DIY Tweed Champ Cab Head

[teleman78]

Hello folks, I just picked up a 5F1 Tweed Champ Woking Chassis from a builder and wanted to know if anyone has a template for a head cab for this build that I can use to make it myself? And or any ideas I can use to make a little head cabinet.. doesn’t have to be very fancy at all.

Thanks so much.

 

[jman72]

Hello folks, I just picked up a 5F1 Tweed Champ Woking Chassis from a builder and wanted to know if anyone has a template for a head cab for this build that I can use to make it myself? And or any ideas I can use to make a little head cabinet.. doesn’t have to be very fancy at all.

Thanks so much.

I built a head cab for my son's 5f1 build. I will measure it and get back with the dimensions.

 

[jman72]

I also built a 12" speaker cab to go with it.

 

[teleman78]

I built a head cab for my son's 5f1 build. I will measure it and get back with the dimensions.
View attachment 936120

WOW! Thank you so much. That looks so beautiful

 

[Milspec]

Very nice!

 

[jman72]

WOW! Thank you so much. That looks so beautiful

No problem (and thanks)! I put a 5751 preamp tube in this thing (instead of a 12ax7) when we built it almost 2 years ago, and it is probably my favorite all-time amp to play! Such a great versatile little amp. I'll hate to see it go when my son leaves for college this fall, so I'll just have to build myself one of my own! I hope you enjoy yours, too.

For the head cab, the outside dimensions are 12"W x 7.25"H x 9"D. I used standard 3/4" pine from Lowes, so the inside dimensions of the cab are approximately 10.5"W x 5.75"H, which is just the right amount of space for the 5f1 chassis (there is about 1/4" of clearance on each side of the chassis and about an inch above the power transformer on the top). I used 1/8 oak plywood for the faceplate set 0.5" in from the front, screwed into two 1"x1" pine cleats run vertically on the cab. The chassis is screwed into the faceplate and sits pretty much flush on the bottom of the cab. It's very sturdy- I used dovetail joints, but even simple butt joints would work. These dimensions worked perfectly for our chassis (~8.75"W x 2.75"H x 4.25"D), but you might just check to make sure yours is cloe just to be sure.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and good luck!

 

[bluesintheblood]

Built a basic box..inspired somewhat from old vintage radios

 

[teleman78]

No problem (and thanks)! I put a 5751 preamp tube in this thing (instead of a 12ax7) when we built it almost 2 years ago, and it is probably my favorite all-time amp to play! Such a great versatile little amp. I'll hate to see it go when my son leaves for college this fall, so I'll just have to build myself one of my own! I hope you enjoy yours, too.

For the head cab, the outside dimensions are 12"W x 7.25"H x 9"D. I used standard 3/4" pine from Lowes, so the inside dimensions of the cab are approximately 10.5"W x 5.75"H, which is just the right amount of space for the 5f1 chassis (there is about 1/4" of clearance on each side of the chassis and about an inch above the power transformer on the top). I used 1/8 oak plywood for the faceplate set 0.5" in from the front, screwed into two 1"x1" pine cleats run vertically on the cab. The chassis is screwed into the faceplate and sits pretty much flush on the bottom of the cab. It's very sturdy- I used dovetail joints, but even simple butt joints would work. These dimensions worked perfectly for our chassis (~8.75"W x 2.75"H x 4.25"D), but you might just check to make sure yours is cloe just to be sure.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and good luck!

Thanks so much! Let me receive the chassis to verify the dimensions and I will keep you posted. The tip about the preamp tube is interesting... Do you get more overdrive gain by this?

Lastly, I just wonder where do you screw in the front plate? Would you mind sharing a picture of the inside of the cabinet through the rear?

Thank so much for your kind help.

 

[teleman78]

Built a basic box..inspired somewhat from old vintage radios

This looks so nice, thanks for sharing.

 

[bullfrogblues]

Here are some plans with dimensions. I'm sure you could modify to make a head instead of a combo cab.

 

[jman72]

Thanks so much! Let me receive the chassis to verify the dimensions and I will keep you posted. The tip about the preamp tube is interesting... Do you get more overdrive gain by this?

Lastly, I just wonder where do you screw in the front plate? Would you mind sharing a picture of the inside of the cabinet through the rear?

Thank so much for your kind help.

The 5751 preamp tube has about 70% of the gain of a 12ax7, so it actually gets LESS overdrive. One of the complaints that I hear about Champs is that they're a one-trick pony because they overdrive at any reasonable volume (you hear the same thing about the Tweed Deluxe). With the 5751, the Tweed circuits stay clean longer, giving you (I think) a much more usable amp. I have a 5751 in my Tweed Champ and Tweed Deluxe, and I swear by them. My buddy has the exact same 5E3 clone that I have (we built them together basically), but has a 12ax7 instead of a 5751, and it breaks up really early. I prefer to have those glorious Tweed cleans, but use my OD pedals to push it into breakup when I want. It's easy to change the preamp tube, so you can try this if you want.

Here's a shot of the inside of the Champ cabinet from the rear. You can see that I just have 1"x1" pine cleats that are attached to the sides of the cabinet (set back ~1/2 inch from the front). The plywood front plate is just screwed into these from the front (with four screws- one in each corner). The chassis is attached to the plywood with the two standard chassis screws and siting on the bottom of the cab.

Here's a better explanation:

 

[teleman78]

Here are some plans with dimensions. I'm sure you could modify to make a head instead of a combo cab.

Thank you for the information

 

[teleman78]

The 5751 preamp tube has about 70% of the gain of a 12ax7, so it actually gets LESS overdrive. One of the complaints that I hear about Champs is that they're a one-trick pony because they overdrive at any reasonable volume (you hear the same thing about the Tweed Deluxe). With the 5751, the Tweed circuits stay clean longer, giving you (I think) a much more usable amp. I have a 5751 in my Tweed Champ and Tweed Deluxe, and I swear by them. My buddy has the exact same 5E3 clone that I have (we built them together basically), but has a 12ax7 instead of a 5751, and it breaks up really early. I prefer to have those glorious Tweed cleans, but use my OD pedals to push it into breakup when I want. It's easy to change the preamp tube, so you can try this if you want.

Here's a shot of the inside of the Champ cabinet from the rear. You can see that I just have 1"x1" pine cleats that are attached to the sides of the cabinet (set back ~1/2 inch from the front). The plywood front plate is just screwed into these from the front (with four screws- one in each corner). The chassis is attached to the plywood with the two standard chassis screws and siting on the bottom of the cab.

View attachment 936225

Here's a better explanation:

View attachment 936237

This is very valuable information. With this now I can really understand it much better.

Thank you so very much!!

 

[teleman78]

Gentlemen, I decided to go with the same route as I did for the speaker cabinet I made with a bee keeper's "nuc" box from the bee supply store. I found one half the size and modified it to make it shorter. It ended up working out okay, I just went this route because I don't have a table saw or room for one.... the nuc boxes from the bee supply store are already cut with finger joins, please see attached. Thank you all for your valuable input.

 

[bullfrogblues]

Thank you for the information

Looks great!

and my apologies, when I glanced through the opening post my mind said 5E3. sorry for my confusion.

 

[teleman78]

Looks great!

and my apologies, when I glanced through the opening post my mind said 5E3. sorry for my confusion.

Thank you. No worries at all.

 

[jman72]

Gentlemen, I decided to go with the same route as I did for the speaker cabinet I made with a bee keeper's "nuc" box from the bee supply store. I found one half the size and modified it to make it shorter. It ended up working out okay, I just went this route because I don't have a table saw or room for one.... the nuc boxes from the bee supply store are already cut with finger joins, please see attached. Thank you all for your valuable input.

That looks great! Nice work. Having a Champ in a head cab opens up a ton of options for use with different speakers/cabs. And it's super light, too.