Amp Build: Brown Note 18Watt Lite IIB

[tot_Ou_tard]

Very cool indeed. It's gonna take me several reads to undertand everything that you are saying.

Great photos too, Thanks!

[tunghaichuan***]

Very cool indeed. It's gonna take me several reads to undertand everything that you are saying.

Great photos too, Thanks!

To be truthful, when I was composing the text, it came out in one long stream-of-consciousness, so if anything is unclear, post in this thread and I'll try to make it clearer.

tung

[tunghaichuan***]

Thanks Tung! I don't know if you saw my "Firefly" build or not, but I really enjoyed it, and CB has fallen in love with tube amphs as a result. Since I built the Shiner Cab v. 1.0, that will accommodate something larger, I've been playing around with the idea of building another amph. I haven't decided what that will be yet, but you make the research much easier and very enjoyable.:

Since you've already built a Firefly, I'd recommend the Tweed Princeton 5F2-A circuit for your next build. I cut my teeth on this circuit and have probably built at least 10 variations on it. It sounds great clean or cranked and loves pedals, especially Boss OD pedals.

The 5F2-A is basically a Tweed Champ 5F1 circuit with a tone control. The tone control makes the amp more versatile.

Here are some of the amps I've built:

http://www.diycustomamps.com/princeton.htm

The last one on the page with the yellow face plate was built for a friend a couple of years ago who is still using it and loves it. That is probably my finest work to date. Since it was for someone else, it had to be bullet proof.

As luck would have it, I have a layout and schematic on my site:

http://www.diycustomamps.com/images/...eton_schem.pdf

http://www.diycustomamps.com/images/...ton_wiring.pdf

If you decide to build this, PM me. I have some supplementary materials you might find useful.

This is a great beginner's project. Maybe I should do a tutorial on this one next?

tung

[luvmyshiner]

This is a great beginner's project. Maybe I should do a tutorial on this one next?
tung

Definitely.:

[Kazz]

Looking good there Tung.....looking good

[tunghaichuan***]

IT LIVES!

Pix of the finished amp.

To tell the truth, I don't really have a start up ritual. I just check the wiring and hope for the best. I do make sure I have my safety glasses on and look away when I flip the on/off switch I really need to build a lightbulb current limiter to start up amps. I've been lucky so far, but eventually my luck will run out.

I spent about 15 minutes checking over the wiring this afternoon to make sure I didn't pull some boneheaded move and mis-wire something. Everything looked good so I plugged in a "hole filler" 5Y3 to check the voltages. Since there were no other tubes installed (and no current draw) the voltages were high, but about what I expected.

I have to tell you all, I was really sweating this build, my hands were shaking so bad I could barely plug the rest of the tubes in. I used a couple of Sovtek EL84s that I pulled from Valve Juniors. The two preamp tubes are low end Sovtek 12AX7WA tubes, nothing special. I call them hole fillers because if they short out or die in the circuit, then it is no big loss.

After I got the tubes installed and the amp warmed up, I checked the voltages. They looked a little low, but nothing outside of spec.

So I plugged my guitar in and turned it up a bit and got clean, glorious EL84 chime. The amp is very bright, especially with my single-coil equiped guitar. The tone knob doesn't have as much range as a Tweed Princeton's but it does make the amp slightly brighter or slightly darker.

Then I cranked it up all the way. Wow, tons of power tube grind. This circuit sounds very good, and I haven't even tweaked it yet. #I input is the single triode and it sounds good, the #II input is both triodes in parallel and is even better, more grind, more complexity.

The output transformer is only rated for 15 watts, so I was kind of concerned, but it didn't even get warm when playing the amp cranked up. I think it is up to the task. : The amp might benefit from a better OT, Heyboer, GDS, or Trinity. The Edcor sounds very good clean, very chimey so it might be a great choice for a Vox AC15 circuit.

Even though the voltages are low, the amp biased the power tubes to about 68% which is about where I want them for Class AB operation. I plan on using some different rectifiers: a 5V4, 5AR4, and a Groove Tubes SS plug in rectifier to see how different plate voltages change the tone of the amp.

Oh yeah, I did do one boneheaded thing: the on/off and standby switches are upside down so that the amp is on when they are in their off positions Doh! : Easy enough to fix, and it does't really affect anything.

Coming up next, some sound clips. Although it may take me a few days. This was my last day off for a few days, but hopefully I can get something recorded and posted to my web site.

This was a fun build, and now for some tweaking.

Thanks to DVM for a kick in the pants to get the project finished. :

tung

[M29]

Awesome Tung congrats I know the feeling!
If you look at different transformers I highly suggest the GDS (Vintage). I put the standard GDS in at first but upgraded to the vintage and what a difference!!! I love it. Much more intricate, musical and defined.

Again congrats on an enjoyable build for you and us too. I love this stuff and I really enjoy your way of presenting it to us:

M

[F_BSurfer]

looks good tung bet it sounds great to

[warren0728]

man that looks great! :

[Ch0jin]

Grats!! Good to read it fired up first go too

I'm not much of a fan of those spade connectors on the tranny though. They scream "accidental shock" to me. I guess once it's all inside an enclosure though it'll be fine.

Really nice looking build though. Very neat and tidy. Good job

[duhvoodooman***]

Excellent news! : Congrats & looking forward to those clips BIG TIME!

[sumitomo]

Very Very cool,I like the tones that amp puts out the tri boost sounds great,but that green screamer is no sloutch either and playing sounded good also.Sumi

[tunghaichuan***]

Very Very cool,I like the tones that amp puts out the tri boost sounds great,but that green screamer is no sloutch either and playing sounded good also.Sumi

Thanks for the kind words. I love that Green Screamer pedal, it's like an ideal tube screamer: warm and fat, but without the nasty, nasally mid hump of the originals. It sounds much smoother than the Boss SD-1 Super OD that I have.

tung

[warren0728]

man that amp sounds great! :

i loved the clean and cranked samples and i liked how handled the pedals....

hhmmmm....that triboost sounded great.... :

[tunghaichuan***]

Thanks for the reply.

man that amp sounds great! :
i loved the clean and cranked samples and i liked how handled the pedals....

It is a great sounding circuit and sounds good even with marginal tubes. I left the crappy Sovtek 12AX7WA tubes in it. I bet it would sound better with good tubes in it.

hhmmmm....that triboost sounded great.... :

Get DVM to build and paint you one, it is a very useful pedal. :

I should record some clips with my modded Valve Junior. The Triboost sounds pretty good through the VJ.

tung

[warren0728]

hhmmmm....that triboost sounded great.... :

Get DVM to build and paint you one, it is a very useful pedal.

it's tempting....i'm sure once my dvm phazer pedal shows up it will be even more tempting....i need to get through christmas first though.... :