Is it practical to build a guitar amp?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Apart from the circuitry, the driver, and a cabinet to hold it all in, is
there really any complicated hoo ha to building a decent guitar amp? I'm
thinking of building a 1959 5E7 Bandmaster copy from some schematics and
component layouts. Doesn't have to look good, just sound good.
Any of you done this before with success or failure?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <d1jbhk$hf5$1@jupiter.ttn.net> offpeak808@hotmail.com writes:

> Apart from the circuitry, the driver, and a cabinet to hold it all in, is
> there really any complicated hoo ha to building a decent guitar amp? I'm
> thinking of building a 1959 5E7 Bandmaster copy from some schematics and
> component layouts.

The circuitry isn't that complicated, but it may be difficult to find
proper power and output transformers unless some company like Magic
Parts or Ruby is making a good replacement. Without those, you're just
building any old amplifier. If you have a schematic, the first thing
I'd do is make up a shopping list and fill in the "where to get it"
blanks. See where the blanks are.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

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http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.d [...] 09582&rd=1

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Not yet. Do you know where I can dig some up?

"Phil Allison" <philallison@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
news:3a4rhjF67d9ktU1@individual.net...
>
> "offpeak808" <offpeak808@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news1jbhk$hf5$1@jupiter.ttn.net...
> > Apart from the circuitry, the driver, and a cabinet to hold it all in,
is
> > there really any complicated hoo ha to building a decent guitar amp? I'm
> > thinking of building a 1959 5E7 Bandmaster copy from some schematics and
> > component layouts. Doesn't have to look good, just sound good.
> > Any of you done this before with success or failure?
> >
>
>
> ** Have you tried to get the specs for the Fender power and output
> transformers yet ?
>
> Tried to obtain closely similar ones anywhere ??
>
>
>
>
>
> ........... Phil
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Hi, thanks for your tip. Where I live, I can take a trip to any number of
transformer shops on one street and if I knew exactly what I was looking for
can maybe find something similar and of decent quality. (The shop certainly
won't know or care!) Problem is, how do I determine what is similar and of
good quality? Primary impedance value, voltage ratio, weight, material? If I
could say, "Hey, I'm looking for a standard push-pull primary that will
handle 30+ watts into for a speaker from 4-16 ohms..." then I could probably
find something, but I don't know if that is what I should be asking.

You have any experience in doing this?

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

This is the wrong group for this question, but yeah there are a lot of
guys out there building thier amps from scratch. If you have little
experience you might want to start with a simpler design, like maybe a
tweed Fender Champ. There is tons of info abount doing this on the
web:

http://www.diyguitaramp.com/
http://www.ax84.com/
http://www.missionamps.com/
http://www.webervst.com/

Al

On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 16:19:40 +0800, "offpeak808"
<offpeak808@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Apart from the circuitry, the driver, and a cabinet to hold it all in, is
>there really any complicated hoo ha to building a decent guitar amp? I'm
>thinking of building a 1959 5E7 Bandmaster copy from some schematics and
>component layouts. Doesn't have to look good, just sound good.
>Any of you done this before with success or failure?
>
>
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"offpeak808" <offpeak808@hotmail.com> wrote in message news1l1ot$20b$1@jupiter.ttn.net...

> Sorry if this was an OT post. I'll post on alt.guitar.amps.


Not at all... variety is the spice! Here's a fellow with an old book which
you might find interesting, called, "17 Watts?"

http://www.mofoster.com/books/

http://www.btinternet.com/~shadows [...] efault.htm

--
David Morgan (MAMS)
http://www.m-a-m-s DOT com
Morgan Audio Media Service
Dallas, Texas (214) 662-9901
_______________________________________
http://www.artisan-recordingstudio.com

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

offpeak808 <offpeak808@hotmail.com> wrote:
>Apart from the circuitry, the driver, and a cabinet to hold it all in, is
>there really any complicated hoo ha to building a decent guitar amp? I'm
>thinking of building a 1959 5E7 Bandmaster copy from some schematics and
>component layouts. Doesn't have to look good, just sound good.
>Any of you done this before with success or failure?

Yes, it's not that difficult a thing to do if you're reasonably safe
working around high voltages.

The thing is, you'll find that once you've bought the power transformer,
the output transformer, a set of chassis punches to fit the tube sockets,
a steel chassis, etc. that you wind up paying more than a new amp would have
cost you.

BUT, The Tube Amp Book by Pittman has schematics of hundreds of different
amps that you can easily grab, and there are some reasonable transformers
out there from guys like Hammond Manufacturing.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <1111365210.431395.204600@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> calcerise@hotmail.com writes:

> Reasonable facsimiles of the origiinal transformers for most any
> tweed/blackface Fender are available from several sources. I think it's
> funny to see the extent they go to to copy the old transformers because
> I used to put better output transformers in old Fenders all the time.

As with any restoration, scholars differ. If you make it better than
the original, you've destroyed a classic (and fairly consistently
produced) sound. It looks like a Fender but is sounds like something
else.

When building an amplifier from scratch, the first thing you need to
decide is whether you're going to shoot for a classic and well known
sound or do you want to make the guitar sound like you want it to,
without comparison with an off-the-shelf amplifier.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo