Marshall 18-watt clone coming along!

**dementedchord** · 01-28-2009

congrats beagle... good work...

**jrhoden** · 02-23-2009

damn fine work bro!....im jealous as well !

**stevieb** · 02-23-2009

Man, if you want Marshall EL-84 tone, but don't want to spend the big bux, OR hours building it from scratch, you owe it to yourself to check out the Peavey Bravo112. Cab is a bit dated in design, but you can remedy that by building your own.

**Neve1073lover** · 03-12-2009

If you get an Almighty squeal from it when testing, then you may need to swap the audio output transformer connections. This is noted on some Weber designs, but not on all (I made a JTM45 clone).

Also stay away from televisions and tube lighting as you will get a lot of noise.

My only other lessons learnt is that you may get a lot of noise from the tube heater wiring unless you make sure it is 'balance' ie has an earth reference.

**rayc** · 03-13-2009

I can just about make my lunch - & even then I buy the bread already sliced and the peanut butter already blended!
Those things look grand!

**famous beagle** · 03-13-2009

Originally Posted by Neve1073lover

If you get an Almighty squeal from it when testing, then you may need to swap the audio output transformer connections. This is noted on some Weber designs, but not on all (I made a JTM45 clone).

Also stay away from televisions and tube lighting as you will get a lot of noise.

My only other lessons learnt is that you may get a lot of noise from the tube heater wiring unless you make sure it is 'balance' ie has an earth reference.

Thanks for the tips; I'll keep them in mind!

**JG96** · 04-11-2009

where do you get kits telling you how to build these?

**Neve1073lover** · 04-11-2009

Originally Posted by JG96

where do you get kits telling you how to build these?

I don't want to steal Beagle's thunder, but he last posted 4 weeks ago and may take a while to respond.

I have built 3 amps. A Weber JTM45 clone, and 2 AX84 amps.

Weber only gives the schematic, overlay (that shows where to put the components) and the drill diagram for the chassis.

The 110/240V wiring is my main worry with inexperienced people building amps etc. My next worry is the high voltage tube circuits. The rest is pretty easy.

I don't know of many kits that will tell you how to do the 110/240V wiring. It is probably illegal and if you get killed, they may get sued. Seriously...

Have a look at the AX84 site, Full of good designs and amp building know-how.

**famous beagle** · 04-20-2009

Originally Posted by Neve1073lover

I don't want to steal Beagle's thunder, but he last posted 4 weeks ago and may take a while to respond.

I have built 3 amps. A Weber JTM45 clone, and 2 AX84 amps.

Weber only gives the schematic, overlay (that shows where to put the components) and the drill diagram for the chassis.

The 110/240V wiring is my main worry with inexperienced people building amps etc. My next worry is the high voltage tube circuits. The rest is pretty easy.

I don't know of many kits that will tell you how to do the 110/240V wiring. It is probably illegal and if you get killed, they may get sued. Seriously...

Have a look at the AX84 site, Full of good designs and amp building know-how.

Thanks Neve. I had missed JG96's question.

I got my kit from Weber as well.

**Strumbone** · 04-22-2009

As a retired Navy Chief (electronics), I can tell you from experience that some color codes on resistors are difficult at best to decipher. If doing this kind of work, you obviously have a meter, so use it when in doubt. In other words, don't even bother with the colors, just read the resistor (out of circuit of course) with a meter, and then you'll know for sure.
Grid and heater voltages on triode and pentode vacuum tubes are DC, and in some instances, are at a level where they can definitely hurt you, so be careful and conscientious. Oh yeah, be careful of those caps as well. Even with power removed, they can bite!
As a teenage guitar player back in the 60's, (had a '64 Strat and Super Reverb amp) it was easy to tell why the amp was dead by looking at the tubes in back to tell which one wasn't glowing. Then take it out, go down to the local TV repair shop, and for a buck fifty get a replacement and plug it in. I was so thankful to see solid state amps later. Now, WOW, how far we've come. Everybody wants to go back to the old tube type designs for the tone.
It just blows me away how much these boutique tube amps cost, when they were so cheap back in the day. One reason for the high cost is the tube sockets. It would be economically difficult to hand solder (and I guess the demand is too low to do it by machine) those leads on a large scale, and they must be done right, or you'll induce all kinds of problems.
Damn, thanks for the flashback fellas!