Guitar Amp

[Rick Beko]

Almost a year ago I built a speaker monitor for a professional harp player friend of mine. After completing the cabinet I was asked to make a second one...well this one I held on to. I decided to take the next step and convert it to a full blown guitar amp. After some research I found a company in Toronto that sold the electronic components to build a tube amp. I had done some soldering in the past (the cyclone build does not count) but never to this extent. After some trial and error I finally completed it and have it up and running. The cabinet is built out of canary wood and finished with Danish oil. My intention was to load 4 x 10" speakers but due to the tube amp build there was room for 2 x 10" Greenback speakers. Below are some pics of the amp as well as one of my guitars.

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[Victor Robinson]

That's a beaut! Of course, the key question is, what does it sound like?

[Rick Beko]

It sounds phenominal. The clean channel has really nice tone. I was a little unsure as to whether I could tackle soldering the tube amp together but after getting into it I found it relaxing. The woodworking part was the easy part.

[george wilson]

The best speakers I have ever used are the 12" speakers WITH ALUMINUM DOMES that the earlier Roland 120 Jazz Chorus amps used. Those metal domes really act like tweeters,making great bass as well as bass.

[Van Huskey]

Very cool indeed.

[Ken Marion]

Very cool. I'm converting an old Newcomb tube phonograph to a guitar amp. Your cab gave me some ideas. I'd appreciate if you would share the source for the tube amp kit. Thanks

[Rick Beko]

I'd appreciate if you would share the source for the tube amp kit.
Here is there website www.trinityamps.com (http://www.trinityamps.com)

[Greg Peterson]

Very nice. Is the circuit an original design or is it a well known circuit?

I built a Fender Deluxe amp a few years back, aka the 5E3 circuit. A fun project and the sound is spectacular.

I use Weber speakers in my amps.

[scott spencer]

Very nice looking amp and speaker. Excellent job. How's it sound?

[Karl Card]

that is just downright nice. The only thing I feel it needs is ME>>....

[Tony Shea]

Sound clips got to be a necessity on this thread. It looks great but that means nothing without the sound. Very inspirational and would be very interested in this type of build. How did you pull off the speaker mounting? Is it as simple as putting a panel inside and cutting out the speaker hole and screwing to the panel? Was the panel installed during the assembly or was after?

[Bob Borzelleri]

Very nice. Makes me think about building a new cabinet for my old Polytone bass amp.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Very nice.

You need to rummage around in the Projects thread, and look at the beautiful Telecasters Mark Crenshaw builds - seems like the two of you have an opportunity to swap!!

[Dan Forman]

Looks great. I'm also curious about what circuit it's based on.

Dan

[Vic Damone]

Sweet.

If you ever get to the San Francisco Bay Area you should make some time to visit Mesa Boogie a few miles away in Petaluma. Their entire product is made in house and there is a special area for their custom combos. Exotic woods and even more exotic coverings. Two blocks away is the Tone Tubby factory and on your way back to the city you could swing by Modulus Guitar. Rocker Guitar in the city has culled almost half their inventory but they still have the good stuff, a true eye candy store.

[Rick Beko]

Is the circuit an original design or is it a well known circuit?

Here is a link to the model I went with
http://www.trinityamps.com/Product_Trin18.htm

It follows the Marshall 18 Watt design using a pair of EL84s in a push-pull configuration.


How did you pull off the speaker mounting? Is it as simple as putting a panel inside and cutting out the speaker hole and screwing to the panel? Was the panel installed during the assembly or was after?

Below is a picture of the cabinet without electronics or the grill mounted. It is difficult to see but there is a black frame and the sound board where the speakers get mounted. The top and bottom of the cabinet face frame over lap a grill cloth frame by 3/4". The grill frame is made out of Poplar, painted black and each piece is 1" wide and 1/2" deep. I used dowels to piece together the frame. For proper fitting I leave about 1/8" around the perimeter of the frame so when I mount the grill cloth there is a snug fit. Than I mount the grill cloth to the black frame with a staple gun. I pushed the frame with the mounted grill cloth from the back of the cabinet into position. The 3/4" over hang from the top and bottom allows me to put 4 screws at the top of each corner. The sound board is what you mount the speakers to. For this I used 1/2" ply painted black and cut out the 4 holes with a router. They say you should have 1" around the perimeter of each speaker. I placed the speakers into position and marked my holes. Drilled out the holes and installed T nuts. Once the T nuts were installed I painted the sound board black. From the back of the cabinet you push the sound board to the front and 4 more screws to hold it into place. The sound board should have a really tight fit. The cabinet was built in way that any bracket can be removed with a screw driver to remove all the internal pieces in case something needs to be replaced. Hopefully my explanation was clear.

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