La Cerise - new champ build

I recently dropped a 12 inch speaker in an earlier Tweed Princeton build which left me with an 8" speaker and a baffle. Seemed like the only logical thing to do was to put that speaker to good use and make myself a Champ.

I have a working knowledge of carpentry and joints ( although I wouldn't presume to call myself a woodworker) so I knew from the beginning that I would be trying to build my own cabinet. Initially I thought I'd make it out of poplar or pine, but on a chance visit to some kin in the mountains of Southwestern Virginia I stumbled upon what I knew would be the wood of choice - cherry.

While visiting my Father in law we went to visit a family member I'd never met. "Uncle" Jay is an 80 year old that could tire out anyone half his age with how active he is, and the man cuts his own timber, hauls it to a homemade sawmill with a bobcat, and saws and planes his own lumber. Absolutely amazing, beautiful, straight, dry lumber.

Well, he had a pile of cherry sitting in his wood shop, and after we got talking about my plans he gave me a board to take home.

I got to working on it on the holiday this past weekend, and after a few days of messing around this is where she's sitting...

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6149/5916806206_bfd2117af2_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5916806206/)
photo.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5916806206/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

I still need to make back panels for it, but most of the parts (chassis, components, etc...) arrived in the mail yesterday, so I'll update as this build progresses.

I'd be curious to see pics if anyone else has built an amp up out of cherry, or any other finished wood (not covered in tweed or tolex).

Very nice. She's beautiful . Nice work.

Very nice. I think you can call yourself a woodworker.

What slows down the use of heavier cabinet woods in speaker and combo cabs is they don't resonate as much as lighter woods like pine and popular. They are about like birch ply as far as "voice" goes, but they sure are pretty

Nice job Jimmy
I'm just finishing up 3 cabs and a head cab for my first attempts and not comfortable not covering them yet. maybe on on in the future.

Frustrates me to get the grill cloth perfect or close. After several attempts I have found it best to use spray adhiesive and get it taught horizontally first then vertically.

Are those nails in the upper front panel on each side?

Yep, small finishing nails. A mistake, but they're in there now ;)

In the future I'll know that the glue is more than sufficient in that joint.

The grill cloth seemed right until I got it in and realized it pulls slightly down in the left corner. I may try to fix that.

I recently dropped a 12 inch speaker in an earlier Tweed Princeton build which left me with an 8" speaker and a baffle. Seemed like the only logical thing to do was to put that speaker to good use and make myself a Champ.



HAHAHA!

I use the same excuses for justifying another build. If I have extra parts I say "well, I don't want to waste 'em, I'll just build a..."

My girlfriend jokes "hey, you have a few extra resistors in your parts bin, are you going to build another Marshall?"

Beautiful job Jimmy! I am not even half the woodworker you are.

I appreciate that! I'll have to get some good shots of the sides because there's some beautiful grain there.

I'm also working out the back panels and thinking about creative ways to do that.

My girlfriend jokes "hey, you have a few extra resistors in your parts bin, are you going to build another Marshall?"

That's funny. Probably true also.

My girlfriend jokes "hey, you have a few extra resistors in your parts bin, are you going to build another Marshall?"
Now there's a keeper. :wink:

For the record, I think any woman named Celeste is a keeper

I might be a bit biased

For the record, I think any woman named Celeste is a keeper

I might be a bit biased

+1

Absolutely beautiful cab you have there!

Here are a few more shots so you can see the top and side grain.

I'm still working out the back panels because I want them to be classy, but a little artistic as well.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/5922353841_083da8b61a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922353841/)
photo 2.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922353841/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6148/5922919618_8280b7d2ff_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922919618/)
photo 4.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922919618/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6023/5922354181_a42bdc56cf_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922354181/)
photo 3.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922354181/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6024/5922918084_51cd4155b1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922918084/)
photo 1.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5922918084/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

Finally cut and finished the back pieces.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6134/5959368213_881276b55e_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5959368213/)
photo 2.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5959368213/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6148/5959368031_b83ec18469_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5959368031/)
photo 1.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5959368031/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr



I'm itching to put this together, but I'm waiting for a few backordered parts from Mojo to arrive. No worries, I've got to finish up some pedal orders in the meantime. :)

Very creative back panels. That may be my favorite part of your cab build.

--

celeste, my girlfriend shares your name, but not your electronics knowledge. If she did, she would've helped me troubleshoot that 2x10" combo build in minutes instead of making fun of me for months HAHA!

Thanks! I went through several ideas. Cutting out a slot machine style cherry / big oval / etc. And then settled on the simple curve.


I've been keeping track of that build of yours. I can't believe it was just a jack. So frustrating!

I may have enough of this cherry left to do an 18 watt head, but there's also a little Rocket on the way, which has significantly curtailed the build funds.

...but there's also a little Rocket on the way, which has significantly curtailed the build funds.



HAHAHAHA!

Rockets (no lewd pun intended) can do that to the ol' budget.

My wife's been out of town so there's been plenty o' soldering going on at Chez Rocket. I finished wiring this little beauty up this evening and I though I'd post some pics. Fired up fine with no tubes, but I'm waiting for a 5y3GT from Tubedepot so no real sound tests yet.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6127/5968835976_3e88e6eddf_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968835976/)
photo 2.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968835976/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6012/5968836062_1f874aa3d5_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968836062/)
photo 3.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968836062/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr


http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/5968836348_06a7a9ebb8_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968836348/)
photo.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968836348/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6014/5968280409_d2225824b1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968280409/)
photo.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5968280409/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr


I may be speaking too soon since I haven't done a real test yet, but this was a fun little amp to build. It was pretty rewarding to take a hunk o' wood from board to build, and watch it all come together. It was certainly an educational process.

There are plenty of things I learned and a few little things left to do. I plan to stain the wood rails that the back panels are attached to, and finish them at some point, but all in all it's a solid little amp and I'm excited about cranking her open in a day or so.

Not only a nice amp you also know how to take good pictures.

It's beautiful!

Absolutely gorgeous!

I haven't done a lot of work with cherry but now you have me thinking...
:smile:

Thanks! As of yet I haven't heard it fired up so I don't know what the cherry cab will sound like. I do know that it's a cramped little chassis and I much prefer working on blackfaces ;)

I couldn't wait until Monday for my TubeDepot order so I swiped the 5y3GT from the tweed Princeton in my office this morning and brought it home to try out.

The thing sounds great. A little hum when cranked but nothing out of the ordinary for the wiring in my house. I poked around for a bit with the lead dress, but no change so I buttoned her up.

I know this is going to sound corksniffer-ish but it sounds dark and complex with the hard wood. Very well rounded sound, not too bassy or twangy. Very focused midrange and warm. Anyone out there with some cherry sitting around, this build is highly recommended.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6132/5971457782_e7babfff54_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5971457782/)
photo.JPG (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28036248@N03/5971457782/) by jimmyrocket02 (http://www.flickr.com/people/28036248@N03/), on Flickr

love it!