pix of Custom built guitar amps/cabs

[deadastronaut]

ok all done..

heres a  rack preamp and integrated 1 watt amp i designed and built (with help from samhay)
active EQ, FX send/return, preamp+DI out, and speaker out, drives a 12'' speaker nicely. its been a long project, but i finally finished it. pheww...

[Ripdivot]

That is awesome DA!

[peterg]

Cabinet for a P1 amp I built a while back:

[Marcos - Munky]

This is my new amp. It's a 10W tube amp called "Iall 10.5", a project from brazilian forum Handmades using 2 ECL82 tubes. And a preamp called "Vintage Voyage" from the same forum, using a EF184.

[vigilante397]

I'm always afraid to post in this thread because there are so many amazing builders out there and I'm still relatively new to the amp building world. But it's story time My best friend growing up got his first electric guitar when he was 12 (an entry-level Kramer strat knockoff) and his first real amp at 15 (50W Behringer solid state behemoth with a million digital effects). Nearly 15 years later they were still the only pieces of gear he had, so naturally I had to get involved. Last Christmas I gave him a RAT because he pretty much only used distortion on his amp so I figured he should probably at least have a good distortion. For his birthday a month ago I gave him an ESP V-style guitar with Seymour Duncan pickups, and for Christmas this year he is getting this.

I was looking for a low wattage tube amp that would be easy to mod, and since I couldn't find a Blackheart Little Giant (my personal main amp) for cheap I decided to stick with the same designer and got a used Epiphone Valve Junior off eBay for $100. It looked a little beat up, and the previous owner had switched the back grill onto the front and gotten rid of the original front panel, so it looked a little weird, but I took a chance and am glad I did as he had also swapped out the original PCB for an eyelet board (looks like it was a kit, moderately well assembled just needed a couple touch-ups on solder joints), and had swapped out the factory output transformer for a new one. It sounded very good, but way too bright for my ears and it had next to no clean headroom, so I added a simple passive tone stack on the front end. It let me balance out the tone and also gave me a little more headroom. I also added an attenuator so he could crank the gain at bedroom volumes, and to compensate for my personal lack of artistic ability (note the front plate labels ) I mounted a bunch of LEDs to the bottom of the chassis so they lit up the whole box.

I'm leaving this evening to head home for the holidays and will be delivering it along with a 1x12 Celestion cab to my friend Tuesday.

tl;dr - look at this sweet looking amp!









EDIT: nearly forgot the spaghetti shots

[bluebunny]

"Lights"!   

Nice one.

[GiovannyS10]

I loved the lights too. Hahahaha

[bancika]

Built it few years ago, but didn't take a photo until recently. It's a compact open-back pine cab with Celestion G10 Vintage speaker. Sounds great to me.

[wavley]

I built two of these, one for a customer of my repair shop and one for me.

[vigilante397]

I can't take full credit for this as it was just a kit, but this is my Matchless Lightning build a la Ceriatone. The head cabinet was custom built by Taylor at Amplified Nation (with a Matchless logo because I'm vain like that ), the speaker cabinet is a Blackstar 1x12 that I put a Tone Tubby in and replaced the logo again with a Matchless for my ego Hands down the best sounding rig I've ever owned, quite possibly the best I've ever heard. Just wow.







And don't make fun of my guts, it was my first time

[stallik]

That's a pretty and cool looking rig. Guts look OK to me, only tiny niggle is that the speaker label appears to be upside down

Been tempted by one myself. Sound samples?

[deadastronaut]

beauty....nice work man..

[vigilante397]

Been tempted by one myself. Sound samples?

That could be arranged   

[G. Hoffman]

I've made myself an AC30.  It's still got a few things to clean up (some issues with the Vibe/Trem controls, and some noise in the Top Boost and EF86 channels - the noise is probably just putting in some better tubes).  Stupid complex amp, and I'm pretty sure I never want to make another one!  That said, though, it sounds freaking amazing - even before I put it in the cabinet with the right speakers (a pair of Weber ALNICO Blue Dogs).












Gabriel

[thermionix]

I've made myself an AC30.  It's still got a few things to clean up (some issues with the Vibe/Trem controls, and some noise in the Top Boost and EF86 channels - the noise is probably just putting in some better tubes).  Stupid complex amp, and I'm pretty sure I never want to make another one!  That said, though, it sounds freaking amazing - even before I put it in the cabinet with the right speakers (a pair of Weber ALNICO Blue Dogs).

There's something very "Doug Hoffman" about this build.  Any relation?

[G. Hoffman]

There's something very "Doug Hoffman" about this build.  Any relation?

Nope.  I'm a guitar builder by trade and family. 

I do buy my lugs from Doug though (I've used some others, and they just aren't as nice!), and I hang out on his forum from time to time.  He's one of the reasons I can't use my name on my own amps, though (Gabriel is taken too).


Gabriel

[thermionix]

Yep, he makes very similar turret boards, and also uses those brown "chicklet" caps a lot.  Or at least he used to, it's been a while since I've checked out his stuff.

Did you build that from a kit or scratch?  Where did you get the chassis?  Are you using the JJ EF86?  How do you like it?

Is that too many questions? 

I built an AC-15 years ago, the early circuit with the EF86 channel (slightly modded).  Probably the best distortion I've ever heard.  At that time, the only EF86s being made were by Svetlana, and they were just horrible.  I was lucky to find a couple German ones (Siemens IIRC) that were amazing.  I pretty much never used the vibe/trem 12AX7 channel.

In the end, the amp just wasn't loud enough for the gigs I was playing, and I sold it.  I really miss it.  I've promised myself that I'll build another, just the EF86 channel, but 30 watts into two Alnico 12s.  Super simple AC-30, if you will.  So I've been wondering about the JJ EF86s for that reason.

[G. Hoffman]

Yep, he makes very similar turret boards, and also uses those brown "chicklet" caps a lot.  Or at least he used to, it's been a while since I've checked out his stuff.

Did you build that from a kit or scratch?  Where did you get the chassis?  Are you using the JJ EF86?  How do you like it?

Is that too many questions? 

I built an AC-15 years ago, the early circuit with the EF86 channel (slightly modded).  Probably the best distortion I've ever heard.  At that time, the only EF86s being made were by Svetlana, and they were just horrible.  I was lucky to find a couple German ones (Siemens IIRC) that were amazing.  I pretty much never used the vibe/trem 12AX7 channel.

In the end, the amp just wasn't loud enough for the gigs I was playing, and I sold it.  I really miss it.  I've promised myself that I'll build another, just the EF86 channel, but 30 watts into two Alnico 12s.  Super simple AC-30, if you will.  So I've been wondering about the JJ EF86s for that reason.

Well, the design is based on old AC30's, obviously, but I did modify the power supply (added a whole bunch of extra isolation), dropped in the EF86 channel (yes, it's a JJ EF806 - it sounds great, and not too much noise and no noticeable microphonics), and did the layout (the layout sort of started with the Weber 6V30, and of course the old layout, but I did make some pretty major changes, most notably distributing the power supply bypass caps through the amp).  I made the chassis using 18 or 20 gauge mild steel (I don't remember which) using a $60 brake from Harbor Fright.  It was quite nice, because I was able to drill all the holes in flat metal instead of in a bent chassis.  When it was drilled and bent, I cleaned it and painted it will metal etch primer.  I wanted to get it nickel plated (as the old ones were), but it just wasn't important enough for me to want to send it out. 

I'm working on the box for it now.  I put the main part of it together tonight (and by the by, DAMN but a 2x12 amp cabinet is big!!!!!).  I hope to have it finished by the end of the weekend, but there are a couple pieces of trim which might be problematic if I get too fussy about them.  I really want to make some chrome vent covers and a chrome fascia strip, but it might be more work than I can justify, with all the other projects I have to finish.

By the way, I've made Doug's AC30 without the Vibe/Trem channel (though, no EF86), and it just didn't sound right.  The explanation I've heard is that the way the Vibe/Trem channel loads the phase inverter is really particular, and really important (this is not hard to believe, given it is a heavily capacative load).  I'm probably going to continue to use my Empress Tremolo² for my tremolo (awesome pedal, btw), so I'm not sure how much use the Vibe/Trem channel will get, BUT it is worth it for the way it makes the rest sound.


Gabriel

[thermionix]

Very cool, and thanks for the detailed reply.  I didn't know brakes were available for $60, useful information.  I'll need to study the phase inverter input some more if I get around to the one channel build, there's probably a way to simulate the loading of the other channel.

I'm sure you know, but do make those vents as big as you can stand to.  The one big flaw in many old Vox amps is inadequate ventilation.

If possible, post some sound clips when you get 'er all buttoned up!

[G. Hoffman]

Very cool, and thanks for the detailed reply.  I didn't know brakes were available for $60, useful information. 

Well, it's not very good.  But you know, better than nothing.

And I'm working on designing some machinable vent covers right now (the first shot were impossible to make!), but they are about 150% bigger than the original AC30 vents, and I'm going to have a fan in at least one of them.  But if you think about it, with all 12 tubes, this thing is kind of a 40 Watt space heater stuffed into about 2 cubic feet!


Gabriel