5E3 point to point build.

[monkeybanana]

Do you have other tubes like JJs? There was a batch of Tung Sold I had that would red plate easy in my Deluxe.

 

[tele_savales]

Do you have other tubes like JJs? There was a batch of Tung Sold I had that would red plate easy in my Deluxe.

I do. I’ve heard that as well about the Tung Sols and they were only running at a little over 100 %. I have a set of the JJs and some NOS GEs and some other older, most likely hardier tubes I was going to try

 

[tele_savales]

I plugged my MIJ 80's Strat w noiseless Mojotone pickups, and my Tele w Bare Knuckle P90's into the amp the other night. Unbelievable.

There's a little weird crackling on fire up, but it goes away. Also I was just using my bare test speaker without a cab right next to the open chassis on my bench, which is far from ideal.

The elevate humdinger works really well. I do need to go in and chopstick some wires around as much as possible, given that most of the connections are component leads, but I think I can get it a little quieter.

I was really pleasantly stoked by the pick sensitivity and how good the non-distorted tone was, and how killer the break up is. I mean, I've watched a million videos and obviously heard it on tons of records, but it's really hard to understand how cool they are until you play thru one. Good times.

 

[tele_savales]

Another update. My fears of noise and oscillation w the power tube coupling caps crossing the OT leads not unfounded.
I had marked the foil ends of a bunch of .1 microfarad caps, and then made a decision to go w .02s and forgot to discern the outside foil. So I corrected that on the inverter tube.

Then I replaced the solid core pushback wire which I thought would give me the leeway to chopstick the wires around to good effect- I just replaced it all w Rg 174, and extended a ground bus from the end of my last filter cap just to tie off the shields too. Really huge difference.

Shortened the shielded MV lead by about half, too.

Also last night I didn’t realize how totally filthy my humdinger pot was- while I was adjusting it w the scope running and a low volume 500hz signal very bad things started happening. Turned everything off, drained the caps, completely over douched the pot out w Deoxit and left it alone til today. I will go thru and re orient the caps to their proper foil end- I honestly really never cared but I think I’m a point to point build like this you have to do everything possible. Since I have a scope now I don’t really have any excuse.

 

[tele_savales]

Here's my measurements. If there's any cause for concern, please let me know.

PT HAMMOND 290BX​	​	​	​	​
AC line​	120vac​	​	​	​
PT 2ndary​	695Vac​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​
NOS Tung-Sol 5Y3​	​	​	​	​
B+1​	388​	​	​	​
B+2​	360​	​	​	​
B+3​	275​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​
V1 (12ax7)​	​	​	V3 JJ 6v6s​	​
P1​	188​	​	P1​	0.021​
P2​	0.001​	​	P2​	3.1​
P3​	1.44​	​	P3​	381.2​
4 and 5​	3.09​	​	P4​	355​
P6​	181.8​	​	P5​	1.27​
P7​	0.003​	​	P6​	283​
P8​	1.44​	​	P7​	3.1​
P9​	3.093​	​	P8​	37.19​
​	​	​	​	​
V2 12AX7​	​	​	V4 JJ 6v6s​	​
P1​	178​	​	P1​	0.024​
P2​	0.001​	​	P2​	3.09​
P3​	1.352​	​	P3​	381​
4 and 5​	3.09​	​	P4​	358​
P6​	219.8​	​	P5​	0.021​
P7​	50.96​	​	P6​	281​
P8​	52.29​	​	P7​	3.09​
P9​	3.09​	​	P8​	37.49​
​	​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​
BIAS​	​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​
23.9Vdrop/366.5= .0652ma X 359.8 c-pV​	​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​
23.46 Watts PD​	​	​	​	​
11.7 Watts per tube. Rob calls it 11.1 for 79.3 % MaxPD​	​	​	​	​
​	​	​	​	​
Raised the Cathode R due to redplating CP Tungsols​	​	​	​	​
May leave it as is to run NOS 12 watt 6V6's​	​	​	​	​

 

[tele_savales]

Well, I found out the reason I wasn't experiencing the "magical" volume interaction of the 5E3 was because... I FORGOT THE JUMPER BETWEEN THE TWO VOLUME POTS.
Now both volume pots work! The tone control works! The thing sounds awesome!

I knew something strange was going on, but not ever owning a 5e3 I really wasnt sure how the controls worked, and I just couldn't figure it out. I went over the control panel more than once and thought I was going to have to strip out the channel jumper switch because I thought for sure that's where the problem was.

Anyhow, I got it pretty well cleaned up and tried to get some better pics, since the earlier ones the chassis was loaded w bits of wire, shredded aluminum and flux droplets. I only have one last item on the to do list, which is- I hate the way the shielded cable I used on the inputs looks, and I have some much nicer wire that just arrived if i really feel like pulling it and starting over. Of course I'm going to redo it.

The amp seems VERY quiet, albeit at what volume I can get away with which ain't much. Enough at least that my wood floor vibrates. All my guitars are high output Single coil jobs which doesn't make it any easier to test a new build.
My Strat w Mojotone quiet coils is very, very good. The Tele w hi output Bareknuckle P90's is a little hard to tame, except in the middle position it's nearly dead quiet.

 

[chas.wahl]

Cool. Very nice looking execution. Your shielded cable looks terrific to me. No 12AY7 for V1?

 

[King Fan]

I agree your shielded cable looks fine. And yeah, a 12AY7 certainly helps me play my 5E3 inside the house — and enjoy it. Speaking of which, you say this is your first 5E3? Larry Carlton has a quick tip on volume setting….

 

[bigguy12321]

I agree your shielded cable looks fine. And yeah, a 12AY7 certainly helps me play my 5E3 inside the house — and enjoy it. Speaking of which, you say this is your first 5E3? Larry Carlton has a quick tip on volume setting….

Thank you for that trip down the never ending black hole that is the internet…

Interesting initial setup on Larry’s amp. I guess the “gain” debate starts and ends right there.

About 2 on the volume…

Tele S. Thanks for the pics. They do look different without that ugly board in there.

a

 

[King Fan]

Yeah, the 5E3 volume ramp kinda runs from 2 to 4, doesn't it, then turns into a gain knob... not a bad thing, but frustrating for those trying to rein in the wild beast. Our smart friend @Wally always emphasizes pick attack and even (gasp) the guitar volume knob for 5E3 training, too. And for some almost-scoop and almost-clean, never overlook active volume 2-4 with inactive adjusted by ear in the range 8-11....

 

[tele_savales]

Thanks for the support! I already want to build another one, haha. I guess the alleged one dimensionality of tweeds in general have kept me from building one, and working in a tweed chassis really looked like zero fun to me.

BUT. I had no idea how cool they sound. It's unreal. The clean tone isn't like anything I've ever heard before, and the little bit of breakup I've pushed it into is killer.
I have checked out that clip of Larry and there's a couple other good ones on youtube as well.

I spent a good long while last night running a signal thru it, fiddling w the knobs, and watching the trace. It seems to be doing what it's supposed to and I am really really happy with the noise floor. Obviously I have confirmation bias but I did go back and identify the foil ends of the coupling caps and rearrange where needed. I neglected to "before and after" that on the scope, but it seems to have helped.

Oh yeah, I just ordered the 30 watt Weber for it. I've been testing thru my 1x12 cab w a Celestion G12T75. It sounds better than you'd think, probably better than it did in the Marshall combo I pulled it from.

 

[Wally]

Regarding that Carlton clip…. I suppose I like the ability to access more gain and have livelier cleans than a 5E3 yields at 2. If one runs the volume up around 5 to 6, one can get very lively cleans with a soft pick attack or a guitar volume reduction. With a medium Pick attack or an increase in the guitar output, one gets a hot signal with some distortion in it, and if one uses a firm pick attack/full output one gets gain that is compressed. Another way of looking at it is that one cannot get that hot, compressed signal with the amp set on 2.
Sometimes you just have to let the dog out!

 

[King Fan]

Heh, I think Larry ends up around 2.415926. FWIW, I also can't see where he's got his guitar volume set -- and I don't know how hot his HBs are. He certainly gets some bark there when he digs in.

But it's not about an exact point on the dial -- it's about what he and you agree on. I want to set the amp so I get both a nice clean tone and a lively amount of breakup by just varying pick attack.

Final tidbit, I note he sets the tone at 5. IME the 5E3 tone knob has a bit of gain in it too.

 

[tele_savales]

I just plugged my Tele w a hi output BKP humbucker in the bridge. Really good. Highly enjoyable.

On another note, I was looking around for a cabinet and happened across some of the tweed amps people are offering for sale on ebay and elsewhere. I feel a whole lot better about my building skills all of a sudden. Like seriously, wow.