Much Better ...

Went back through the amp and found a few spots that needed resoldering and a shielding properly grounded. Still had a little buzz left. Then came across a suggestion from an amp guru of mine about creating an "artificial center tap" on the filaments. Added that and no hum. Its got a little oscilation in the higher volumes but I think I will hold off in going too much further. I'm itching to get started on the JTM45 build. :)

Slight side track ...

I decided before I attempted to build the JTM45 that I would go back and tweak on an old amp that I had built many times before.

One of my little 5 watt single ended amps needed an overhaul. I removed the entire existing preamp section for starters. Then came the fun part: What preamp to put in this thing?? 18W Lite II? Deluxe? Champ? Hi-Octane? Instead I went for one of the channels based on the Jose Mods. Its pretty high gain, not quite modern sounding but still plenty of bite. After digging through some spare parts and recycling some of the old components from the previous build, I started piecing this thing together.

After putting it all together, I took a break before firing it up. Then after catching a show on TV I realized that I had wired the input jack backwards. So a quick unsolder and resolder, the amp was ready to fire up. I usually use some old spare 12AX7s or 12AU7s in the preamp, just in case I wire up something wrong. That way I dont toast a brand JJ ECC83. :)

Powered up the amp on standby. Check. Took the amp off of Standby. Check. No blown fuse or sparks. Check. Started turning up master volume and gains. A little buzz. Plugged in the guitar. Nothing. Powered down. Swapped out preamp tubes to new JJs. Powered up again. "Houston, we've got sound!".

Still have a descent amount of buzz whether single coils or humbuckers. Time to bust out the chop sticks. :)

More to come...

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So many amps, so little time ... parts ...

So after playing around with numerous set ups, pedals, modelers, software and a few single ended tube amps, its time to step it up. Now dont get me wrong the single ended tube amps were good sounding amps, but were missing something in the life and feel when playing. I wouldnt say they sounded sterile or anything, but missed the punch that I have been looking for. I had played around hot rodding an old Magnatone 260A that was in pretty rough condition. It ran a pair of 6L6GCs at about 20 watts or so, but would compress pretty easily if you dug into the strings a little hard. It has ended back up in the rebuild pile since the electrolytic caps decided to die.

So its back to the drawing board....

Time to decide on what kind of sound I am going for:
Power: 50 Watts (more than likely a pair of EL34s)
Preamp: No clue ...
Rectifier: Solid State - To keep the bottom end tight with little sag.
Style: Head
Effects Loop: None. I dont use effects, maybe a boost at the front of the amp.

Project Name: ....

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