kbp810 Posted October 9, 2010 Author Posted October 9, 2010 Phew!!! It's done, but not without a little drama first: Kind of a long story... got the PT a few days ago but have been busy so didn't really get back to it until Yesterday morning Got to work wiring and all seemed to be going well; I had a 3:30 appointment to visit the casa de la Steiner for a scheduled musical quality control audit, and thought I was well on my way to bringing along the new little box! Well 2:30'ish rolls around and she's ready for a few start up tests... I was a little anxious thinking I would get her done just in time, so I did rush through it a bit (which of course is always a very very bad idea). Everything seemed to check, tubes in, speaker plugged in, power on... pilot light lit! filaments glowing! no fuse pops! faint hum from the speaker! Plugged in the guitar and... and... NOTHING! My first thought was a bad ground or an erroneous "extra" ground somewhere in the input/preamp chain... quick visual check, looked good, broke the multi meter back out and continuity all seemed to check... looked at the clock, it's 3:10 - so I walked away from it, grabbed my gear and headed out the door. Made it over to Steiners where some good conversations and good Heritage induced tones helped to ease the stress and worry of a non working new build sitting at home... So now it's Friday... get home from work and go right to town on troubleshooting... checking solder joints, wiring, grounds, all seemed fine... then took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and checked the output transformer, it checked out (PHEW!). So now I'm really scratching my head... I start checking components starting with the caps, and then bingo! One of the filter caps was shot reading straight shorted so it was grounding out the line leading from power amp to preamp. Went to go remove it, but oh no that wasn't quite enough damage done yet, so in the process I tried to move the cap next to it ever so slightly so I didn't accidentally hit it with the soldering iron... and snapped one of the leads clean off from its base in the process! So I sat there and stared at the mess I had made for a while... I had no more 16uf or 20uf caps on hand, but wait, I had 10uf caps! ...and what looks a whole lot like a 5F2 but with two smaller filter caps... thats right, a 5F1! So I called an audible and a few quick mods later I now have a perfectly fine and functioning 5F1 I did lose the tone control as well, though it seems silly to have a useless pot just sitting there, so I think I may try to either incorporate it back in, or perhaps mock it up for adjustable negative feedback; but thats a thought for another day (as in probably tomorrow ).
kbp810 Posted October 9, 2010 Author Posted October 9, 2010 I was getting a little winded there for a minute so thought I'd start with a fresh post for the tone report and pics: I carefully removed the wizzer cone from the Utah as per Slider's recomendation... as is now it does sound pretty good, but I think I might still try something else in there to see if I can get that sound bumped up to great - I met Alan Joseph a few days ago who does recones here locally and generally has a fair supply of freshly re-newed/re-coned speakers on hand so I might go pay him a visit. Overall though, the amp does sound great! Before I post some final pics, I'll point out a few quick notes: #1 I just dropped my 575 off to treat it to a level and fresh proper setup - so I'll have to wait a bit before I get to play through it using my favorite gitfiddle #2 I lost two of the screws for the top back piece (easily fixed with a trip to the hardware store, but still!) #3 I put foil/shield tape on the inside of the top back piece and I put it way too high up the board so it shows up by the controls. Which surprisingly all in all doesn't look that bad (I did try to pull it back a bit, but that stuff is really stuck on there good) #4 I didn't want two screws running through the top of the cab, so I mounted the chassis using L brackets #5 I should have known better... but the wiring looks to be a bit of a rats nest, I've done much cleaner work before. Thankfully there's no wild hums to chase down as a result. I do have a good tight twist on the filament wires, so I'm sure that helped.
Steiner Posted October 9, 2010 Posted October 9, 2010 Ahoy kbp810! I wish I could have heard an additional creation of yours. You did a mighty-fine job on the wood selection and cabinetry on this one! Is it perspective, or is this 5F1 about the same size as a Fender Champ? Thank you for bringing your other creation around. That baby sang with the P-90s! You got to love an amp with attitude!!! Perhaps we can schedule another meeting when the 575/525 is ready. I just HAVE to hear & see your new creation and discover how the P-90s changed your 575. I like what you're thinking
kbp810 Posted October 9, 2010 Author Posted October 9, 2010 This amp is just a tad bigger to help accomidate the 12" speaker - though with the solid maple it is without a doubt heavier! Can't wait to hear this one with the P90's as well! Here are a few pictures for a size perspective against my BF champ:
kbp810 Posted October 9, 2010 Author Posted October 9, 2010 One last update and I'll leave the thread alone... Before the Michigan vs Michigan State game I took a trip out to Alan's to talk speakers... and I walked out with an EVM12 (I forgot if it was an L or an S, but I think it was an S) This amp probably now weighs about as much as it's big brother; but WOW, this amp with that speaker is just amazing! No sound coloring or breakup from this speaker, just hearing the tone of the amp simple and true all the way up to the end of the dial, and it sounds damned good! I was worried about the added weight at first, but the tone well makes up for it
212Mavguy Posted October 13, 2010 Posted October 13, 2010 12s is a bit shallower in cone depth and puts out more mids than 12l. Also much rarer. Fantastic speaker! For that matter fantastic work on that amp!
DetroitBlues Posted October 26, 2010 Posted October 26, 2010 This amp is a beast as I recently had the pleasure of lugging it around. But its a tonal monster beast. Amps sounds great with strat single coils, P-90's, and humbuckers. Very clean, but mellow. Sounded awesome.
Steiner Posted October 27, 2010 Posted October 27, 2010 Yea Baby!!! She's sweet! If I could build amps like this, I'd never leave the house! Kudos to you KBP810
DetroitBlues Posted October 29, 2010 Posted October 29, 2010 We need to get some youtube or myspace clips of this amp in action!
FredZepp Posted November 2, 2010 Posted November 2, 2010 That looks like a whole bunch of fun.. and tone. Great Looking cabinet.. and the amp/ speaker combination has to sound great...!
DetroitBlues Posted November 2, 2010 Posted November 2, 2010 So where is the new thread? Rumor has it there is another amp in production! We want to see!
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