Guess what I'm building....

[bcdon***]

That is excellent looking solder work!

[duhvoodooman***]

Thanks, Don. Lord knows I’ve had enough practice!

[Tig***]

Looks great.
Remember, "failure is not an option"!

[Robert****]

I only have one word.

Finally

[duhvoodooman***]

Remember, "failure is not an option"!

Awright, Gene Kranz! Lemme go find my white vest for tonight's solder-fest!

I only have one word....

And I have TWO words for you....

[Robert****]

Awright, Gene Kranz! Lemme go find my white vest for tonight's solder-fest!

And I have TWO words for you....

Funny Owls?

[duhvoodooman***]

Funny Owls?

Close enough....

Next photo--completed wiring for tube sockets (except shielded cable for inputs), output impedance rotary switch (4/8/16), and speaker jacks:

[Commodore 64***]

Man you are cruisin' along. I gotta wait until the weekend to get some work done...

[sunvalleylaw]

It's amazing to me that you guys can build this stuff. I can barely play my guitar let alone build new gear for it. Keep the pics coming!

+1! Love it!

[duhvoodooman***]

Man you are cruisin' along. I gotta wait until the weekend to get some work done...

Yeah, it’s coming along pretty well. Been putting in an hour or two the past couple of evenings and getting a fair amount done, even at a slow & careful pace. At this point, I just have to wire the control pots and input jacks, and then run the shielded input cables down to make the preamp tube connections. After that, it’s just a thorough check of all the connections and then start plugging in tubes and applying power! I already tested the mains, PT and rectifier function, so it’s just the preamp and output stages that I’ll need to go through.

It's amazing to me that you guys can build this stuff.

I assure you, it’s really not as hard as it may look. You need good soldering skills, for sure, but if you get a good quality kit with detailed instructions, it’s just a matter of following them carefully. Many of these amp kit companies have forums or other technical support resources on their web sites. Trinity Amps, where I bought this kit, has a such a forum, with a bunch of good technical info and step-by-step build photos. And if you run into a problem that you can’t find the answer to, you can post and ask for assistance.

[Monkus]

Looking great DVM!

[Commodore 64***]

Are all your resistors Carbon Comp?

[ZMAN]

Looks very exciting. I may have missed something but what type of amp will it be? I really only have Fender or Marshall as reference points. Will it be a head or a combo?
I guess this is what they refer to as "point to point" wiring?
After having a couple of situations arise lately where some soldering experince would come in handy I feel I should look into a decent iron kit.

[duhvoodooman***]

Are all your resistors Carbon Comp?

Most, but not all. There are a couple of metal oxides and ceramic wire-wounds in the high DC voltage portions of the circuit, one metal film across a couple of the pins of V2, and the four 68K input resistors are carbon films. But the rest of the resistors in the signal path are all carbon composite. I assume they were chosen for "historical accuracy" to the original Marshall 18W circuit. Personally, I would have chosen metal film for their tighter tolerance and reduced thermal noise, but then there's a whole crowd who extol the "warmth & mojo" of carbon comps and deride the "sterility & lack of character" of metal films. Personally, I think it's BS, but "opinions vary", as they say....

I may have missed something but what type of amp will it be? Will it be a head or a combo? I guess this is what they refer to as "point to point" wiring?

It's a Marshall 18W clone, and will be a head. Two channels, Normal and TMB (treble-mid-bass), with one high and one low input jack on each channel. I bought the kit in December 2009 (yeah, you read that right....) from Trinity Amps in Ontario and finally got around to building it. Yes, this is point-to-point wiring, using a turret board.

[Commodore 64***]

Yeah, the most plausible thing I can figure from reading the intarweb is that carbon comps can distort in the 2nd harmonic when there's a high voltage across them (which may be construed by some as "warmth or mojo"). So, in the signal path with high voltage (plate resistors) would be a good spot.

[Tig***]

but then there's a whole crowd who extol the "warmth & mojo" of carbon comps and deride the "sterility & lack of character" of metal films. Personally, I think it's BS, but "opinions vary", as they say....

Silly cork sniffers

[Ch0jin]

...... Personally, I would have chosen metal film for their tighter tolerance and reduced thermal noise, but then there's a whole crowd who extol the "warmth & mojo" of carbon comps and deride the "sterility & lack of character" of metal films. Personally, I think it's BS, but "opinions vary", as they say....

Why not meet half way and use Carbon Film Given the propensity for variation in sound between different tubes, I'd not be losing too much sleep over the choice of resistors, and I'm quite sure you aren't either

(I ordered Carbon Films for mine. We'll see how they go when they arrive)

Looking good though DVM! What kind of speaker cab are you planning on running it into?

[bcdon***]

But the rest of the resistors in the signal path are all carbon composite. I assume they were chosen for "historical accuracy" to the original Marshall 18W circuit. Personally, I would have chosen metal film for their tighter tolerance and reduced thermal noise, but then there's a whole crowd who extol the "warmth & mojo" of carbon comps and deride the "sterility & lack of character" of metal films. Personally, I think it's BS, but "opinions vary", as they say....

This quest for 'historical accuracy' in amps brought to mind a quote from Randall Smith, founder/designer at Mesa Engineering.

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Reviews/gu...gning_f-50.htm
But as I came up 30 years ago, I wanted to take what I had been repairing for years and try to kick it up to another level and satisfy the wishes I kept hearing from the players I knew. They weren’t all that stoked with what we would now consider vintage treasures. They saw sonic limitations and they wanted more from their amps. That quest led to ...

[duhvoodooman***]

DONE!! Finished it up last night. Fired up perfectly first time. Sounds great--LOUD!! More on that later, but here are the latest batch of photos (don't have final lead dress done w/ wire ties, so don't gig me on that!):