Question for the Amp building members...

[irmcdermott]

So, after 5 years of building pedals, and really wanting a small change of scenery, I decided to tackle my first amp build, and do it from the ground up rather that a kit, with the exception of the turret board, that i got from Watts.

So I'm working on building a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia. Circuit board is all soldered up, will be drilling/cutting the chassis in the next few days.

My question is regarding the unused wires on the transformers (like the 240V primaries on the PT, and the unused output taps on the OT).... what do I do with them? I want it to look clean/professional on the inside, but is there anyway to not have those wires just loose in there? Any thoughts are appreciated.

Ian

[mattlee0037]

From what I've seen they are normally just insulated (taped off) and tucked away, but I've yet to start an amp build, just a lot of reading.

[steveperiod]

On all three of my builds (18 watt TMB, 18 watt lite IIB, modified Fender 5E3) I clipped off exposed wire, put heat shrink over the ends, then coiled them up and used a zip tie to hold them in place. It ended up looking much neater than that description sounds.

[gordo]

+1 on Steveperiod's answer.  Looks kinda goofy but it's much safer than trying to cut them short and heat shrink them.  Plus, amps are even more addictive than pedals so parts tend to get "re-purposed" because they're bigger and more expensive.  You may end up using those other leads at some point.

[pryde]

Another clean way to do it is mount a row of terminal strips and solder the unused leads to it/them. Leave them long as others said.

[Leevibe]

Another clean way to do it is mount a row of terminal strips and solder the unused leads to it/them. Leave them long as others said.

This is a totally clean way to do it and leaves them available should you ever want to use them. It especially makes sense for unused OT secondaries.

I will also do a heat shrink method where I just heat shrink the end of the wire but leave an extra 1/2" of tube extending past the end of the wire. Once I shrink it, I fold that extra bit over, then put another heat shrink sleave over that. It leaves a clean, well protected end. Then I will take that length of wire (or lengths of wire as the case may be) and make a neat bundle, then heat shrink the bundle. Kind of like the zip tie method but I like the way the heat shrink looks.