Tube amp kit

[night-B]

I'd like to hear if anyone had a good experience building a tube amp kit. Wich manufacturer model etc...
I'm looking for an easy submini or normal tube amp and I'm an absolute noob with tubes

[Myramyd]

I've been debating/researching this topic endlessly for a while too. I've narrowed it down to either an AX84 project or Trinity Amps kit. Provided I ever have enough money again. 

I can't figure out whether I will find building a tube amp easy or difficult. I've built around 20 pedals so far but, all that hard wiring looks scary to me--more because I'm afraid of a noisy build than anything.

Sub-mini is kind of a different category to me.

J

[jkokura]

If I were to build a kit for an amp, I would first choose Trinity Amps out of Toronto. Have a friend who says building their amps is really easy because of their documentation and support. Great products too, and hands down his recommendation.

Next would be ceriatone for similar reasons, from the same guy, but because they're overseas it costs more to import to where I am in Canada. They have some really great products as well.

I'm interested in building that HiWatt inspired Trinity clone, and a Lightning clone from ceriatone. I think if I'm able to build one of those two, I might feel confident enough to assemble my own tweed/blackface deluxe clone and build a fender tube reverb unit (in stereo for that one).

But I too have to save up money for those. Hopefully I'll have a job by summer and my pedal building profits will no longer need to be diverted to other things... Perhaps by Christmas I'll have enough for a kit, and next summer I'll be building my own deluxe and reverb units. I could always sell my Fender Concert for the funds I guess...

Jacob

[k.rock!]

I've been eyeballing some Weber Kits as well... https://taweber.powweb.com/store/kits.htm

I've always wanted an AC30 but I can't really dish out 1600 for that amp On the flip side, they have a kit for 865 and comes with your choice of 2 Alnico Blue Dogs, 2 Alnico Silver Bells or 1 Alnico Blue and 1 Silver Bell...plus you can customize it anyway you want! I think this would be an awesome project to work with, super interesting and great learning experience with the added bonus that I'll get to play at least something very similar to the original of one of my favorite amps!

Man, you got me all excited about this again haha 

-Kaleb

[Haberdasher]

I've been drooling over both the Trinity TRIWATT and their 18w Plexi for a while now.  If only I didn't have any bills.

[gtr2]

I've looked at those weber kits as well.  I was interested in a 5E3 kit.  I never pulled the trigger on one.  I don't know how the support is for other kit sellers but weber does make it clear that they offer no support at all if you have problems.  They also have no assembly instructions.  This kept me away and I stuck to pedals...for now 

Josh

[Myramyd]

Yeah, the Weber kits have a more affordable price but until I build one or two from GOOD instructions, I don't think I would attempt a Weber build unless it was a Champ or 5E3. Not to mention that the AC30 is probably one of the more complex builds of any Weber kits, along with the Hiwatt, and Blackface stuff.

The Trinity kits look really great, plus they are all around 18 watts or so (more for the Triwatt), which is a nice power range for all around use. You can also build in VVR to do some power scaling, plus lots of great mods (cascading gain, crunch/munch, etc.).

The hardest part about Trinity kits is picking only one! The 18Watt (Plexi), Triwatt, and TC-15 all look fantastic to me.

J

[jkokura]

I know what you mean. Just when I decide I want to do the TriWatt, I start thinking about the TC-15...

I think I'll build a lightning clone if I wanna go Matchless/Vox flavour though. I've always wanted a great hiwatt amp because of Gilmour. Plus, there's a video I posted that has tone for days, and it's Keith Urban playing a Tele through a HiWatt half stack. I'll never be able to afford a true Hiwatt 50 watt, but I could build one... For about the same price as I could maybe sell my amp for...

Anyone want a Rivera era Fender Concert? It's about 30 years old and in awesome shape...

Jacob

[slimtriggers]

I just finished an 18 watt Baby Will and I couldn't be happier with it.  The documentation is great, and there's lots of help on the PPWatt forums if you need it. 

The whole build cost me about $200 including the donor Valve Jr. 

Here's how it sounds with the Yellow Shark

http://soundcloud.com/slimtriggers/ampdemo

The mic was clipping a bit, I think.  It's not quite as dirty as that clip sounds.

[Myramyd]

I actually had been looking at the Guitaramplifierpcb.com stuff and went to order a board but then shortly thereafter the man passed away so the ordering system was down. Looks like it's back up now?

That's a good intermediate option since you do have the PCB--nice transition from pedals to amp.

J

[slimtriggers]

http://www.ironsounds.com/

Ironsounds also makes one.  This kit is a little more complete.  With the Baby Will you'll have to source all your components. 

I think the PPwatt forums have a 5E3 board available for around $20, also. 

Tubedepot has some kits and boards, as well.

With the PCB board, it was a pretty easy step up to building an amp.  It's pretty much the same skill set as building a pedal.  It's just that the stakes are a bit higher if you screw it up due to the high voltage. 

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

The JTM45/100 kit from ceriatone looks like gold. But I think I would rather build something like a champ to start with.

[JeffdaMaori]

I've built some amps so far, first was a Weber kit, I went straight for a Blackface AB 763 circuit Vibroverb (Picture), a bit daring, I know, .......but I survived and the amp turned out great. 
As soon as I had it going I sold my Fender Hot Rod which really sucked in comparison....

My experience with Weber kits is that I found some parts a bit low in quality (like the jacks), so I replaced them with better ones. I think they might have addressed some of those issues, now apparently including Neutrik jacks rather than no name China made. Their transformers are sort of ok, also chinese made I believe. Their communication and service was good; some resistors were missing in kit first and they sent them straight away no hassle no charge, also advice by Ted Weber was good (I asked him about speaker recommendations). Ted has since sadly passed away and I don't know if the company "culture" has changed.

I did another kit from Ceriatone (Dumble HRM overdrive special 50 watt) which I found all around a bit better in standard of parts and presentation of kit. Service and communication (email) was good with them as well.

So in a nutshell: Weber kit seemed ok for me, but Ceriatone was a bit better in overall value for what you get.
However: I think Weber speakers really rock!!! I've built a  2x12 cab with a Silver Bell and Blue Dog speaker combo as well as a 2x12 with two 12F150 and they are both fantastic I think. Love 'em!

The other amps (5F2 circuit modded as harp amp and JTM 45/Bassman crossover) I sourced parts individually and made the lot up myself. Worked even better but takes a lot of time and some hardware skills.

Important in my opinion is to go trough all the safety stuff thoroughly (bleeding caps!!! etc), check everything quadruple and then come back another day and check it again. Take time, never rush stuff with this.
There some goods 'safe' first power up tips and Weber have a "Safe Start" power up device which you can easily build yourself, helps to prevent the worst accidents like blowing PT or so.

Amp building forums like AX 84 and what google turns up for you (depending what amp you're aiming for) are certainly a great source of help and advice.

And another warning: it's about as addictive good fun as building stompboxes.... .
You usually only need one amp / a bunch of stompboxes at a time, but you can never have too many of either and a few guitars to boot....

That's my two cents to this...

Cheers
Andy





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[JeffdaMaori]

... and here's the Ceriatone HRM OD special 50 watt I talked about, cab is loaded with those Weber speakers; they are fab.

Cheers

Andy



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[sgmezei]

Gobstopper, I am drooling SO hard right now. Great looking amps and cabinets.