Amp Kit choice.

[Jesse1973]

Starting to save for DIY amp kit.Decided on a 5e3 kit.I would need instructions to go with it.I found two companies that offer instructions Stewmac and Mojotone.Stewmac is more expensive .Which company should I choose?


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[mabinogeon]

Mojotone. All the way.

But you an also use Stewmac's instructions, which are thorough and nice:
(link removed)

 

[Archangelmm]

 

[The Angle]

Question from someone who's also thinking about building his first amp - How different can the instructions be from one 5e3 kit to another?

 

[AJBaker]

I haven't tried them, but I've heard good things about boothillamps.com. But I don't know if they do the whole kit.

 

[RottenTheCat]

Mojotone. Quality iron. Best cabinet and chassis. I'm not real big on there power filter capacitors and always get my own Atoms. Your choice and speaker will vary as well but you can order the kit without speaker I'm buying whatever you like 4 speaker.

You can go cheap or you can go quality. Mojo is pretty good stuff

 

[Paul G.]

For the 5E3, I also recommend the Mojotone. Good components, nice chassis, nice cabinet.

 

[Preacher]

I used Dave at Boothill for my parts but I was only buying certain pieces.

I think the Stewmac unit is a rebranded Mojotone unit.

 

[jman72]

Boothill sells a good kit for a good price. You can get all the instructions you need from this site or elsewhere on the internet. Don't let that drive your decision.

 

[Jesse1973]

Wasn’t so much letting the instruction drive the decisions as finding everything I would need in one place .For example. Chassis and components one place and cabinet and speaker someplace else.


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[mikestearns]

Question from someone who's also thinking about building his first amp - How different can the instructions be from one 5e3 kit to another?

Little differences that can make a big difference in the end. One might have a slightly different wiring diagram. One might have you do things in a different order that maybe is a little more difficult or less optimum than another. When I built my first amp (a 5f1 Champ) I used Stew Mac as a guide, but also Rob Robinette's page and a few other sites.

 

[Mark the Moose]

Mojotone kits are great. Boot Hill and Hoffman also get a lot of love around here.

 

[Tube Life]

I recently built a MojoTone Super Reverb. Great stuff all the way except I chose to go with Belton tube sockets from TubeDepot. The 9pin sockets from Belton have larger openings on the pins which made the heater wire install a breeze. Overall I’d go with another Mojo kit in a heartbeat.

Oh, I too used the StewMac Deluxe Reverb instructions as a guide for my Super, big help for a first timer. Mojo just supplies a wiring diagram and schematic.

 

[Jesse1973]

What is the difference between a deluxe reverb and a super reverb?


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[Tube Life]

Essentially the same eyelet board AB763 circuit except for a few different values of caps and resistors, almost identical. Where they differ is in the power section and the iron is larger.
•40-50 watt Super vs 22 watts for the deluxe.
•Super uses 6l6gc vs 6v6 tubes.
•Super is a 4x10 speaker configuration vs a 1x12 deluxe

In a nutshell give or take a few more details

 

[schmee]

Mojotone. Think about what speaker you really want and upgrade or etc.

 

[schmee]

What is the difference between a deluxe reverb and a super reverb?


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Yeah, not a lot in the wiring. All the AB763 from the Deluxe Reverb to the Twin are very nearly the same on the board with small component changes in a few spots.

 

[ce24]

My WEBER kit has been going strong for about a decade.

 

[King Fan]

AFAIK StewMac is reselling Mojo's kit with their permission and a markup. And I think maybe Mojo is now also providing instructions -- did I just see 'em in another thread here? If so, as noted, you can check each instruction against the other.

TDPRI users have noted a few *isolated* but potentially serious issues with StewMac's instructions. I didn't review the Mojo instructions I saw the other day, but their layouts have had a few local but important issues in the past.

I'm not a fan of instructions. I totally admit, it's mostly 'cuz that wasn't the way I did it -- and I can't imagine I'd have learned as much or enjoyed the build as much if I'd just mechanically followed a tedious list of instructions. Seriously.

But I hope I'm wrong -- the wide availability of instructions is too new to really judge how well they work for first time builders. So if you do it, start a build thread here -- either way, you're still gonna have questions, and you can learn more and avoid errors with group input.

 

[The Ballzz]

My MojoTone based 5E3 Deluxe is the absolute best amp I've ever owned in 50+ years of playing guitar. It's also one of the best sounding amps I've ever heard/played through! I did use a ClassicTone power transformer and used their eyelet board as a template for my own turret board and added screen resistors and a passive effects loop between the volume pot and V2A. Otherwise bone stock and glorious! I'm using a G12M/75hz/25watt greenback and lovin' life.

My $.02,
Gene