Amp kit instructions -- do you need/want 'em?

[King Fan]

For years, Shock Brothers has seen folks saying they'd build an amp if only they had detailed instructions. Now we're starting to see more amp kits (eg, Mojo, and StewMac versions of Mojo) with detailed instructions.

Disclosure: I built my first amps (5F2a, then PR) without instructions -- and after the fact thought it was much better. Yes, I had to read a ton and ask a ton of questions on amp forums and make a few mistakes, so I actually learned a ton. By the third build, I understood a lot more about B+ and voltages and what components did, and safety and grounding and…. And by that point, I learned there’s not just one good way to build an amp, but there are many many bad ways.

IMHO, flawed instructions are almost worse than none. Mojo had some funky stuff in their early versions. To their credit, they have been upgrading some to correct earlier odd / outdated / confusing choices. Their ground schemes and household wiring, though workable, are still less than ideal, but they seem to be a step ahead of their StewMac resellers.

There are so many choices to make in even simple amp builds. Understanding those choices empowers the builder. Relying on our honest but small kit suppliers to make them all correctly is asking a lot.

At a higher level, the ideal build sequence lets you test various parts of the circuit as you go, which makes startup much less scary. Yet none of the big commercial kits I’ve seen follow that build sequence.

Now Mojotone can't possibly make instructions (or kits) for every amp out there. And an amp isn't a model airplane, or even an Ikea bookcase. Tab A in Slot B is only going to go so far; even if you could get perfect instructions a PR (or DR or TR or AC10) isn’t a smart first build. FWIW I hear both Dave Allan and Trinity do great instructions. But many of the Allen and Trinity amps aren't at the beginner level.

Observation: Even on simple amps, we seem to see new builders more confused when they have instructions than when they don't. OK, but likely some sample bias there, since folks willing to go without instructions may have more background, or amp-smart friends, or more interest in going slow and researching everything.

I understand the wish to be guided. And yet even the simplest build (eg, 5F1) has so many plans with kits (or on the web) that don’t even draw the circuit right. So what’s a newbie to do?

TL/DR? for a first build, and maybe a second:

• Pick a simple amp and build to a simple, well-known, classic but modernized layout.
• Don’t build your dream amp or a hip modern amp; build a time-tested classic small amp.
• Do build an amp that has tons of build threads and nice build pics on the web. These are your guideposts and road maps.
• Don’t build an amp that involves a ton of TBD choices (this describes many micro amps).
• Don’t mod. Build, test, play for some months, then consider mods.

Above all, pick the right *layout* for your amp. For simple amps, you almost don’t need instructions if you can solder and follow the wiring on a *good* layout. (For sure, schematics are more important than layouts, but OTOH you can often use the original, eg, Fender, schematic – electron flow doesn’t change much over the decades). Rob's 5F1 and 5E3 layouts are great examples here.

Want a single simple choice? Rob’s 5F1 is perfect, and he even has a page about how to proceed. His Champ layouts are classic, commonly built, and time tested, with great safety features and a lack of complications, confusing choices, or concealed pitfalls.

Someday, in a perfect world, somebody’d make a commercial 5F1 kit and license/follow Rob’s layout. Or Rob would collaborate with Mojo on a 5F2a kit! Or a BF Champ/VibroChamp kit!

Still, think about being bold. Substitute your time, research, reading, forum questions, and a slow careful build process for instructions. Planning, learning, and building are the safe, fun parts -- make 'em last a while.

 

[DavidP]

For those interested, Stephen at Trinity Amps has a great, support page (https://www.trinityamps.com/support/) with some of the most detailed builders guides I've seen!
They're intended (please respect the restrictions noted) for their (excellent!) kits, but nevertheless relevant to the general models.

 

[danlad]

I figure there are a few moments of joy in achievement on these things. Like the learning how to solder, the learning how to piece it together from the template, factory skills but skills nonetheless. Then that moment you switch it on and hear something, anything, and it's wonderful! (Or terrible, but you figure out why and then get the wonderful bit). Then there's the more engineering and theory side where you learn why they did it like that. Or that they just blatantly copied something else and by accident or experiment stumbled on something. All part of the journey.

 

[VintageSG]

For superb instructions/build manuals, we are spoiled in the UK by Ampmaker. https://www.ampmaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/wf55guide.pdf for an example. Not just 'component a to turret b' but a full guide, how it works and voltages table. You learn as you go along, and the end results sound glorious.
I'm quite happy with a schematic, but a layout and 'stages' guide is always welcome. I'd rather have just a schematic and layout than ambiguous, incorrect or potentially dangerous instructions.

Forums can be a great help, providing the forum members aren't doo-schnozzles. Robs page is a good read too.

 

[Deeve]

What happens to all of these first amps?
Where do they go?
I can't recall seeing many home-brews offered up on CL.

A fellow (briefly) offered to assemble kit amps for people on my local CL but vanished before I had the chance to give him several unused cabs from my basement. I keep hoping he'll turn up again.

 

[Chipss36]

I can build from a schematic, it’s not real fun, a simple layout makes things easy, but even as a somewhat experienced builder , I love complete build guides , providing it is correct.

especially when the project gets complex.

simple vintage fender stuff a layout is fine…

 

[Paul G.]

I don't need instructions, but, since I am not full of myself, if they are provided I will read them. I have learned stuff, and am always willing to learn.

 

[Les Gear]

By and large amp 'kits' fall into two groups. You could make a 3x2 matrix if you like, but these things tend to come 'bundled.'

a) Detailed instructions vs 'go build, amp-boy'
b) Support via email / video / phone vs 'go build, amp-boy'
c) Boutique components vs nominally-correct electrical values

Folks like Weber and China-via-EBay charge less and don't offer instructions, support or gold-plated parts.
Folks like Mojo and StewMac charge more, provide support and include braggable components.

The punch line: Support and markup on 'brand' components are profit-centers for those who sell them. For a US-based business it is hard to make a living selling no-support box-o-parts 'kits' because the parts-markup-vs-carrying-cost curve is steep and some third-world enterprise will always undercut anyone who tries.

I'm grateful to the Weber folks for sticking with it. I generally don't need detailed instructions and appreciate the chance to not pay for them.

 

[kingofdogs1950]

I built my first kit in 1968.
Vox Jaguar from Heathkit. $300 which was a lot of $$
back then but the full list was $900.
A friend and I built the kit without problems.
It was Waaaay more difficult that any amp kit I've built which include a 2001 vertical chassis Allen Accomplice, Allen Hot Fudge/w Nuts and an Allen 5f1plus.
I've also built several scratch built DRs and such.
I don't remember the instructions on the Vox.
The Allen vertical chassis Accomplice had great instructions like other Allens, but the vertical chassis (think tweed) left no room to move.Tight spacing!
As for a new builder just starting out, I would recommend good instructions plus internet help at TDPRI and elsewhere. There are some things that are hard to figure out from looking at a layout/schematic.
This is not rocket science but it does require careful attention to detail and some basic hand tool and soldering skills.
I was all set on building a Mojotone 5f11 a couple of years ago but ran across a used Mojotone 5f11 built by Mojotone and that has ended my amp building career.
I am quite happy with the 5f11 and don't see any other builds.

Mark

 

[NSB_Chris]

I feel for the person that is just starting out and is willing to buy a kit to just get it right the first time without having to research to the point that you feel you have enough to pull the trigger, and then the kit you buy falls short. That is what I did and was frustrated by the fact that my MojoTone instructions brought me part way but left me hanging. Obvious discrepancies in the schematic and layout erode confidence and make you feel vulnerable to catastrophic mistakes. However, I had a measure of TDPRI support in advance. In the end, like @King Fan mentions, it was a necessary step to make me research, focus and pay attention. Personally, I think it is a good thing to have really detailed and precise instructions for the entry level builds. If you graduate from there, you are fully committed to understanding how things work and exploring vintage and boutique circuits, so you don't want kits anyway. By then, there is no way that a kit will not violate what you think is the "right way to do things", so a detailed kit is useless. You want and need to own it. Ok, by then it is also more of a sickness but we are among family here!!!

I have made so many unnecessary detailed documentations of builds and subjected so many on TDPRI to detailed postings that I think it would be relatively easy for a supplier to provide thorough and detailed build instructions for entry level amps. Those would wet the appetite and more complex designs could be designated "for more advanced builders only" and not have the same level of documentation.

 

[loopfinding]

Build notes specific to layout or component choice quirks are fine, maybe a little reminder of best practices, but uh, I think if you need ground up instructions maybe you shouldn’t be messing around with high voltage. Start with pedals.

 

[King Fan]

As many of you say, different strokes for different folks. When I started, I had the long-distance support of my brother who really knows amps, my dad had taught me to solder and set an example building Heathkit stereo gear when I was a kid, and I *like* doing internet research.

OTOH, I got confused *bad* reading different advanced grounding guides, and I got mocked good a couple times for dummmb forum questions. But there were few if any kit instructions back then — and for my 5F2a (an ideal first build) AFAIK there still aren’t, which may be the bigger point.

 

[tele_savales]

The main thing I learned from flailing my way through a fairly ambitious first build was to come up w a sequence of my own and stick to it. Like most grown men I don’t like to read the instructions until I’m already hosed, but there just certain things I do such as holding off on installing the PT and line cord until close to the end.it’s just too much of a hassle to deal w when I’m flipping the chassis around.
I’m not sure how to answer the original post because I see so many threads and videos of guys that have a lot of trouble building a 5f1 even w instructions.

 

[clydethecat]

I'd like to see Heathkit or Dynakit style instructions for a small group of the most popular amp builds - say 5F2, 5E3, blackface Princeton Reverb, and Marshall 1974 18-watt. Real hand-holding stuff, down to how long to cut each wire, order of assembly, a checklist for each step. After you've got one of these under your belt, you should be able to extrapolate the same skills to a more complex amp of the same style with just a schematic and layout.

 

[King Fan]

I’m not sure how to answer the original post because I see so many threads and videos of guys that have a lot of trouble building a 5f1 even w instructions.

That's a perfect answer. It hints at one problem with instructions — *for some people* instructions provide a false hope that yes, they too can build an amp. For one thing, a lot of smart regular normal folks just can’t follow the complex, tedious, detailed, and yes, sometimes ambiguous instructions that will always be part of something so complicated. Beyond that, tho, if you lack the basic 'handy' factor (or the patience, or time, or interest) to learn to solder, use a DMM, and build say a cap snuffer and light bulb limiter, maybe you really aren’t the sort of person who should build an amp.

 

[zeppelinofled69]

I just finished a JTM45 clone using the Metro instructions... and while I can say the instructions were pretty good and very detailed, they slowed me down a bit. I would argue these are pretty close to what was described by @David Barnett.

Having a few builds behind me, I have my own habits and generally like to shoot from the hip a bit when I am building. This is usually because every chassis needs to be assembled differently depending on what is in the way of what. I tried to follow the instructions, but wound up using them as more of a reference to go back to if I need to check something. Typically I like to select a layout diagram from the many available and then grab a copy of the schematic so I can double check anything that may not be clear... like Fender filter caps on their layouts. Like many others, I learned from my own mistakes and countless hours pouring over build pictures and technical pages to understand things like grounding schemes.

@King Fan To be honest, this is one of the only hobbies I have ever developed that patience, time, and interest for, but it is all absolutely necessary. This is a very accessible activity for many people to get into, but you only get what you put into it. I think you are right in saying that instructions give people more confidence where they otherwise wouldn't have it. Could be part of the sales model, but I can say that I wouldn't have picked the hobby up if I didn't think it was "easy" at one point.

 

[tele_savales]

That's a perfect answer. It hints at one problem with instructions — *for some people* instructions provide a false hope that yes, they too can build an amp. For one thing, a lot of smart regular normal folks just can’t follow the complex, tedious, detailed, and yes, sometimes ambiguous instructions that will always be part of something so complicated. Beyond that, tho, if you lack the basic 'handy' factor (or the patience, or time, or interest) to learn to solder, use a DMM, and build say a cap snuffer and light bulb limiter, maybe you really aren’t the sort of person who should build an amp.

I am very much the visual learner and I watched 100's of videos and stared at dozens of schematics and diagrams, and had committed a massive amount of info off rob's website to memory for about 18 months before I committed to building anything. I didn't have instructions, but I did blow up the schematic and diagram to like 3'x5' and have them right in front of my bench. I took Robs advice and measured every component and logging it on the drawing before installing it. I literally triple and quadruple every connection against the print visually AND for continuity before first power up. I also always try to work on that visual puzzle of how a layout translates to the schematic. I'm starting to see layout when I look at a schematic now (at least in the sense of how Leo did it)

Still, my technical knowledge is weak/relatively non-existent. I bought Merlins preamp book in an attempt to learn load lines and so forth and I just can't wrap my mind around it yet. My math skills kind of suck so that may be part of the issue.

Also, and this goes back to wanting to make my own mistakes and figure them out on my own, is that I almost never resort to asking for help, even though I know you guys will spot my error in 30 seconds. I'd rather stare into the chassis for 10 days and figure it out on my own.
One thing I know I really need to work on is KEEPING NOTES. Every time I successfully troubleshoot something I've botched I need to be able to know what I did and I can never remember.

What I'd really like to continue doing is 100% P2P builds of classic circuits. No board. So far I've only done a Vibro Champ, and it was great fun and sounds epic. It just seems to up the ante in terms of watching your lead dress and so forth. I really enjoy doing my own circuit layout first on diylc, then laying out the chassis and drilling it. Now that I'm working again I can start blowing money on components for my next build. After I make this drop in replacement pickguard w noiseless pickups for the 85 MIJ Strat I found for 35 bucks.