume of the un-used channel. As you get above about 9, it starts compressing the sound, reducing the volume somewhat, and scooping the mids. I think. Words fail me, but it's a cool sound. You'll check it out anyway.

Channel jumping is very straightforward. Use a patch cord to connect the #2 input of the channel you are using to the #1 input of the other channel. You are now driving both channel equally. Use the two volume controls to mix the relative proportions of bright and normal. Some people like this a lot, I rarely bother.