The first part of my journey into amp building...Looking for support.

Hi fellow shock brothers. I have been lurking here for some time. I have spent a fair amount of time reading and learning here, the Trinity amps forum, the gear page, Mission amps site, you tube and others. I think I'm just about ready to try building my own amp. I have some limited soldering and assembly experience. I did build a successful BYOC phase pedal, changed a few pick ups, modded my Boss compressor pedal with a Monte Allums kit. I guess I'm posting here to find some courage and support to build a tweed 5E3 kit. You Folks seem very helpful. I'm sure there's a ton of experience here too.
I used to own an original late 50's narrow panel deluxe. In my youth I wasn't into it's sound an I regrettably sold it about 10 years ago. :confused: I want to build one now I think. Today I am sickly addicted to vintage Fender amps. I own a 68 vibro champ and a 64 Bandmaster. I was thinking the 12w tweed would nicely fill in the void I have between 5w and 45w. I'll have some pretty basic questions, I'll post lost of photos and listen to your suggestions respectfully. Here's my first few q's:

Thinking about either a Trinity or Mission kit with carbon comp resistors. I hear both those kits have excellent step by step instructions. I think I'll order a tweed cab at the same time. I have no experience trying to cover anything in tweed or similar. Any feedback appreciated there.

Soldering gun:I bought a countertop pencil tip type kit with a holder, a sponge and a rotary knob for adjusting the temp. It's a Weller 40W. Is this adequate?

I bought and read Dave Hunter's guitar amp book. I feel pretty good, but there is a ton of info in there to try and retain. When time permits, I have also been reading the 5 volume set of books, basic electronics written in the 50's by VanValkyen or something. I have a lot to learn, but I think I'm ready to dive in. Whadya think? Go for it? I don't want an amp sitting there that I can't get working. This is my biggest concern. Troubleshooting a live circuit kinda scares me but with assistance here I'd be willing to try it.

Any comments and feedback appreciated. Thanks.

Sounds like you're ready to go. Building is the easy part. Getting it to work, troubleshooting and testing, that's where you really learn stuff.

Foremost, once you start poking at a "live" amp, get the safety procedures under your belt so that they become habit. And don't even go near it if you're tired, buzzed, or distracted, and you should be fine. Just don't let the "Magic Smoke" out!

123 Go!

Support Canadian companies and get a Trinity!:lol: I built an 18 watter and a Triwatt from them and am really happy with the results. You won't be sorry.

Yep, you are ready to give it a go. A 40 watt pencil is adequate - especially for a Fender stlye eyelet board. Get a solder sucker, it is much better to re-do a poor joint than re-flow it.

Be methodical, and check, double check, then triple check everything as you go. Yes it is tedious. But tedious seems like a breeze compared to the time spent de-bugging errors (which can also cost real money.)

The first kit I built was from David Allen, that was about eight years ago. I was very careful, followed the directions (which are excellent) exactly, and it worked perfectly from the moment I first fired it up. So it can, be done. Later kits and then (especially) solo projects lowered my batting average sinificantly.

One amp to check out is the Tubedepot 5e3. It's a complete kit and has high quality parts. They include most of the modern modification such as Deluxe Reverb transformers and larger caps as well as the standby switch and ability to use a variety of rectifier tubes. One important difference is the circuit board; it's a high quality PC board that you still must hand wire. Some will argue that eyelet board or turret board is the way to go. I disagree, the board is well layed out, uses the same wiring and components as a eyelet, and it will minimize any paricitic signal noise. Components on the PCB is just as easy to remove/replace parts, and the wiring to the rest of th amp is the same as any eyelet board.

I would avoid trying to cover with tweed. It takes a lot of skill to cut and bookmatch the pattern where they join on the corners and along the top. Solid Pine Tweed Cabinets can be found for about $230+ on the internet. My suggestion wouldbe to get a kit with a solid pine tweed cabinet.

The 5e3 kits are easy builds and you'll have a great product if you take your time and tripple check each soldier joint and component assembly prior to moving on to the next step with your build. My 1st build tested out and fired up with no problems and the sound is amazing. The hardest part of the build was to "TAKE MY TIME" and not rush to see the results.

Tubedepot has free PDF download of their kit build with mods and tips on building. Their instructions have color photos and are easy to follow. Plus they give you a hard copy with the kit.

Good luck, take your time, tripple check, and you should have a great sounding amp regardless of what kit you assemble.

'nother vote for a 5E3 (or a 5F2A) for a 1st build if you love tweed Fenders. Relatively easy to troubleshoot and, more importantly, they sound good.

Skip to the soldering portion. Nice pictures and shows how to do things right.

http://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2 books/frameset.html

http://snebulos.mit.edu/projects/reference/NASA-Generic/NASA-STD-8739-3-2.pdf

Clean your til and re-tin it often. Even taking a clean rag and wiping down the surface of the parts leads to be soldered just prior to soldering will remove oxides and help the solder flow.

Check out Mojo Musical Supply's amp kits [mojotone.com]; they also supply many of the parts for a number of other kit suppliers. My dad and I just finished building a Mojo 5E3 kit [he's a retired engineer], and it was fun. It took us a while to troubleshoot the wiring, and turned out that a wire under the eyelet board had gotten pinched when we'd installed the board into the chassis, and was grounding. For that reason, as well as for ease of modification and repair down the road, I'd suggest that you considering running all the wiring on top of the board, instead of running several of the connections underneath as most diagrams indicate.
Good luck!
ST

Hello Keith

I went through about the same pangs of doubt recently. My knowledge of electronics is about the same as yours and I was afraid of buying a kit and winding up with a pile of useless components after the build.

I decided finally to take the plunge. My search for a kit with a lot of instructional material for a relative beginner like me ended when I found the Trinity Amps site. I was thinking of a tweed Deluxe build but I finally opted for the Tramp model because I needed a low volume amp to play in my house.

I have received the Tramp kit and the 55 pages construction guide plus an unfinished pine cabinet. The first stage of the build (big components installation like transformers, terminal strips and pots, shellac on the cabinet) is completed. As others have said, taking your time is the best way to go and will enable you to learn more on the way.

I would stay away from tolex for the cab if I were you. Shellac on pine is very easy to apply (two coats or more of amber shellac with a light sanding between coats will give you a nice honey colored cab).

My soldering skills are rather limited, but I bought a soldering station with a temperature controlled tip (Hakko). I have not used it yet so I can't tell you how well it solders. Yours should be OK also, Weller is a good make.

Will follow your thread to see how you are doing. Don't hesitate to go for it. You will learn a lot, the experience will be good for you and you will find that you are not really alone. A lots of friends on the Net will be there if you need info.

The 5E3 should fill the middle ground between your other two amps nicely and you're gonna love playing through an amp you built yourself. :cool:

Since you're a "vintage guy" now, I'd recommend caution with "modernizing" anything. The Deluxe Reverb output transformer included in many kits has the wrong primary impedance for a tweed Deluxe and the smaller OT is part of the tone. There's no need for a standby switch either. :wink:

- Scott

I built a Weber 5e3. There are no instructions. There is a lot of information and build pics all over the web. Weber has a detailed layout that is easy to read and follow. Weber offers the lowest priced 5e3 kit. Mine turned out fantastic. I love it. I recommend the Weber.

Recently, I ordered some 5e3 chassis and other parts from Mableaudio.com - China. I'm going to build a few 5e3's by sourcing my own parts. I'll use American Classic Transformers from tube depot. Wire and caps from tubesnmore. etc.

I will see if I can make an even better amp with better parts.

Do not buy the Chinese tubes with your Weber kit. Get some better tubes. IMHO, the copper cap rectifier is good, however.

The Weber Chassis, Tweed Cabinet and speaker are excellent.

I've a feeling most of it comes from China. So What. Its a good inexpensive way to get going.

I was thinking the 12w tweed would nicely fill in the void I have between 5w and 45w.

Tweed Harvard 5F10! You can build it into a 5F2A chassis/cab if you're comfortable drilling a few holes.

But a 5E3 is also a fine choice, too.

I just placed an order for the Trinity kit with the VRM mod and a Trinity metal name tag. I scooped a deal on a beautiful lacquered tweed deluxe cab on The Gear Page, for $125 shipped from Philadelphia. This is all coming together, now I just need to raise some funds for a speaker. I have 2 original vintage 1964 Jensen C12N 8 ohm speakers. These are ceramic. Maybe I'll try one in the deluxe kit when I'm done and see how it sounds. I suspect it may be a little bright. Thinking I'll end up with a Weber 12A125-A eventually. Will post updates as I progress along.

Sounds like you're on your way!

I just recently finished a Mojo Princeton Reverb kit after building their tweed Princeton kit, and TDPRI was definitely a helpful bunch in debugging the PR. It's addicting though...be forewarned! :)

I just recently finished a Mojo Princeton Reverb kit after building their tweed Princeton kit, and TDPRI was definitely a helpful bunch in debugging the PR. It's addicting though...be forewarned! :)

I read your PR troubleshooting. Can be pretty frustrating when you are learning. I've been there rebuilding car engines and the like. Not looking forward to it this time around with electronics! I bet it is addicting. I can see a PR in my future too some day!