its all the rage

marshall jcm800's seem to be all everyone ever wants for playing loud aggressive music, maybe for its simplicity (6 knobs), or maybe for its crushing tone. i've never been sure, all i know is while i have always loved its sound, i have hated it's cosmetics. its not that looks are everything because i can assure you they have no effect on the ton of the amp it self. i just have always loved how jtm cabs looked.

so for this recent build (which i almost finished last night until i realized i was short 1 singular resistor) i decided to do a jcm in my standard jtm style head cab. while this chassis is alot smaller. and i have to drill alot of extra holes i think asthetically it will be worth every ounce of frustration when it comes to fitting it all together. its also my prototype to make sure i have one for people to play when ordering.

this one is dedicated to tj for being such a supportive and rad dude.

the only thing that will change on ordered ones after this is that the head will look like a more traditional jcm, still my black on black scheme. just not a jtm cab, its to small and troublesome. and the new chassis will provide extra room for things like buffered effects loops.

i'll be done this guy by boxing day at the latest. maybe this time around i'll get some sound clips. its gonna be a heavy metal dream.

and by the time i come back to work on the 4th of january i hope to have also completed the 300 watt bass head. but thats another story with a lot of custom one off work going into it.

i'll post more pics soon.
k. good

parts

well i recieved another 6 boxes of parts today,
still waiting on the glass fronts. and turret board material, but at least i have some chassis' to work with now and i can start drilling holes and shit.
yes.

people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

well today i got a call. these etched glass face plates are on their way to me now... sure will look pretty on the front of an amp.
thanks marty and dave at woodcraftbydave for making this happen in all of the madness of the holiday rush!

parts arriving daily

well i got another shipment of parts today from mouser.
carbon comp. resistors.. sweet
mallory 15o's.... kinda bugged me a little... they use to all be yellow.. now they have started switch to white jackets. apparently hi temp. but still. they look different! maybe i'll switch again. i'll way the pro's and cons. its just aesthetics.
i'll start postin pics soon. this jcm is gonna look sweet inside a jtm cab. also i put all the best parts i could get for this thing. ohmite carbon comp resistors. sprague electrolytics, mallory caps, jj/tesla cap can cans, alpha pots. belton tube sockets. still undecided on transformers.

more parts,

well.
more parts on the way.
going to shoot for a jcm style head. 100 watts.
and the bass amp parts are coming. this needs a ton of fabrication and custom fittings.


for sale.
highwhat style 100watt head running kt88's.
and 18watt brit style head great for recording.
both are black with black faceplates.
contact me if interested.

its only 7pm.

well the parts arrived today... and guess what?? they sent me radial lead capacitors instead of axial leads. so now it looks like there are buildings inside this amp. the function the same so i can use them still and no one will see em anyways... and if i really start thinking about it. they might even be better because standing up they may not se as much cross signal and noise. it just took some creativity to get them in there and make them work.
so just a few shots of the board. and the back of the pots.
and the board is done. i didn't realize it was only 7 pm... i'll probably try and get the pots done. though if i keep going at this rate i wont have anything to do while i'm waiting for some other parts including the 6 position pot that i need for the fet circuit.

ass master

this was a bass master, but i think it just got its new name....

ordered all the parts, but they didn't show up today.. supposed to be tomorrow..
so i decided to work on the little cosmetic details. i had to move the standby to the back of the amp so i could fit another knob on the front. and previous i had a modded bass master that still had the original letter for each knob. it was a pain in the ass to remember what was what. so i remedied that. good thing i have a vinyl plotter at work.

i also found in my box of spares and parts. the exact output transformer that i had taken out of another bass master awhile back. inbetween the two big transformers you can see the little choke i had to add.
i used a razor blade to scrape off the old lettering on the chassis.
add then applied the new vinyl ones.
and labelled the tube sockets. third hole in is and unused tube socket where the bias pot will be. no more redplating tubes neal!
and that concludes today. tomorrow i will populate the board and work on the pots.

burnt out and old.

long ago, my ol friend neal bought this old traynor off a friend of a friend... it needed some work.. long story short, i said i would fix it. i put it on the back burner for a long time. until now...
you think you have problems? think again. this guy had a blown out put transformer, blown out caps... something went so wrong that the fiberboard had a hole burnt through it...

so... i guess its time to build him a 50 watt orange with what parts are salvageable.
so here goes.


this is the chassis prior to me starting, i should have taken better pics of the damage. but i didn't

and here it is again. with a new fiberboard fitted.... thats right. hand punched... and a new bus bar. i use a star grounding system. and the old traynors use many grounding locations.

little mods.

heres some pics of the little heathkit i modded..... pretty basic little amp. very similar to my 18 watt marshall

hiatus ends

well back at it again. need to ored a dransformer for my reverb unit.... i blew it up. hahhaha
still working on two 100watt heads. going to try and finsih them by the end of the weekend. and in a strange turn of events i did something a little different....
a friend of a friend had a vintage Heathkit tube powered mono hi fi amp. and he wanted to trade it to me for a champ build. i told him i would see what i could do to his first and then go from there. so i took his 14watter home. sat it on the bench and looked closely for a while... changed out the power cord. added an input jack, bypassed the mode selector and away she went. best sounding 14watt i have ever heard when cranked... i think he'll be mighty happy.

i was so impressed i bought one on ebay for myself...... all in the name of collecting junk right...

i'll post photo's of the one i modded for that friend when i get home.

-kyle

quick update

sorry to any and all that read this or my other blog. i haven't been posting like i used to... i have been super busy with the move/unpack/paint. but its almost all done. and i promise to do a big update as soon as its finished. i think that i will be done this weekend as its a holiday!

finally some progress.

the good news is that i finally received some transformers that i have been waiting for.
and i'm back building (without a bench.... er. or any sort of organization.)
i'll post pics soon, your just have to bare with me as i have no internet in the new house.

last night i finished my hi**tt clone. i have to run it through the loops tonight.
then back on to round two of the or**ge for myself....
then 300watts.

new home of good amps.

finally in and painting.
hope to be set up again by sunday!

7

well. seven more days til i move...
ugh. taking forever,

the better half of a month

well most of you may have heard by now that i have bought a house...... what a relief.....
this brings some bad news and some good news. which do you want first?? well, bad news it is..
i wont be working on amps too much over the next month, i need to pack up shop and get prepared for the move. the good news is... i wont have to be crammed inside the tiniest space building these things anymore. i will be in close range of the drill press and all my fancy tools now. which means the possibility of more custom work. but thats not all....
the next bit of great news you ask....
glad you asked.
i have a recording studio in the new house that was built by the guys at the legendary greenhouse studios in vancouver b.c..... stoke factor = way up there.

this is a short list of things that i am looking for. for those of you that read this and happen to have a spare or one you dont want please contact me with your price.
-portable record player. you know like with the built in speaker... not talking about the big all in one units... just a little table top guy... i need it for the amp bench.

-book cases... tall ones... a matching pair. solid wood. fits lp's

-kitchen table with matching chairs. mid century? or 50's diner style. prefer removable center leaf.

-an espresso machine. so that i can have all you lovely peoples over for good times and nice warm drinks.

and another thing to look out for is..
2-300 watt bass head.
and
200 watt guitar lead head.... t.j. i'm nodding to you on this one.

cheers. i'll keep you updated

stoke just got a boner.

well unfortunately for me these babies have to stay in my warehouse until i move which shouldn't be to far away... but damn..... they look good.
so here is a little back story. i don't make my boxes not for my heads or cabs... thats right.. outsourcing. but heres the good news i don't take any profit on the cabs.. i get a deal. i pass it to you. i could make my cabs. i have the experience,knowledge and tools.... what i dont have is the space... for me to set up to make one would take hours... then hours to make it. if i could leave my jigs set up permanently then i would build em myself... but the way i see it is your not playing what it looks like outside.. your playing whats built inside....
so dont be hatin!
bad cell phone pic.
but just too stoked.

very unhappy

my shipments came yesterday...
missing 2 power transformers, and all my custom faceplates. so now what am i supposed to do?
i cant mount any components in their chassis as i always do transformers first.
and i can mount pots or anything as i need the face plates to be there.

i guess i can populate the boards, fine then. i'll start doing that stuff.

also kinda pissed that nobody at the suppliers headquarters is responding to my messages.
its about to get nasty!

guess what i got?

thats right! a vintage space echo! pretty neato.

in other news, once again my shipments are held in customs.
supposed to be delivered by tomorrow.
we'll see about that!
shitheads.

sorry for the hault in progress.

more parts coming sometimes shipping takes for ever. but soon. i have some problems i should be trying to figure out in the meantime.

harsh bummer.

well i finish up the highwhat. went through start up and what do you know no power to the filaments. so i checked around. try to find bad connections. none. so i check the voltages from the power transformer and whaddaya know? seems the winding for the 6.3v low power filament supply is faulty. ordered a new one.  hopefully that solves it.

working out plans for the reverb/vibrato unit right now. and looking at jcm800 schematics. i dont like that the pre amp and master were right next to each other. i always like it when the preamp and the master are distant from one another. i dunno why. just personal preference i guess. so looks like that could be in the near future. as well as another whitethrash. but back to my standard black/black skin. call it. "black metal" 

and a classic 18 watt brit sounding thing.

and someone ordered another princeton. thats all for now.

holidays

i've been on holidays,

should be back home in a couple.

just ordered more parts.

british 18 watt

cobalt

my friends get drunk and go to shows.

one grabbed me a pic of johnny playing white thrash.

photo courtesy of reagen 

white thrash

well there she is all buttoned up.

buttoned up.

well,

i finished johnny's amp, it sounds fucking awesome.

have some pics of it with its cab and logo. but i don't have my camera with me. johnny picked it up earlier than i had hoped he would. so i never got to crank it full throttle. i'll leave that to him so no sound clips and i'll probably only get live ones now as i don't think he'll let it leave his sight. well... that is unless there is any problems with it that i need to rework.

i'll post some pics of it soon, and i get some live footage of the amp it action.

its pretty loud. 

i am a little worried about it being full throttle as i never had a chance to do it myself. i had it on a dummy load and it seemed fine so here's hoping i am not an idiot.

so now i have a hiwatt clone to build for myself. the uphill challenge keeps getting steeper and steeper.

progress

well i made progress in my head anyways,

i fix the drive control. how? well i check the switch for continuity with my multimeter, and that didn't even help. i had to take the switch apart to figure it out. stupi stupid stupid. but you gotta do what you gotta do.

so next up. i think i have tracked a whole bunch of the problem down to the negative feedback loop (nfb) but this is just in my head. when i get home today i will work on that. i am hoping it will just be a reconnection. if not i'll reroute the leads from presence control to the impedance selector.

if that fails well then its on to the master volume.

there is still miles of hope, as everything is working nothing is smoking or blowing. its just minor signal issues that come with the joys of building amps!

yay!

setting sail

well had to sign off of my work.

strap on a badge. and she is ready to go.
thanks reagen, for cutting these plates for me on the fly.

moving right along

i feel like such a dummy, this is such a complex build and i was just so involved that i forget so many important shots.

anyways heres a close up of the impedance selector. this switches are weird and they are tricky too.

a shot of the buss bar grounding system. and the drive selector pot. again this is a tricky little switch. and so much so that i am having trouble get all positions working. but with some more playing around. i'll get it worked out.

heres a better shot of the same thing. the 40 uf caps are pretty big and intrusive. i'm going to look around for some better ones and switch them out.

i'm not a huge fan of how they hang out the board like that.
heres an overhead shot of the whole chassis. every is wired up and going good.

the amp has power and producing sound. i still have some bugs to work out high gain amps are tricky. one wire moves a millimeter and it could totally change the sound of the amp.

there are 50 voltages to check on all the tubes.

everyone checked out perfect that is a really good thing!!!! 

so it practically done.

just got tinker with the glitches until i get it perfect for johnny.

rawpower

well this one right here is for johnny wakeham of featherwolf and bogus tokus. its going to be a relatively close copy of and orange 100watter seventies style. running kt66 power tubes. so heres a shot of the chassis, transformers and pots mounted, and the filaments on the tube sockets wired.

another chassis shot pretty much the same state.
here the turret board completed. i got so into this one i forgot to take pictures of the process.
another shot of the board. nice and clean.
macro shot mother fuckers.

finishing stretch

well heres the last set of pics for this baby cause it is finished and sounds awesome.

it'll will ship out to alberta on tuesday!

anyways heres a shot of the preamp socket, nice and tidy the way i like my builds. my house is nowhere near this clean!

most people use a brass plate for a grounding platform for these old tweed styles.

i prefer a floating buss bar system its a little trickier to do. but it looks ten times better, and your amp is ten times quieter. heres a detail.
and heres  shot of the whole buss bar. the key is to tie all grounds to this bar and only have the bar connect to the chassis at one single point. this eliminates ground loops which can cause excessive hum and feedback.
chassis installed in the cabinet and reday to be buttoned up.
and the finished product wrapped in a nice tooled leather tolex box. mart, i hope you get around to building the matching guitar.
stay tuned everyone next up is a 100watt orange style amp

exausted

well i was up til 3am working on this guy last night. and the board is done. with all its leads attached and nicely colour coated, purple goes to tubes. and blacks are grounds. not that i needed to do this. just thought it would be a nice touch.

here is the fiber board in its new home. tightly fitting in the chassis. the thing that is a real pain about tweed styled amps that sucks is the very little space you have to work inside of.
and you cant forget to mark your territory.. nice little touch inside the chassis.

when are you going to grow up and cut your hair?

i'll probably cut my hair when i stop living.
well finally the parts are here and its time i let you all in on whats being going down. first up is a princeton style amp for my telecaster loving friend marty over at prairie custom guitars. if you like tele's you should probably get one of his. so here is the chassis laid out and ready to go.and this is the heater wiring all done on this guy. i have to say this was a breeze i'm used to amps with 6 plus tubes in it... not three. so laying out wiring on this guy for a quiet running with no noise should be easy.
heres the controls installed on the front and the back panels..

and some tidy wiring. there are a few wiring from the power transformer that aren't used. but you never want to gut them short in case you want to modify the circuit later down the road.

i like to twist my up neatly. the twist helps eliminate stay rf noise. so on the one i braided them to keep it really clean lookin.

and back inside the chassis i have the tone and volume controls wired up. 

all parts orders are arriving monday. time to get to business.

sorry bout the delay

still waiting on parts to arrive

dont worry its coming

lazy monday

well saturday i found a nice old realistic solid state amp. it'll make a good listening amp for the bench and today i built this amp cradle for working inside amp chassis'

dummy load

need a dummy load for test amps... easy 4 high power 8 ohm /50 watt resistors wired in series parallel. and hooked up to an input jack. thats a 2oowatt resistive load. now you can run your freshly built head at full last without damaging your amp or your ears, i'd tell you step by step but its so simple i dont think i need to explain. but i will say this. an aluminum housing is recomended for heat dissapation cause these things do get hot. but sticking with the salvage theme of the tools i used i ended up going with an old drill bit case. the parts are easy to find through mouser dale/vishay high power resistors 80hm/50watt and this is alot cheaper than buying a dummy load.
heres the pics.

capacitance discharge stick

capacitors hold lethal voltages. yeah, it even enough to kill you.
but its easy to discharge them. all you need is some high power resistors hooked to a ground on your amp chassis. and you put them in an insulated something or other. make sure its sealed up. and your done.
all you need is a 250 ohm /2 watt resistor.. this method takes about a minute to bleed the cap. i chose the high power version. three 250 ohm / 2 watt resistors wired in parallel, i used an old sharpie casing to house them the tip from an old mulitimeter probe, and an aligator clip on a length of 18 gauge wire for hooking up to ground. its all insulated and ready to go.

but just a warning. my way of doing it will drain the caps in seconds. but there will be big pops and stuff when you do it from the electricity moving out faster.
heres some pics.