diy amp help???

[doug deeper]

ok heres the deal...i think im ready to take the plunge into amp building...
yes thats right! pluging stuff into the wall!
but i dont really see a scheme for what i have in mind....
all i want is a 40ish watt 2/el34 amp...w/one volume/and one tone control...
i can figure out the tone portion my self...but does anyone have any further advice???
id love my first build to me from a kit...(to avoid death) but i really dont want to build a 5 watt amp...or a master volume rock machine....
i just want loud and simple...and loud....

[JimRayden]

I don't know of any kits of EL34 amps...

I think you should go to AX84.com or 18watt.com with these questions.

You can avoid death by getting the right parts and rechecking all your connections. And using rubber boots. And wearing rubber gloves.  

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Jimbo

[Fret Wire]

https://weberspeakerscom.secure.powweb.com/store/kitord_r.htm

[ocelot]

I am in the process of buying a simple AC30 from them

[JimRayden]

Cool site. Gotta scrape my savings together and get myself one of those too.


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Jimbo

[onboard]

A friend of mine went with some Weber Vintage Series drivers, and IIRC he said everything about dealing with them was absolutely top notch.

[aaronkessman]

first off, have fun. it'll be great.

2. the difference between 5W and 40W is not all that much in terms of volume.

3. that said, the marshall 18Watt is a fantastic amp that can be built stripped down (further) to only a single vol and tone. I highly recommend it.

4. you prob wont find any el34 kits.

5. Weber has great parts and is great to deal with.

6. also consider getting a weber mass or other attenuator if you want to play anything about a 1W amp at home.

7. you might want a kit for conveneience, but if you build one of the more common DIY amps - ie, 18W, fender deluxe, etc - you'll be fine getting all the stuff you need separately.

good luck. it'll be graet. my 18W and fender deluxe clones are the best amps ive ever heard.

[Paul Marossy]

You might want to consider this kit: http://allenamps.com/hotfudge.html

They are decent amps and I have never heard anything bad about Allen Amps. Yeah, I know, they are a little pricey, but I think worth it.

[Fret Wire]

For EL34's, Weber's 6M45 kit is a JTM-45 type head. For EL84's, his 6M18 kit is a basic 18-watter type with a choice of different cabs or head.

[SirPoonga]

diyaudio.com

snoop around there for awhile.

Check out the bass amp thread I started in the musical instrument forum.  Lots of relevant links there.

[Outlaws]

2. the difference between 5W and 40W is not all that much in terms of volume.

Well, 40 watts is getting close to the 10x issue (where to double the volume you need just under 10x the watts), but there is one HUGE difference between 5watts and 40watts.

The headroom.

[rubberlips]

You might be better of getting a second hander and moding it for the price. I paid about $250 australian for a Vadis head unit to be shipped to my door (that's about $125 US). Can't remember if it had EL34's or EL84's in it (haven't looked at it for a while). It wasn't fully tube, the preamp was solid state. However the chassis was setout to take both - solid state or tube preamps so it's punched out like that. It's got the same transformer for both SS or tube so everythings there if you want to mod it into a full tube amp.

I got it for one of those projects to do in the future - I'll get around to it eventually

Cheers

Pete

[blandman74]

For a slightly cheaper approach, you might try kits from www.stf-electronics.com.  I ordered a Champ Head kit from them and got good quality parts (tiny OT, though) and an instruction booklet.  The booklet was lame but functional.  Nowadays it looks like they're offering a pre-punched chassis, too.  Can't beat the price!

[ryanscissorhands]

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=209

GGG has some amp projects, fairly simple.

[timwalsh]

is there a good site with a list of the common tubes and maybe a little about them?  I've seen a lotta names but have no idea what is what

[MarkB]

I just built a P1-EX kit from http://www.dobermanamps.com  with a single EL34...

You could easily modify that to run a pair of them as parallel SE.

Email Chris - he's really helpful
"-)