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Very cool, Ch0.
Never considered meself an amp nerd before but after your riveting play by play I must say it sounds like the kind of project I'd love to try. Perhaps if I wasn't so hopeless with such things, I would...
Congratulations!
So a little update. I had my first jam with the new amp last night. Well first jam with my Hell ZeroDot too actually!
I was a still a little nervous that I'd done something wrong and the amp would explode (no, not literally) when run up loud, so I lugged my recently re tubed combo all the way to the rehearsal space too. I needn't have bothered. In fact, I don't think the combo really needs to leave the house any more.
It sounded amazing! The surgery I had to do on my 4x12 to remove the rattling speaker was literally forgotten. In fact it wasn't until I was loading out that I remembered I was going to listen for a difference! My only other concern after "would it catch fire?" was would it be loud enough. My last couple of jams were on dying tubes in my 60W combo, and this amp is less powerful, well, on paper anyway.
Again the worry was for naught. How did they play these things back in the 60's with no master volume? Don't let the "45" in JTM45 fool you. They are absolutely powerful enough to assault a drummer; and for once it was the other guitarist who struggled to keep up with his 100W Marshall SS power amp. I fitted a master volume, one of the very few deviations from the original circuit, and after last night I couldn't recommend it enough. I ran the channels jumpered with the guitar going in the top hi treble input, the normal channel volume around 10 o'clock and the treble channel volume around 12 o'clock. With the master set around 1 o'clock it was perfect. By perfect I mean "Ear Protection Mandatory".
Just as all the stories about the JTM45 go, yes, there is a superhuman amount of bass. I had the bass set almost off, the treble at 3 o'clock and mids at mid. Presence off. Even set like this and with only three speakers in the cabinet there was plenty of low end.
The other thing I've read often in amp reviews of all kinds is "takes pedals well". I think I get what they mean now. I was mostly switching between my versions of an OCD, King of Tone, and a Big Muff for extra dirt and with this amp I could really hear each pedals different charector quite distinctly. I also made use of my tremolo and of course, my beloved El Capistan. With the amp set for just the smallest break up, but still very loud, I was just lightly playing some minor chords with the El Capistan pretending to be a quite broken down old tape echo, and it sounded amazing. Even in mono, when the echo's from the El Cap are given some walls to bounce off they get even more complex and amazing sounding!
Anyway, so there you have it. I'm super proud of how this amp turned out and how it performed in it's outing
Sorry for the crappy pix. iPhone 3 camera's are not so awesome...
Oh and because you made it this far, here's a bonus shot illustrating just how tight it was getting all the bits for a JTM45 into a VASE headshell. Those KT66's are massive!
Looks great, but the tubes do look like a tight squeeze. Any overheating problems?
Also, the more I hear JTM 45s and their clones I become more enamored with that punchy tone. It seems to work well with both bolt neck and set neck guitars.
Hi Kat.
I had it running at gig volume for three hours straight on Thursday and no issues. It got warm of course, but not any warmer than the top of my Peavey tube combo does under the same conditions. It actually had even less breathing space than in the picture, as I had the back cover on leaving a vent as wide as the gold plate and about 2.5" deep. Jam room was air conditioned to a nice 21c
I'd definitely suggest playing through a JTM45 or a clone if you get the chance. It's not the sound I associate with Marshall (which to me is the JCM800), but it's a great sound. Warm and very powerful. Maybe not ideal for tight metal sounds as the tube rectifier gives it some sag and it's got far less gain (and no clipping diodes) compared to a metal amp, but for blues it's ace, and when I had my Big Muff in front of it I was in Stoner Fuzz heaven.
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