Pork Barrel

[Micpoc]

Great build. FWIW, I've used MN3007s sourced from China (via eBay) for both a Pork Barrel AND a Current Lover, both with 15v Road Rages, and they work great. Well, I have a problem with the chorus, but it's not the chip. 

That's a great color for Hammertone as well.

[Stomptown]

Great build and blog! I think a little debate is healthy and we all may learn a little in the process. I for one was oblivious to the issues with electronic waste. Thanks for sharing... I have built both the MN3007 and cool audio versions of the CE-2 and I like both of them a lot. I did run the MN3007 version at 15V and it does have more headroom and sounds cleaner. But if I had to choose I would go for the MN3007...

[jvg13]

.

[raulduke]

Lovely build dude; executed perfectly, and welcome to the forum!

I am very interested in where you source your hammertone paint mate (I too am based in the UK, and love the stuff).

My experience with hammertone paint is the worse it smells, the better it looks  !

[jvg13]

.

[raulduke]

Thanks RD! Very nice of you to say so.

Hah, yeah that's tended to be my experience too with hammertone paint

From checking out your website and very cool looking builds, I'm sure you know more than me and may already know, but that blue comes from a place in Essex called Future Protective Coatings - they have an ebay shop (where I found them):  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Future-Protective-Coatings

It's £8 I think for a 250ml tin delivered - what I got a couple of months back (which is a couple of quid less than a non-delivered 250ml Hammerite brand tin from the big DIY place up the road  ).

If you have a Toolstation near you they also sell Xylene hammer paint - the brand is Flag I think.  For some reason they dropped the blue last year   and now only offer green, silver, and black I think.  But they sell the Xylene thinner.

I think if you have the equipment you could use the thinner to spray the stuff - which I'd hazard a guess is the way those old British fuzz boxes were painted.

I don't have the equipment so have to paint the stuff by hand.  I learnt you should use foam brushes with the stuff for the best finish if you're painting a big area by hand; for a little metal box I just used some little cut out pieces of clean foam (from pickup packaging), dabbing on the paint.  The only real tricky thing then is to try and achieve a uniform thickness - and once it fisheyes leave it, so you don't have too much time.

The only thing is, with the tinned stuff (not some of the spray hammer finish), as it fish eyes it tends to open up gaps - so you can see what's below.  You need an appropriate undercoat really... I'm still experimenting a bit.  The Xylene can quickly eat into other paints - and is guaranteed to if what's below is not absolutely dry.

As I say, sure you know all that though!  

Thanks for the link dude!

Yep pretty much my experience with hammertone paints too. I apply with a sponge by hand as well (get a nicer finish than spraying IMO).

Certain colours seem to fish eye more than others (some copper I have almost fish eyes too much) as well in my experience.

Still, all the effort if worth it in the end though; can't beat a hammertone finish IMO  !