A New Guitar Amp is Born

digitalvoodoo · 13th January 2007, 5:18 PM

Though you guys might dig this. I’ve just finished building a replica of a circa 1966 Marshall JTM-45 amplifier.

Here’s the thread with pictures and stuff from the electronics forum.
http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...4&page=1&pp=15

I guess as it’s now playing music, it’s more of a musician’s forum topic.

Here’s my first test recording done with the amp:
Clip

Time to stop soldering and do some more playing.

SquarkyD · 14th January 2007, 2:09 PM

What guitar and FX did you use? any chance of a clean (dry) sample? sounds pretty nice.

digitalvoodoo · 14th January 2007, 6:22 PM

Guitar is a Flying-V using the bridge pickup. There’s a touch of Tubescreamer on the cleaner bits, just to get it to break up a touch more at a reasonable volume (things were rattling as it was – sounds amazing cranked with the power tubes overdriving). The more distorted bit is using a Big Muff.

I’ll put up some naked samples when I get a chance. I needed the drums, bass and reverb to cover my scratchy playing

(too much time building amps, not enough time practicing)

spootmonkey · 15th January 2007, 12:50 AM

That's killer dude. I'm just starting small (reverse engineering and cloning an old phaser pedal at the moment), but hopefully one day I'll have the skills to attempt something similar.

Venom · 20th January 2007, 7:46 PM

It sounds pretty good, i have thought of making one myself but its not really my field and have put it into the too hard basket for the moment. 2 quick questions if you dont mind

How much did it cost you to make?

Could someone not familiar with electronics attempt one?

Dr feelgood · 20th January 2007, 8:05 PM

Congratulations. Very nice amp, Love the sound. I am very green.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venom

It sounds pretty good, i have thought of making one myself but its not really my field and have put it into the too hard basket for the moment. 2 quick questions if you dont mind

How much did it cost you to make?

Could someone not familiar with electronics attempt one?

I wouldn't want to dampen anyones enthuisasm for such a project, but it would remiss to sugest it would be sensible to start with a tube amp. I would suggest making a few cheap jaycar kits to get an idea of how electricity flows and get the rudiments of power transformers, current etc. Then read up on how tubes work and start there.

My suggested path:

build a 25watt chip amp Kit, this will give you the basics of power tansformer wiring and 240Volt experience.

then build a couple of FX units kits, this will give you practice soldering and if you read the literature it will give you an understanding of audio circuitry.

then while you are reading up on tubes and working out which amp you are going to clone you can enjoy playing with the amp and FX you just made.

EDIT: if you decide to do it, don't be afraid to ask thousands of questions and stick with it.

Venom · 21st January 2007, 7:50 AM

Thanks Dr

I thought it would be a task where I would be in over my head. I think that starting simple and moving up would probably be a wise move.

digitalvoodoo · 22nd January 2007, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venom

How much did it cost you to make?

I deliberately haven’t been keeping track of how much it cost

Roughly, I’d say around the $1000 mark. It’s certainly not something you’d do to save money. Although, because music stuff is so expensive in Australia, it probably does work out cheaper than buying an equivalent amp (until you add in your labour...).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Venom

Could someone not familiar with electronics attempt one?

Good post by Dr. Feelgood, I completely agree. There’s enough info out there that, theoretically, someone with no electronics knowledge could build one in a “connect the dots” fashion. However, I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. Even in the very straightforward design of the amp I built, there’s lots of things that can go wrong. I can imagine it would be very daunting for a beginner – the components are quite expensive if you fry them and most importantly, there’s enough juice in most tube amps to do you a lot of harm and possibly even kill you (even when unplugged).

With the serious stuff out the way, if it is something you’re really interested in doing, it’s not hard to gather the requisite practical and theoretical skills required to build a tube amp. Like Dr. F posted, FX units are a great starting point, as are low power solid state amps. A 9V battery is a lot more forgiving than the ~500V on the tube plates

Spootmokey, what phaser are you cloning? I think I’ve got a half finished Small Stone somewhere. I’m a shocker for starting and not finishing stomp boxes.

spootmonkey · 22nd January 2007, 11:41 AM

It's an old Cutec/Washburn. I stumbled on it by pure chance and I've never seen another in this country, yet it's my absolute favourite phaser so I figured I should build myself a backup.

13th January 2007, 5:18 PM	#1
digitalvoodoo Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Adelaide Posts: 247	A New Guitar Amp is Born Though you guys might dig this. I’ve just finished building a replica of a circa 1966 Marshall JTM-45 amplifier. Here’s the thread with pictures and stuff from the electronics forum. http://forums.overclockers.com.au/sh...4&page=1&pp=15 I guess as it’s now playing music, it’s more of a musician’s forum topic. Here’s my first test recording done with the amp: Clip Time to stop soldering and do some more playing.

15th January 2007, 12:50 AM	#4
spootmonkey Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: DPR Brunswick Posts: 7,733	That's killer dude. I'm just starting small (reverse engineering and cloning an old phaser pedal at the moment), but hopefully one day I'll have the skills to attempt something similar. __________________ "[T]here’s a way things are, it coincides with what I was brought up to believe, and the extraordinary coincidence of such is never reflected upon[.]"

22nd January 2007, 11:41 AM	#9
spootmonkey Member Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: DPR Brunswick Posts: 7,733	It's an old Cutec/Washburn. I stumbled on it by pure chance and I've never seen another in this country, yet it's my absolute favourite phaser so I figured I should build myself a backup. __________________ "[T]here’s a way things are, it coincides with what I was brought up to believe, and the extraordinary coincidence of such is never reflected upon[.]"

14th January 2007, 2:09 PM	#2
SquarkyD Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Brisbane Posts: 3,350	What guitar and FX did you use? any chance of a clean (dry) sample? sounds pretty nice.

14th January 2007, 6:22 PM	#3
digitalvoodoo Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Adelaide Posts: 247	Guitar is a Flying-V using the bridge pickup. There’s a touch of Tubescreamer on the cleaner bits, just to get it to break up a touch more at a reasonable volume (things were rattling as it was – sounds amazing cranked with the power tubes overdriving). The more distorted bit is using a Big Muff. I’ll put up some naked samples when I get a chance. I needed the drums, bass and reverb to cover my scratchy playing (too much time building amps, not enough time practicing)

20th January 2007, 7:46 PM	#5
Venom Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 70	It sounds pretty good, i have thought of making one myself but its not really my field and have put it into the too hard basket for the moment. 2 quick questions if you dont mind How much did it cost you to make? Could someone not familiar with electronics attempt one?

21st January 2007, 7:50 AM	#7
Venom Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Sydney Posts: 70	Thanks Dr I thought it would be a task where I would be in over my head. I think that starting simple and moving up would probably be a wise move.