I've ordered the kit for my next build. If you're interested in following then click the link. I've made a 2nd blog site foramp building in general. This will allow me to begin new posts within the same blog and you won't have to keep following new links.
http://tonebone-ampbuilding.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
First video of the 2 Stroke
I have the amp chassis connected to my old Fender M-80 amp. The Fender has a 12" speaker and it sounds nice however, with this amp/speaker combo there is virtually no clean sound. The tubes begin to distort with the volume set to 3 and up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr_nh0Wc3Y4&feature=email
I have since picked up a used Fender amp/cab. the solid state amp doesn't work so I pulled the chassis out and I'll use it to make something else. In the mean time in the cab I put in my Emenince Wizard to begin the break in period.
The sounds are a lot different than the M-80 in the video link above. This speaker is capable of providing cleaner sounds at higher levels. You cannot hear the distortion with this set up until around 5 or 6 on the amp, but the distortion it produces in my opinion is not as nice as the M-80.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr_nh0Wc3Y4&feature=email
I have since picked up a used Fender amp/cab. the solid state amp doesn't work so I pulled the chassis out and I'll use it to make something else. In the mean time in the cab I put in my Emenince Wizard to begin the break in period.
The sounds are a lot different than the M-80 in the video link above. This speaker is capable of providing cleaner sounds at higher levels. You cannot hear the distortion with this set up until around 5 or 6 on the amp, but the distortion it produces in my opinion is not as nice as the M-80.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
SHE'S ALIVE!!!
I have been trouble shooting for the past couple of weeks and I have finally got this amp up and running.
I had sound coming from it, but it was super low in volume and it sounded like it was distorting the speaker.
It turns out that I had a bad solder connection on the middle of the circuit board. A couple of weeks ago I took the amp to a local amp tech (he offered to look for free) and he pointed out that I had one electrolytic cap in backwards. In amplifiers there are some caps with a positive charge sign + and they need to be connected correctly. Luckily for me, it wasn't a large one that could have exploded.
When I turned that cap around I didn't make a good enough solder connection. With the help and suggestion of Robin at http://tubeampnetwork.ning.com/ he told me to turn the amp over, turn the power on, and take a chop-stick and move the wires around and listen for a bad connection (keep one hand in your pocket or behind your back if/when you do this). That poking around helped me find the bad solder joint.
It sounds great so far. I have not cranked the volume up because - 1. the speaker is new and needs to be broken in and 2. everyone in the house is already in bed.
So far it sounds nice with clean sounds. The boost function makes it brighter in both the up and down position, but a different amount of bright sound so the switch provides 3 distinct sounds. I'll need to get a youtube account shoot some video and posts the sounds.
I had sound coming from it, but it was super low in volume and it sounded like it was distorting the speaker.
It turns out that I had a bad solder connection on the middle of the circuit board. A couple of weeks ago I took the amp to a local amp tech (he offered to look for free) and he pointed out that I had one electrolytic cap in backwards. In amplifiers there are some caps with a positive charge sign + and they need to be connected correctly. Luckily for me, it wasn't a large one that could have exploded.
When I turned that cap around I didn't make a good enough solder connection. With the help and suggestion of Robin at http://tubeampnetwork.ning.com/ he told me to turn the amp over, turn the power on, and take a chop-stick and move the wires around and listen for a bad connection (keep one hand in your pocket or behind your back if/when you do this). That poking around helped me find the bad solder joint.
It sounds great so far. I have not cranked the volume up because - 1. the speaker is new and needs to be broken in and 2. everyone in the house is already in bed.
So far it sounds nice with clean sounds. The boost function makes it brighter in both the up and down position, but a different amount of bright sound so the switch provides 3 distinct sounds. I'll need to get a youtube account shoot some video and posts the sounds.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
It Works
Well sort of.
I made the suggested changes the amp tech told me to do, but it didn't help. So I hit a couple of the solder joints again, but the biggest change I did was to connect the white (8ohm) output tranformer wire directly to the speaker output - I basically disconnected the switch.
I am getting a guitar sound out, but it is very soft (low volume). It needs to be louder and infact for a brief second it sounded like it became louder almost like something that wasn't fully connected made sudden contact.
I know it's working and now I just need to do some more trouble shooting.
I made the suggested changes the amp tech told me to do, but it didn't help. So I hit a couple of the solder joints again, but the biggest change I did was to connect the white (8ohm) output tranformer wire directly to the speaker output - I basically disconnected the switch.
I am getting a guitar sound out, but it is very soft (low volume). It needs to be louder and infact for a brief second it sounded like it became louder almost like something that wasn't fully connected made sudden contact.
I know it's working and now I just need to do some more trouble shooting.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Fixed and about to fire her up
Here what I've fixed:
The very first thing the amp tech noticed was my ground connection at the power transformer - The weren't connected so I actually had no ground.
Then as we were looking he noticed one electro cap that was in backwards - it was a small one; not one of the large ones that can explode. As we were talking I noticed another small one that was backwards.
He also found a couple of weak solder joints and two of them he was able to disconnect with a tug. He recommended that I put a little more heat and solder on a couple of places.
Overall, he said for a first time build it looked pretty good at least as far as soldering and running the wire. He wants to hear it after its finished. Since it is near tax time, I probably won't buy the cabinet until after April 16. - I hope in mid May to order it.
Here are the pics.
In each of these first two pics there is a black capacitor. On these caps at one end there is a small + sign. Those + signs need to be towards the bottom of the board. If you look at some earlier pics I posted you can see two big one on the far left of the board and those + are a LOT easier to see.
In this pic you can see the ground connection inbetween all of the wires. It is fastened to one corner of the power transformer. I made the ground connections to each of the lugs so they are all ground together, but I didn't make a connection from those lugs to the actual ground. There is a small wire in there, but it's hard to see unless you know what you're looking for.
I'm ready to fire her up. I'll take one (or 2) last looks and put the tube in and power her up!
Found some Problems
I just got back from my local amp tech/repair shop - he offered to take a quick look and see anything obvious that may be wrong.
He found some things right off the bat and I'll begin working on them later this evening. Most of the fixes are easy, but there are two things that I may or may not have to remove the board containing all the caps and resisters. I have two caps that were in place with the wrong polarity. Fortunately, they are small caps and not the big ones.
I take some pics and post of my mistakes and the fix.
He found some things right off the bat and I'll begin working on them later this evening. Most of the fixes are easy, but there are two things that I may or may not have to remove the board containing all the caps and resisters. I have two caps that were in place with the wrong polarity. Fortunately, they are small caps and not the big ones.
I take some pics and post of my mistakes and the fix.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Fired it up and...
Ok I fired up the amp last week and nothing! I've been trying to trouble shoot it for the past week. Here are a few of my mistakes that I have fixed but there is still no sound. I say no sound, there is a slight hum in the speaker, just no sound from the guitar.
I had the wrong input jack. I don't know how I missed this - The output jack I used only had two prongs and the correct jack is a switched jack with three prongs.
I found a wire that may have been shorting the circuit. It was the wire going from the volume pot to the tone pot. When the pots were screwed into the chassis the connections touched the brass grounding plate. I moved the wire around to the bottom side of the pots.
That's the latest update. I'll be out of town all next week and I think when I get back I'll have to take it to my local amp tech and see if he can help me.
I did buy the speaker today. I bought a 12" Eminence Wizard speaker from http://www.nationalspeaker.com/ as they are 6 miles from my house. After taxes the cost was $85
I had the wrong input jack. I don't know how I missed this - The output jack I used only had two prongs and the correct jack is a switched jack with three prongs.
I found a wire that may have been shorting the circuit. It was the wire going from the volume pot to the tone pot. When the pots were screwed into the chassis the connections touched the brass grounding plate. I moved the wire around to the bottom side of the pots.
That's the latest update. I'll be out of town all next week and I think when I get back I'll have to take it to my local amp tech and see if he can help me.
I did buy the speaker today. I bought a 12" Eminence Wizard speaker from http://www.nationalspeaker.com/ as they are 6 miles from my house. After taxes the cost was $85
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