Deluxe Reverb Reissue Build

[onenotetom]

I may be over my head on this one but those are the projects that I seem to like the best. Why a DRRI you ask instead of building a vintage style DR? Cost combined with the fact that I love projects. This one even with some upgraded components and modifications should come in less than $450.

I picked up the main circuit board, the capacitor board, the board with the pots and all of the transformers from a guy that had his Deluxe Reverb converted to a eyelet board. Picked up a take-out Eminence Red White & Blues for cheap that I was going to put into my 5e3 build but I think it is better suited for this project.

I need to build a cabinet for my 5e3 that I am building so will build the DR cab at the same time. Already have the wood. I ordered ivory tolex and will use the brown with gold stripe grill cloth left over from my Tweed cabinet. Also need to build the chassis for the 5e3 and have enough aluminum in stock to build the DR chassis. Have the necessary tools as well.

Ordered the tubes, tube sockets, power cord, switches, fuse holder and light. Still need to order the reverb pan and a couple of other components. Need to get the schematic and layout enlarged and printed. Then I need to find the time. Work has me out of town this time of year. The plus is that I have plenty of time to research and learn about what I am trying to do.

I am sure that I will need help from the members here. Will keep you posted as this build progresses.

[Big_Bend]

Thats really cool! Post some pics plz. You'll have a very nice amp when its all put together.. keep us posted thx.

[telex76]

Good luck, you may be the only one who has ever done this. If the other guy got all the boards and parts out without any damage it might not be too hard a job.

[onenotetom]

Boards and transformers will be here this week. The transformers all have push connectors on them. From the photos the other wires were de-soldered as opposed to being cut.

While out of town I will be visiting the GC that is close to my hotel to measure the cab and chassis. Am still researching mods. One thing that I have started doing is copying and pasting to a Word file relevent information that I find. I also copy and paste links to sites and pictures that may help me. This really helps locating information later down the road.

Hope to start the cabinet build this weekend. Thinking of making the base just a little deeper. This will allow the speaker to have a bit more of a slant upward. Will post pics of the progress.

[onenotetom]

Made it to Guitar Center on Wed. with my tape measure and notepad. Got all of the dimensions I could get without disassembling the amp. Plan to start the chassis and cabinet builds today.

My boards and transformers arrived. I also got a hand drawn diagrahm that shows how to wire the tube sockets. This will help a bunch. Need to follow the schematic for connecting the transformers to the correct clips on the board or find some good pictures. I was able to get approximate measurements on the tube socket layout. Need to find a picture of the bottom of the chassis to see where the transformers mount or come up with my own design.

Tolex and tubes show up tomorrow. Still need to order tube sockets and reverb tank.

[onenotetom]

While this may not seem like a real build to some, I am really getting into some new territory. All of this is requiring a lot of research. Glad I have the internet and forums such as the TDPRI.

Today I ventured into cabinet building. I have a lot of metal working tools but not so much for wood working. Have a friend that is off on Navy Reserves for a year. Before he left he told me I could borrow his table saw and router. This morning my neighbor who is also his brother went over and picked them up.

Got the cabinet cut out, a jig built to make the finger joints, the joints cut, and got it all glued together. The wood was part of the base to a waterbed. It is over 30 years old and is mostly clear.

Also got what I hope is the final coat of primer on my Rat Rod steel guitar. I have part of the day off tomorrow so maybe I can get the guitar painted and the rest of the cabinet pieces cut.

[Telenut62]

Have you got a source for the cab dimensions, I'm planning a build and like to make my own cabinet, so it'll be a good start to be able to knock one up while waiting for the amp to get here

[onenotetom]

Telenut, I have been out of town working. Will be able to post dimensions for you tomorrow along with some updated pics. My cabinet is now ready for tolex, the speaker baffle board is ready for grill cloth, the chassis is all bent up and drilled and all of my parts are here except my power switch. I am going to a single off, standby, power located on the front next to the light.

[Telenut62]

Hey that be fantastic.....but don't give me no 13/64ths

[robt57]

Cool, thanks for the link to your thread.

What did you do/get for a chassis ? I did not see it in the thread??


Please post pics being I am going to embark almost identically considering I just got the DRRI guts form a PTP conversion myself....

[onenotetom]

New at posting photos. See that my originals went away. Here are my components:



And my cabinet with clamps and my Rat Rod steel body.

[onenotetom]

Telenut, here are the cabinet INSIDE dimensions. I went to a GC with a tape and graph paper and measured one up.

W - 22.5, H - 15.375, H to bottom of chassis - 13.5, H from bottom to center of speaker - 6.5, H of chassis 1.875, Cab. Depth at bottom - 9.25, Cab Depth at bottom of chassis - 8.5, Cab Depth at top of Chassis - 7.75. Baffle & chassis is set back .375 from front of cabinet. Handle center line from back of cabinet - 4.25.

Rear Baffles, Top H - 5, 1.125 @ top corners before cutout starts. Cutout is 2 down and 16.25 W at bottom. Bottom baffle is H is 4.5.

Front left of chassis to CL of first input jack - 1 5/16, CL of light from right - 2, Chassis bottom depth 7.125. Rear of chassis spacing from left edge starting with Fuse, 6.25, 8.375, 9.375, 10.875, 11.875, 14.875.

Let me know if you need more info.

[onenotetom]

Here is my cabinet almost ready for Tolex and Grill Cloth. I put T-nuts on the top so that the chassis bolts will come in from the bottom and not show. Need to check my vintage brown with gold strip grill cloth against the brown background to see how it looks. May have to paint it flat black. The Tolex is blond. If everything goes right I will have it done today.

[onenotetom]

Robt57, here are pictures of my chassis. I built the chassis out of .090 aluminum that I had in stock. Not sure of the alloy but it was all that my shear could shear and had to go to my HD 50 year old Chicago 4 foot hand brake to bend it as it was too much for the finger brake you see in the pictures. This chassis is plenty rigid.

The factory chassis is made of galvaneal that is pretty thin. I am guessing 22 guage. It would be easy for a small sheet metal shop to bend one up for you. See if you can get the metal and pre-drill the holes first. I suggest a step bit as it will leave nice clean holes.

I built the cabinet first so that I could adjust the chassis to the actual inside dimension that the cabinet ended up.

[milocj]

Nice work on the cabinet! Since you made the chassis yourself it may not be an issue as you can choose the placement of the mounting screws, but the t-nuts may be problematic for assembly and maintenance.

I would do a dry fit with the power transformer in place to see how easy it is to mount your chassis into the cabinet as the stock placement makes it very difficult to even get a couple of fingers into that corner to start the nut onto the chassis screw once the speaker and transformers are all mounted. Maybe putting a long screw up from the bottom blindly will make things easier, though.

Just a thought.

Edit: Nice work on the chassis, too. You posted that while I was typing.

[onenotetom]

Very sound advice milocj! I finally have everything I need to do a complete mock-up before it goes to "paint, chrome and powdercoat" as they say. Part of the fun of this build is that there are no real templates to follow and I am having to figure out the placement of everything. I will provide more chassis dimensions when I get a chance.

[Telenut62]

Originally Posted by onenotetom

Telenut, here are the cabinet INSIDE dimensions. I went to a GC with a tape and graph paper and measured one up.

W - 22.5, H - 15.375, H to bottom of chassis - 13.5, H from bottom to center of speaker - 6.5, H of chassis 1.875, Cab. Depth at bottom - 9.25, Cab Depth at bottom of chassis - 8.5, Cab Depth at top of Chassis - 7.75. Baffle & chassis is set back .375 from front of cabinet. Handle center line from back of cabinet - 4.25.

Rear Baffles, Top H - 5, 1.125 @ top corners before cutout starts. Cutout is 2 down and 16.25 W at bottom. Bottom baffle is H is 4.5.

Front left of chassis to CL of first input jack - 1 5/16, CL of light from right - 2, Chassis bottom depth 7.125. Rear of chassis spacing from left edge starting with Fuse, 6.25, 8.375, 9.375, 10.875, 11.875, 14.875.

Let me know if you need more info.

Thanks for that....and will do

I just checked my dovetail jig and that will fit perfect, the only prob I can see is the front top edge as it's on an angle...not easy to run a radius bit along it.

[robt57]

Sweet, dropped you a eMail, need any Tele parts ?? See my eMail ;)

[onenotetom]

Everything is bolted to the chassis. I have a extra holes as I found I needed to relocate a couple of items. Need to raise the jacks in the back up to give more clearance between the jack and tube sockets. The cover plate will hide the original holes. Time to get serious with the schematic and heat up the soldering iron.

[onenotetom]

All wired up. I had the output wires going to the opposite tubes. Thanks to printer2 I got that fixed. Then the vibrato channel was not working properly. Turned out one of the wires to a tube pin was too close to the heater wires. It works good now.

Had hoped to get my blonde tolex on the cabinet today but that did not happen. Am out of town till Friday night so it will have to wait until next Saturday. If all goes well it should be done by Saturday night. Sorry for the poor pics but this gives you an idea. I also need to make a painted back panel with labels. When you are building a re-issue being vintage correct is not a requirement.