5e3 PT and OT, but not a 5e3. Suggestions?

It sounds like a 6g2 Princeton with a 12” speaker in a tweed disguise, which would be AMAZING, might be what you’re after. The hard part would be where to mount the bias board.

bias tremolo, similar board to 5e3, 2 inputs. I bet you could make that work.

edit: depending on what secondaries your PT has this may not work, but it’s worth some investigation I think. This would be a gnarly amp.

https://www.tdpri.com/threads/6g2-princeton-diy-layout.941230/

 

Single channel 5G9 Tremolux. Put the bright cap on a switch. Not sure about the filter caps fitting inside but you could put them in a doghouse like fender did.

Or do two channels with one input for each channel. Separate the cathode bias resistors for the input valve and do a fender channel and marshal channel or tweak to taste.

 

6V6s in a Carmen Ghia circuit??

 

Maybe an 6V6 Marshall 18watt? It has a long tail pair phase inverter. You could go fixed bias to change it up from the cathode bias. That would make it different than the tweeds.

 

What transformers do you have? You say 5e3 transformers but you need to be more specific, a lot of suppliers supply incorrectly speced transformers or just call a set of transformers "deluxe" without differentiating between Tweed and black face which have very different voltages and primary impedances.

A 6g2 Princeton matches your control layout needs nicely, but a deluxe power transformer is going to have a hogher voltage than that circuit wants to see (much higher if its a blackface appropriate PT).

There are a number of amps would be more suitable to a higher voltage level that would also fit your control layout if you reduce them from a two channel to a single channel version. A 6G3 deluxe or a silvertone 1482 for example.

 

That 18-watt Marshall is in the camp of the 5G9 Tremolux and 5F11 Vibrolux amps, it seems to me. The Tremolux has the LTP and fixed Biasing versus the LTP and cathode Biasing of the Marshall. The 5F11, which the OP says he already has, has a cathodyne PI with fixed Biasing...and this is the basis for a 6G2 Princeton. That Marshall carries three Noval tubes....and that exceeds the number of holes the OP Has.
Imho, it is going to be hard to get away from these basic designs. That is why I suggested the Carmen Ghia...no trem, though. It is cathode biased, LTP PI. It has two gain stages...put a volume control after each one??? The conjunctive filter from the Hammond world is a bit different. Put a switch to go from cathode to fixed biasing.
Tremolo...hey, I see people shaking their guitars all the time to fool themselves into thinking they are creating some kind of ear candy!!! Lol. Hint....in order to get some kind of real action, one has to hold the guitar body still and actually bend the neck while shaking things around IF one wants to get some vibrato going on. Tremolo...grab that volume knob! Trem in a pedal works for me.

Good,luck on finding something very different with the limitations....or even without the limitations. Almost everything has been done, it seems. Some people seem to prefer a paraphase inverter to a cathodyne. Perhaps look at that 5E9A Tremolux....going old school. Put a switch to go from cathode to fixed Biasing? Two 6x9s placed in a cat’s eye manner? maybe Bad Cat would go for such a design?

 

6G2 is a good suggestion. You could also do a single channel BF princeton reverb without reverb and trem. Or, a single channel 6G3 deluxe with an LTP. Might be cool to do something where you can switch between tone stack and single tone control voicings.

Thinking outside the box but keeping the cathodyne phase inverter, maybe you could copy the preamp of an or-120? The cathodyne phase inverter always made me want to try that and see how similar it would sound.

 

The third tube is for tremolo. An 18 watt without tremolo was what I envisioned.
The Carmen Ghia has stacked the gain stage compared to the 18watt single or paralleled V1 gain. The Ghia would take it even further from tweed territory.

 

The single channel 6G3 Deluxe with no trem might be interesting. One other option would be to use a solid state rectifier and free up an octal for another purpose???.

 

..which is why it came to mind. Most everything one can see will look like something from the tweed territory in which the OP has already delved...even those 6G2/3 amps...especially the Princeton. So, one either goes back to early Fender circuits with paraphase inverters, or one goes outside the ‘norm’...like the Carmen Ghia.
Imwill,offer one more....a 7199/6AU8tube in one Noval.....hot pentode preamp and a triode cathodyne PI with the other Noval for the trem. Fender never built that......nor did any other guitar amp manufacturer that comes to mind. The preamp idea came from a little single ended Caliphone unit I owned....hot amp, beautiful sounds.

 

I've been considering a pentode V1 for a *Hammondator* donor Hammond organ future build.

 

A 6v6 powered Spitfire is a wonderful sounding amp.

 

Oh man this sounds amazing

 

Just a comment: a 5F11 IS a 6G2. The differences are slight. I like the non-Fenderish suggestions. Different is good.

 

and the circuit is much like a 5G9 Tremolux without the tremolo, right? Of course, the Matchless OT is probably twice the size of what Leo used in his tweed 6V6 amps. I have never played a Spitfire, but I like the Lightning a lot. Looking at the circuit, I can see quite a difference between the two....with the Spitfire being simpler.

 

yessir...a 6G2 rips when pushed. It is my favorite Princeton....and I love the Vibrolux 5F11 from whence it sprang. Pull the mid boost and/or manipulate the gain mode in a Super Champ, and you get that same sonic going on.

 

I just built a Blackvibe 6V6 with 5e3 spec trannies. Great amp

 

Do an Eric Clapton Tremolux. Tubeswell posted the schematic somewhere.