My newest amp build (Tube, hardwood single 12" combo)

[soulsonic]

That amp looks great! I haven't been able to do much with fancy woods myself - I'm not much of a woodworker. I've been experimenting mostly with trying to get the brightest chassis colors I can.

Here's the most recent monstrosity I built. It's kinda based on a Soldano, with only a single overdrive channel and "extended controls". I finished the chassis myself and the cabinet is from Weber.


And inside:

[Bernardduur]

It is for me

I like things simple; I replaced two chickenheads with creme ones to determine the overdrive gain and volume

Edit; I don't think it was me you were talking to, right?

Not really I asked John because his was finished And I could clearly see no labeling. Yours could still get them

LOL

[John Lyons]

Bernardduur
Your amp looks good so far. Looks like a super reverb as far as the size style and speaker cutouts.

I didn't label the controls because I wanted to keep the amps faceplate sparse and very minimal.
The controls are easy to remember. Left to right: Gain, bass mid, treble, volume.
Once you know that the left knob is gain and the right knob is volume you just have to remember bass, mid, treble.

The amp is a custom build for a guy in Chicago. We worked through all the details, colors, wood and features.

I'm not a cabinet maker at all. I just made this in my basement.
Once you get a little practice with the tools and get comfortable with what needs to be done it's not as hard as it may seem.
Lots of time put into this one although...

Soulsonic
That amp looks nice. The Soldano SLO is a beast for sure to wire, yours looks great inside and out.
What did you end up using the Weber relay board for? What extended controls did you add?

John

[soulsonic]

The extended controls are a second gain knob for more control over the gain structure (works good too), the LFA "Low Frequency Adjust" which works kinda like the FAC in an old Orange to cut the extreme lows and change the overall tone, the FMB "Full, Mellow, Bright" switch that adjusts the cathode bypassing on the first stage, the Fat switch that changes the arrangement of the Resonance control in the Negative Feedback Loop which changes it's frequency, and the Blast switch. The relay is controlled by the Blast switch on the front panel or a footswitch - it puts a high resistance bypassed by a small capacitance in the NFB loop which results in a noticeable (and mean sounding) boost in the overall volume independent of any of the controls. There's alot of Weber parts in this amp, but I've stopped using them for personal reasons.

I also have the preliminary "Idea" schematic up in the Schematics section under "Tube" for a fairly easy and cheap tube amp project I'm starting. The idea is that it will be especially for use with pedals. Check it out and give me some feedback! So far, I've found one little issue with the cathode bias resistors I have on the output tubes - the value is too low - need to spec larger ones or the tubes will run way too hot.

[Bernardduur]

Thanks man!

It is a Dumble; it sounds SO good!!!

No faceplate for me; now all I need to figure out is a colorscheme

[soulsonic]

I recommend red.

[Bernardduur]

I recommend red.

You know, I have this small tube amp in for repair, and it is beautifully red.............

So my first thought was red yes!

[Toney]

Unbelievably good work, John. 

Damn near too pretty to play..

[Bernardduur]

My amp is finished; just posting some pics

Pic 1
Pic 2

[Victor]

John, first of all, congrats! Very nice work indeed!

Second, how those "6L6-ish" 10W RMS on clean are working for you, both tone and volume-wise? Is it OK to saturate power section without any ear bleeding or at least any problems with the neighbours.......?

I plan redo my HiOctane (it has a 6V6) and I'm still wondering to see if a 6L6 or EL34 should be enough for me (bedroom playing and maybe some more with band).

[Paul Marossy]

Wow, that's beautiful! Great job. 

[John Lyons]

Victor
Why don't you like your High Octane?
The "Octal Fatness" has a nice clean and classic rock sound.
Not a lot of clean volume but enough for at home or recording.

Thanks for the compliment Paul!

John